No eye de-puffer can help.
Tears, puffy eyes, no sleep, stressful times. All up ahead for The Body Shop ‘s employees.
My heart goes out. For employees who are losing their jobs, many of whom have been at the company for years. For customers, both loyal and occasional who’ve been in a relationship with it.
And as a #brandstrategist at the sadness of a powerful brand allowed to gently spiral down.
The brand that owned the “ethical beautycae” position (a long time ago), is now under Administration in the UK, and is letting its people go, shutting down stores.
Repercussions will be global, whatever the facemasks might say. And up and down the supply and franchise chain.
But this present could have been foretold. The ‘make up’ writing was on the wall.
* The range didn’t seem to change.
* Innovation didn’t impress.
* The products didn’t seem all that special.
* They certainly didn’t seem superior to the competition
* Huge push offers each time. (Always a red flag)
* Yet hardly any shoppers offline.(more store staff always)
* In fact, even in pre Covid days, the customers were mostly someone’s mamas.
Why, even the Pledge board (this I personally saw aghast, and took the store staff through) had every single apostrophe in every single contraction missing, leaving a mess of tangled words- “well do were this, weve done” and so on.
Clearly no one seemed to be in charge or care as much as Dame Roddick did. And after she sold the brand in 2006, (and sadly passed the following year), The Body Shop has been the hot potato being tossed from one buyer’s hand to the next.
And with each pass, seeing erosion of brand equity, brand value and loss of vibrancy in its customer base.
My Rx: Need thorough inside outside cleansing, seruming, foundationing, strategising, and alignment for the body and soul to return to the #brand.
Join me for occasional musings about the attachment, allure and agony #brands deliver us.
And do share the feeling and thinking sparked🙌
#branding #brandstrategy #brandrxquad #marketingandadvertising #brandequity
Senior Global Management & Marketing Student at the University of Pittsburgh, May 2025 Graduate
1moKaty Cottam Ellie Colenso the mini fridge 😍