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My Background

Prior to The Red Tree, I was a beauty buyer. I worked across all categories in both trading and product development for retailers including Superdrug, AS Watson and Tesco. As a result, I now have an encyclopedic knowledge of brands and suppliers in the beauty industry. I have always worked in global roles. I have been with The Red Tree for four years, and it has been an amazing, fun and fast paced experience.

"I often see founders can be impatient and try to do too much at once. If you grow steadily you are likely to make less expensive mistakes than if you grow too quickly and say yes to everything."

A memorable beauty collaboration

One that stands out to me was the Rimmel Kate Moss collaboration. In fact I actually had a disagreement with a marketing lecturer at university over that campaign. The lecturer was referencing the principles of brand ambassadorships and one prerequisite was authenticity. My point of view, which still stands over 15 years later is that people didn't believe that Kate Moss was only using Rimmel make up. Kate Moss however personified the 'London look' they wanted to communicate perfectly and girls aspired to look and be like Kate Moss. That campaign was transformational for the Rimmel brand and paved the way for the influencer movement which came after.

What would be your advice to someone starting out in the industry?

It is a fast paced industry, so keep ahead of the trends and activities. Instagram and LinkedIn are both constant sources of news and inspiration.

For founders particularly, I often see people being impatient and trying to do too much at once. If you grow steadily, you are likely to make less expensive mistakes than if you grow too quickly and say yes to everything.

What is in the pipeline for The Red Tree?

Across The Red Tree overall, we have the best plans we have ever had, which is an exciting position to be in. We are constantly looking for new ways to improve, expand our offering, and serve and delight our clients even more.

The GCC is a particularly interesting region for us. For a long time, it has grown organically. As a result, we have decided to allocate dedicated resource to this area. It is a market with high spending beauty fanatics, yet it is also complex and multi-faceted. Building a distribution strategy in this region is like putting together a jigsaw puzzle, and we have in-depth knowledge of the factors that play a part in this.

The Red Tree is the UK’s leading international beauty brand consultancy and a powerhouse of ideas, insight and inspiration. For an informal discussion on how we might help you, please contact us.

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