CASE STUDY / ETHIQUE
LAUNCHING AN INTERNATIONAL DTC PERSONAL CARE BRAND IN THE US: DRIVING GROWTH IN SALES, STORYTELLING, & RETAIL EXPANSION
Ethique, a beacon of sustainable beauty, revolutionized personal care with its ingenious solid formulations. While beauty bars and concentrates are considered mainstream today, this wasn't the case when the New Zealand-born brand approached 5W in 2018 to help bring wider awareness and advocacy in the ultra-competitive U.S. market.
Media Relations / Thought Leadership / Founder Profiling
STRATEGY
A key component of making ethique a household name was shifting consumer preferences away from conventional liquid and bottled products like shampoos and body lotions, and guide them towards eco-friendly alternatives like solid bars and concentrates. Positioning the products, brand, and Founder Brianne West as industry changemakers, 5W secured strategic press coverage driving the narrative that sustainable living is not only crucial to the wellbeing of ourselves and the planet, but is accessible through simple lifestyle changes and product swaps. Via dynamic storytelling and strategic brand vision, we championed West to ensure her influential voice remained at the forefront of the clean beauty category, establishing her as a trusted and inspirational innovator in the space.
2.7
Billion media impressions
10 Million
Million plastic bottles diverted from landfills
Over the course of five years, 5W garnered over 1,000 impactful features with 17B+ media impressions in outlets such as Allure, The New York Times, Oprah Magazine, Forbes, INSIDER, Travel + Leisure, ELLE, InStyle, Bustle, and many more. We also celebrated coveted award wins with TIME's Best Inventions, Refinery29's Beauty Innovator Awards, Cosmopolitan's Holy Grail Beauty Awards, among others. These strategic efforts resulted in increased brand awareness and visibility, catching the attention of key retailers and ultimately, leading to expansion from DTC to Amazon, Target, and CVS.
RESULTS
