THE EQUITY STUDIO

On Friday WWD and Beauty Inc launched their definitive index of the Beauty Investor Ecosystem with an inaugural Financial Power Player list. On it you'll find today's most influential dealmakers, across investment bankers, strategics, private equity, venture capital and family offices. We are thrilled to share that Anna Sweeting, Founder of THE EQUITY STUDIO has been recognised as one of the most influential investors shaping the future of Beauty. It's a well-earned achievement. For over a decade, Anna has invested in companies and founders who are leading innovation across beauty and wellness - all while being a founder herself. We are so happy to continue to invest in and support founders leading the way in the beauty space, working alongside them to amplify their brands and their missions ✨ Thank you Jennifer Weil Kathryn Hopkins #wwd #beautyinc #investors #growthequity #growthcapital #beauty #wellness #consciousliving

THIS MOVES US : COLLABORATION - ESPECIALLY FROM THE MOST UNEXPECTED PLACES - CREATES THE CONDITIONS FOR FRESH THINKING AND HEALTHY DEBATE ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ 🪩 @theequity.studio WE ARE EXCITED BY BRANDS THAT BELIEVE COLLABORATION AND CO-AUTHORSHIP IS AN INCREDIBLE FUEL TO PUSH CREATIVITY FURTHER  ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ 🪩 WE BELIEVE FRESH THINKING AND HEALTHY DEBATE ARE CRITICAL TO BUILDING DEFENSIBLE IDEAS THAT CAN SCALE AND DRIVE MEANINGFUL PROGRESS THAT CAN’T EASILY BE REPLICATED ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ 🪩 WE SEE TIME AND TIME AGAIN HOW THE FUSION OF DIVERSE PERSPECTIVES IS A CATALYST FOR INNOVATION ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ 🪩 UNEXPECTED ALLIANCES - BOTH INTERNALLY WITHIN THE TEAM AND EXTERNALLY WITH OTHER BRANDS AND PARTNERS - OFTEN RESULT IN BREAKTHROUGHS, CHALLENGING WHAT WE THOUGHT WAS POSSIBLE AND PAVING THE WAY TO STAY AHEAD OF THE CURVE AND ACHIEVE LASTING SUCCESS IN TODAYS EVERCHANGING BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT…

Celebrating graduation day for the amazing grantees of the Glossier, Inc. x Black Girl Fest Studios Black Beauty Grant Programme The morning was split into two moments…first we got to meet the brilliant founders of the five Black-women-led beauty businesses receiving the grant for the 2024 program as they showcased their products :  Karen Olla - @oremistudios  Phoebe Ellis and Leah Ellis @caribeuk  Dannielle Igor - @igor.hair  Damilola Akinnaike - @amilondon  Natel Allen - @tellemoi And then we continued the celebration with a panel discussion moderated by British Vogue Style Editor Funmi Fetto alongside Black Girl Fest Studios Founder Nicole Krystal Crentsil, S'able Labs Labs founder Sabrina Elba, THE EQUITY STUDIO founder Anna Sweeting and Glossier, Inc.’s Chief Creative Officer Marie Suter Here’s to the next generation of beauty innovators! Roya Shariat Kyle Leahy Veronika Ullmer Sarah Faulder and the amazing teams Glossier, Inc. Black Girl Fest Studios, CGC     #BGFxGlossier #BlackBeautyProgrammeUK

SPOTLIGHT: Created by Black Girl Fest Studios and powered by Glossier, Inc. The Black Beauty Grant Programme supports UK based founders to take their beauty business to the next level.  ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ 💄The programme offers 5 Black women-owned beauty businesses a tailored 12-week programme learning directly from the Glossier team, gaining expert advice from industry professionals and receiving a £10K equity-free grant.  ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ 💄This need to amplify black beauty founders and their businesses is a necessary one - research shows that Black founders received just 0.24% of UK venture funding between 2009 and 2019, with only 0.02% of venture capital investment going to Black female founders. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ 💄The 5 outstanding Black-women-led beauty businesses and grantees for 2024 are: Karen Olla @oremistudios Phoebe & Leah Ellis @caribeuk Daniella Igor @igorhair Camilla Akinnaike @amilondon  Natel Allen @tellemoi  ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ 💄The UK grant programme, together with BGF builds off Glossier’s US initiative that began in 2020 and has since partnered with more than 40 beauty founders and their brands. Alumni of the global programme have gone on to incredible heights, winning industry awards and accolades, closing successful fundraising rounds and entering partnerships with new beauty retailers. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ We can’t wait to share more shortly on what we got up to at the graduation celebration for the incredible grantees last week..... For now, all credit to Nicole Krystal Crentsil Kyle Leahy Roya Shariat Veronika Ullmer Sarah Faulder Marie Suter and the rest of the amazing teams Black Girl Fest Studios Glossier, Inc. and CGC for leading with impact  #BGFxGlossier  #BlackBeautyProgrammeUK

So by now we know the power of UGC, but in case you need more social proof : 📲 Instagram posts with UGC get 70% more engagement 📲 YouTube UGC videos get 10x more views than videos made by brands 📲 Social media campaigns with UGC perform 25% better Overall, wherever you put UGC, it rewards you with higher engagement, conversions, and a better response from your channel YET there is still a disconnect with 📲 Only 16% of brands having a strategy for using UGC MAKE SURE THIS ISN’T YOU ⚠️ 👇 HOW TO UGC : 🤳REVIEWS UGC testimonials can lift purchase intent by 30% SO proactively ask your customers for reviews and don’t be afraid to test formats - written, visual and audio all have a role 🤳 REWARD 60% of people are willing to make content for a brand if they get a reward SO gamify and incentivise the creation of UGC 🤳CONVERT Brands that show UGC on their website product pages get 29% more website conversions than brands that don’t SO showcase social proofs directly, as in real-time as you can (consider a live review feed, live testimonial pop ups etc), in places where potential buyers can convert with the least friction #growthequity #entrepreneurship #growthcapital #consumerbrands #beauty #wellness #consciousliving #businessbuilding #socialcommerce⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Let’s talk about MONEY : as we explored last month, we expect acquisitions by strategics for the rest of this year across BEAUTY, WELLNESS & LIFESTYLE will 🔛 on the one 🖐️ feature portfolio consolidation acquisitions and;  🔛 on the other 🖐️ be tightly focused on synergistic deals aimed at gaining access to new products, channels, markets and capabilities. In keeping with this, June saw: ⬇️ JUN - 24 The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. completes acquisition of DECIEM | THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY . Estée Lauder first invested in DECIEM in 2017, increased its stake to become majority owner in 2021, and just exercised its option to purchase the remaining interests in DECIEM after a 3 yr period, using cash on hand for an estimated $860M. The total investment was c.$1.7BN over the 3 tranches ⬇️ BEHIND THE DEAL as a heritage conglomerate ELC benefits from the innovation and marketing prowess of DECIEM which is : ▫️agile and has a vertically integrated structure ▫️delivering clinical skincare at mass prices ▫️hyper- focused on developing game-changing products ▫️dedicated to ingredient transparency ▫️digitally native at its core and knows how to market to savvy, young beauty devotees  ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ BUT it has to be a win on both sides and the success of M&A more than ever requires integration to be tailored very personally to the specific company and what it needs to thrive. In keeping with this, through ELC, DECIEM has had access to: ▫️infrastructure and resources to expand geographically: namely to India, the Middle East and South Africa ▫️operational efficiencies which has seen them achieve stronger profitability  ▫️the full support of its founding values of transparency, quality, and authenticity plus support for its C-suite to remain in the driving seat  : ELC’s flexible and progressive investment strategy prioritized brand over business, bringing this partnership to full fruition ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #growthequity #entrepreneurship #growthcapital #consumerbrands #beauty #wellness #consciousliving #businessbuilding #creators #creatoreconomy #socialcommerce #cpginvestors

Last week we dived into some datapoints underlining the importance of UGC for brands today and beyond. We had so many questions from you guys about how one could go about approaching and integrating these learnings into your day to day business, and so we wanted to share with you some practical insights of where we are seeing success when user generated content is embraced strategically and it lives and breathes fully as a true pillar in a brands’ strategy : UNLOCKING THE POWER OF UGC: PART 1 Ads that are based on user generated content get: 📸 4x higher click-through rates 📸 a 50% drop in cost-per-click than average 📸 73% more positive comments on social when compared to ads that don’t have UGC at the core. ⬇️ 🙋♀️Keep letting us know what other questions you have on this topic? #growthequity #entrepreneurship #growthcapital #consumerbrands #beauty #wellness #consciousliving #businessbuilding #creators #creatoreconomy #socialcommerce #cpginvestors

As H2 kicks off, we are reflecting on what is going to be important for unlocking growth for brands for the rest of the year and beyond 👇 We begin by setting the scene of the ever increasing dominance of user generated content : understanding just how central it is and will continue to become, is foundational for today's brands and we believe one of the most powerful ways to build trust, drive engagement and growth ☄️UGC FRONT AND CENTRE ▪️around 78% of online content will be user-generated by 2033 ▪️Gen Z is set to produce 45% of all UGC by 2030 ▪️millenials find UGC 35% more memorable than mainstream content ▪️48% of consumers discover new products through UGC ▪️70% consider UGC reviews or ratings before buying, with 41% reading 4-7 UGC reviews for insights ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #growthequity #entrepreneurship #growthcapital #consumerbrands #beauty #wellness #consciousliving #businessbuilding #socialcommerce

🪄ENABLE YOUR AUDIENCE TO PARTICIPATE IN YOUR BRAND WORLD AND WATCH THIS SPARK TRUE BRAND ADVOCATES ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ 🪄DO THIS BY ENGAGING YOUR CUSTOMERS DIRECTLY IN KEY DECISIONS FROM PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT TO CONTENT CREATION 🪄AND ALWAYS GO FURTHER: RECOGNISE AND CELEBRATE THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF THESE ADVOCATES TO SEE SPARKS FLY  ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #growthequity #entrepreneurship #growthcapital#consumerbrands #beauty #wellness #consciousliving #businessbuilding #socialcommerce

EQS ASKS : How do consumers really judge a brand’s AUTHENTICITY? 📐 92% of brands believe that most or all of the content they create resonates as authentic with consumers YET the majority of consumers disagree 📐with 51% saying less than half of brands create content that resonates with them as authentic 📐user-generated content is viewed as the most authentic form of content by consumers globally, with 58% of consumers agreeing 📐79% of consumers say user-generated content highly impacts their purchasing decisions while only 13% say content from a brand is impactful 📐51% of people say they’d be more likely to continue engaging with and/or purchasing from a brand if it shares their photo, video or post throughout its social marketing ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #growthequity #entrepreneurship #growthcapital #consumerbrands #beauty #wellness #consciousliving #businessbuilding #creators #creatoreconomy #socialcommerce