Skin Academy

Building the brand came first, since the trade story and launch plan both depended on it. The natural and vegan skincare category had grown crowded with brands over claiming on credentials and leaning into preachy, worthy messaging around ingredients and animal testing. Buyers in their 20s and 30s, the target market, were growing wary of exactly that tone. So the brand was positioned deliberately against it. Warm and full of positive energy rather than lecturing. Sophisticated and current. And confident enough to let the products speak for themselves without needing to prove a point.

This same positioning drove the trade story, a genuine point of difference for buyers to back rather than just another range of natural products. The commercial case itself was built jointly with the International Sales Director. It secured Shoppers Drug Mart as the brand's first listing.

Being first meant Canada, not the UK, carried the weight of introducing the brand to the world. In-person events were off the table entirely, so gravitas had to be built a different way. A four-person panel brought a rising Canadian beauty influencer on as host, the brand's own Head of Innovation to speak to the science, a Shoppers Drug Mart representative to underline the retailer's own stake in the moment, and myself to represent the brand.

Delivery came from a lean in-house team of four, backed by three agencies, creative, PR and influencer, and social and media buying, all sourced, briefed and managed remotely.