Makeup Geek, an expanding brand in the personal beauty industry, has gained recognition and popularity by providing quality products at fair prices, and by educating customers on how to use their products. Effective social media marketing and influencer product launches skyrocketed them into the Inc. 500’s Fastest Growing Companies in 2015. Since then, Makeup Geek has partnered with Target, Ipsy, BeautyBay, and other retail groups to expand the brand’s customer base.
Makeup Geek needed the long-term support of both a digital agency and ecommerce development team to maintain company growth, keep up with industry trends, and implement the best-possible commerce platform. They needed a partner that would understand their vision and provide strategic ecommerce guidance and development support. A partner like CQL.
Site
Technology
Shopify Plus
Avalara
Google Shopping
Bronto
Klaviyo
PayPal + ApplePay + Afterpay
Google Analytics
Makeup Geek selected Shopify Plus to be its new ecommerce platform and paired it with a design that would set them apart from other beauty brands. Together, we developed three unique experiences that aligned with customer needs and the brand vision: a one-of-a-kind Create Your Own Palette customizer tool, shoppable tutorial pages, and VIP influencer pages.
Makeup Geek’s small ecommerce team operates in a very competitive and fast-paced cosmetic industry. They needed CQL to replatform the brand onto Shopify Plus and streamline their tech stack, which empowered their team to focus on marketing and not technology. Makeup Geek could then respond more quickly to industry trends, develop promotions, and add site features, without worrying about scalability or uptime.
Makeup Geek had a vision for new packaging and branding that would marry artistry with expression. Our Experience Design team composed brand boards and persona comparisons to define customer journeys, brand touch points, and a new visual design. From there, brand refinements (logo, fonts, color palette, and product packaging) were developed to represent a mature brand and expose customers to a new, integrated brand experience.
CQL developed an integrated campaign paired with a comprehensive plan across Makeup Geeks’ digital channels to bring its new branding to market. Our multi-channel strategy mapped out email, social, and live digital events paired with paid marketing on Google Ads, Facebook, and Instagram. We introduced paid search and retargeting campaigns for existing customers, refined audience algorithms to find new customers, and identified new digital cross-sell and upsell opportunities. These multi-channel efforts led to a record-smashing success that has propelled Makeup Geek into its next chapter.
Makeup Geek’s brand refresh and Shades of You digital marketing campaign earned CQL the highest of honors for the HERMES Creative Awards and Muse Creative Awards, the Platinum Award. These awards honor the industry’s best creative work around the globe, from branding collateral and websites to integrated marketing and communication programs.
