Overview

A company’s story can be just as important as the products and services it provides. The narrative the company creates can often be the deciding factor in whether a customer picks their product, or that of a rival. It can also shape the future of any marketing the company creates.

So how can a company create that story? How do they find the special elements of its formation that are worthy of talking about? What potholes? in their story might they need to explain? What if your company is just starting out and all you have to tell is why the company was created?

#ThoughtLeaderThursday

Those were the questions asked and answered on Direct-to-Consumer agency Script to Screen’s #ThoughtLeaderThursday webinar held on July 29. 2021. Script to Screen Co-Founder Ken Kerry interviewed Iain McLean, the founder of a new cosmetics company, Shygirl Los Angeles, to help him find the heart of his new company’s story.

Our Guest

Iain Mclean is an experienced Director, DP, Advertising Creative Director, Producer and now has created his own all-natural makeup line Shygirl Los Angeles. With over 600 commercials, DRTV projects and branded content with a digital series under his belt, Iain is known for his work as a Beauty Director who has worked with some of the biggest beauty brands in the world; Loreal, Maybelline, Cover Girl, Oil of Olay, Head and Shoulders, Herbal Essence, Levi, Guess, Liz Claiborne and Victoria’s Secret to name a few.

You are sure to have seen some of his work grace your television screens. He also dove into creating a branded content series with Facebook & New Zealand Tourism. This series, The Kombi Diaries reached over 30 million people in the US alone and resulted in a 26% year over year increase in sales for tourism in New Zealand.

The Origins

Shygirl’s story started from Iain’s career as a commercial director, working with some of the most beautiful women in the world.

“I always had a love of cosmetics,” he explained. “To me it could change a person’s whole look. The transformation I saw from it was always a positive thing.”

He had a pain point, though. The makeup was not living up to his standards as a director. Ultimately, he decided it was up to him to change the industry.

“I’m going to make my own cosmetics brand and I’m going to fix the things that piss me off, and it was two things,” he said. “One, the durability sucked. A person would get too hot and it would run off. Second problem, every time I worked with an African-American or dark-skinned Latina, the makeup artist didn’t have a specific set of cosmetic tools for their skin tone. For most of the big brands, it was 80/20 – 80% for white people, 20% for other people. There was a very narrow band of what they could have that was driven and made for them.”

Ultimately, Iain decided to create Shygirl, named because it was short and punchy, like the venerable cosmetics brand Covergirl.

The Roadblock

However, there was a problem. Iain was not comfortable being central to his company’s story.

“Here’s a white, middle-class guy coming out with a brand for African-American culture and I felt there would be backlash from it from both sides,” he explained. “I just wanted to be in the background, have Marc Harvey, an African-American makeup artist and say “OK, you’re up front, dude. “

Overcoming Those Blocks

To Ken though, the story was not something to be avoided, but presented.

“Here’s an incredibly accomplished fashion director, in the mecca of New York, Los Angeles, working with Victoria’s Secret models, beautiful women, America’s Next Top Model, and you experienced the problems of a director. What a great story, where a director who is dealing with the most beautiful women in the world sees a problem and I’m going to solve it.”

It was an epiphany for Iain.

“I had been internalizing it forever. I had cooked up a block that didn’t exist.”

New Marketing

The epiphany vitalized Iain to change the messaging in his marketing.

“I’m going to make two other videos, one about Marc, one about Iain,” he explained. “And I’m going to have us combined, working together, about what we’re doing on set, why we’re doing it this way. I’m going to be working on camera with him to develop the look and the lighting and the makeup. I’m going to start inserting myself into those videos with Marc just to show our customers that there is a trust here between these two men.”

Ultimately, Iain had to trust in the strength of his company’s actual story, rather than trying to make up some kind of fiction. Often reality makes the best sales pitch.

Our Next Webinar  

The Sasha Group, a VaynerX company, are on the forefront of helping businesses find success through Direct-to-Consumer strategies. They are a team of growth practitioners from Gary Vaynerchuk’s lead circle that focus on building growth in small-to-mid-sized businesses. Their consultation is some of the most sought after in business today.

Now is your chance to discover their strategies for free on #ThoughtLeaderThursday August 26, 2021 @ [2:00] PM ET /[11:00] AM PT when Maribel Lara, SVP, Consulting Lead at The Sasha Group a VaynerX company talks Direct-to Consumer strategy with Script to Screen Co-Founder Ken Kerry. The business strategies being discussed would cost tens of thousands of dollars in consultations fees, but now is your chance to learn them for free!

Highlights

[1:10] Opening

[4:26] Poll question

[5:20] Interview begins

[7:00] Iain’s background

[12:30] Directing commercials

[19:40] Launching Shygirl Los Angeles

[20:40] Upset with regular cosmetics

[22:38] Makeup is not durable

[23:30] Makeup is not made for people with dark skin

[26:20] Why Shygirl?

[28:30] First beauty director to come out with a cosmetic line

[29:00] Fears of storytelling

[30:40] Telling the story

[36:10] How do you communicate to your market?

[39:30] How do you make the story part of your presentation?

[43:39] DTC checklist

[50:20] Be everywhere

[57:50] Q&A