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She’s a former British TV star who has broken the mould with her approach to beauty. Trinny Woodall, who launched Trinny London in 2017, never uses professional models for marketing campaigns. The faces that fill the direct-to-consumer brand’s social media feeds vary widely in skin texture and colour, with acne and wrinkles left unedited.
By prioritising realism over aspiration, Trinny London is appealing to older women who feel under-represented in the beauty industry. “I wanted those women to feel there was somewhere where they felt their voice was heard,” says Woodall, who founded the brand when she was 53. “We were filling the gap for women who could see our campaigns were realistic. The models weren’t really touched up. It felt inclusive. So, whether I was 60 or 18, whether I had light skin or dark skin, I could see myself in that brand.”
At the heart of the Trinny London offer is an online try-on and product recommendation tool, Match2Me, that allows the customer to build their own colour profile. “We make makeup for women who want to make some changes to their makeup routine, but don’t quite feel the education or inspiration is out there,” says Woodall. And it’s resonating: Trinny London became profitable in 2020 and is on a fast growth trajectory, reaching net annual revenue of £55 million by the end of 2021, according to the company.
The appeal to an older consumer has driven growth. “Older demographics often have larger spending power,” points out Sheri Koetting, founder, creative director and brand strategist at MSLK, a consultancy firm that counts Chanel and Maybelline among its clients. The hashtag “ageism” has grown to over 45 million views on TikTok.
Consumers are becoming more sceptical of brands that heavily edit images and make marketing claims that suggest an ideal of perfection. “Consumers always prefer imagery that reflects themselves,” Koetting says.
During the pandemic, skincare drove the beauty market, with consumers leaning towards lighter product formulations. Trinny London says its complexion products are skincare-makeup hybrids that contain up to 15 per cent active ingredients.
The brand’s emphasis on natural makeup appeals to young customers, too. “After baby boomers, Gen Z [rank as] the largest age group to choose the natural look,” says Euromonitor beauty and fashion senior research manager Janaki Padmanabhan.
Building a community
Trinny London’s social channels feature makeup tutorials with a diverse group of individuals, reflecting different skin types, ages, races and disabilities. “The most important thing with social media is you need to talk with a voice that resonates with the woman you want to get to, so you’re candid and you’re honest.”
Woodall is no stranger to makeovers herself. She rose to fame in the early 2000s, co-hosting a BBC TV show on British television called What Not to Wear. She’s since disassociated herself from some of the body shaming in the show and has gained a sizeable personal following of 329k subscribers on YouTube and one million followers on Instagram by posting content that ranges from body-positive lookbooks and skincare recommendations to follow-along workouts and casual livestreams. Her personal social media presence plays a significant role — “intrinsic” as she puts it — in the brand identity.
While British customers may be familiar with her TV iteration, Woodall prides herself on building a global brand that now ships to 180 countries. “We made a big decision from day one that we are a global brand,” she says. Although the UK represents 55 per cent of her customer base, Australia, the US, Canada, Germany, Austria and Switzerland are also developing into big markets, according to the company – supported by heavy investment to keep shipping costs down, intended to build customer loyalty.
Leveraging tech and data innovation
Trinny London has developed a sophisticated data collection strategy to predict and improve customer experience. The brand only sells in-store to retailers that can input customers’ details in the Match2Me system. As many as 61 per cent of the brand’s customers have a profile on Match2Me, which is a huge resource of consumer information for the company. Besides delivering detailed analysis of consumer spending habits, the data collated highlights the most common combinations of skin type, skin tone, hair colour and eye colour. “So we can think, we have many more customers who have oily skin. Are we doing enough for oily skin?” says Woodall. The data research also informs the brand’s marketing strategy, which includes personalised email campaigns.
Woodall credits word-of-mouth recommendations with converting consumers to the Match2Me system. A substantial 81 per cent of sales are driven by Match2Me, she says. Woodall delights in winning over older customers who had previously preferred in-store shopping: “When they keep hearing people say the products recommended [via Match2Me] are exactly the right tone and better than in-store foundation matches, eventually they try it out. Actually changing the attitude of a demographic is really exciting.”
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