John Legend got some new moves.
The winner of countless accolades, including EGOT, brings his considerable talents to beauty with the launch of Loved01 (pronounced “loved one”). The unisex skin and body care brand will launch on February 1 and will be available in six of his inventory units priced from $10 to $15. They bow to Loved01.com as well as his CVS Health and his 2,000 doors online. Then, in March, he will enter 500 Walmart doors.
Legend is the latest in a long line of celebrity candidates for beauty shoppers. Early arrivals included Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty and Kylie Jenner’s Kylie Cosmetics. Last year saw a large number of attendees, including Hailey Bieber’s Road, Kim Kardashian’s Skkn by Kim, and Brad Pitt’s Le Domaine.
But Legends are no expert in this area. He was an early investor in his Tristan Walker black men’s grooming brand, his Bevel, owned by P&G Beauty.He’s an SK-II Olympian Simone Biles animations his content his series composed music for
“I’ve collaborated with other skincare brands like Kiehl’s and SK-II over the years, and this is an important category for me,” Legend said in an exclusive interview with Beauty Inc. I’m on TV and taking a lot of pictures. Everyone deserves to have a product formulated with them in mind. ”
To that end, Legend partnered with incubator A-Frame Brands to enlist dermatologist Dr. Naana Boakye to help devise products tailored to the needs of melanin-rich skin. A-Frame Brands has also developed Kinlò for Naomi Osaka and Proudly for Gabrielle Union and her Dwyane Wade.
“I was always interested in starting my own skincare brand, but I didn’t want to do it just because I was famous,” Legend said. No, but I wanted a reason to exist.”
Superstar was the first to admit how crowded the space is.Bringing differentiated and impactful products to the market.
For Legends, promoting their brand is both an opportunity to better serve underrepresented communities and a business opportunity. “When we discussed what my particular brand would look like, we decided to address that particular gap and formulate products with melanin-rich skin at the forefront of design and formulation decisions. It’s something that’s rarely done,” he said. “It is a huge market that is not only fair and equitable, but also underserved and often neglected. Whether in science or business, we believe this is a real opportunity. I feel it.”
Additionally, accessibility was key, which is why Legend made a big bet on the mass market channel. “What made this particularly appealing to me was the idea of doing something formulated for melanin-rich skin. Although sold through its own channel, S’able Labs, created by Idris and Sabrina Elba, sells directly to consumers.
Yu Cai/WWD
Andrea Harrison, vice president of merchandising, beauty and personal care at CVS Health, said: “He is delighted to introduce Loved01 to his portfolio of innovative and advanced products that offer unique skin care solutions to every community he serves at an affordable price.”
During the first year of the partnership, Loved01 will be commercialized in 2,000 CVS stores and online in-store end caps.
After a deep dive into the needs of melanin-rich skin, Legend and team decided to focus on hydration. Ingredients. “I wanted a moisture story around the cleanser, too,” he said. “Exfoliating cleansers have bamboo and aloe vera.” , said Legend.)
Inclusivity isn’t just a product focus, it’s also the brand’s secret sauce. “Celebrity brands work when you have a lot of care and passion for what you do. Consumers these days are very smart and can sniff out anything they perceive as dishonest.” .”
Lowe also pointed to a Legends initiative he introduced in 2021, the Human Level. It aims to “uplift communities disproportionately affected by institutionalized racism,” according to a press release upon its launch. In addition to advocating for local policy, the non-profit partnered with Fuse Corps to offer executives his fellowship program.
“John has a very strong legacy and history of working with equity beyond music,” Lowe said. “It’s really appealing to me and will appeal to consumers as well.”
Lowe “runs brands,” Legend said, referring to her work with manufacturers, marketing teams, PR teams, stakeholders, and retailers. But I’ve always been involved in product discussions and message discussions, especially about how the product is designed, the look and feel of the product.”
Legend enlisted its go-to creative team to help design the product. “They work with me on my album covers, my bottles of wine, my Vegas residency. He worked with me because he understands how I want to present my art to the world.
The cohesiveness between all his products also inspired the name of the brand. “My career has been built around love, so we settled on Loved01. I talk about it when I give my commencement speech. My wine is called LVE. My album name is “Love in the Future”, “Bigger Love”.
“I wanted to title Loved01 because I believe everyone deserves to be loved and deserve a product made with love, care and intention. was there,” he continued.
Still, skincare competition is fierce, especially among brands with well-known founders, and Lowe said accessibility and universality of that message were key. You don’t have to be rich to experience things, and we wanted to offer a product that worked. We’re not just a d-to-c, we’re launching with two very big retail partners.”
Legend’s timing looks promising. The outlook for the skin care mass market in 2023 remains bright. According to his IRI data for the year ending Jan. 1, skincare grew 5.5%, while moisturizers, hand lotions, body lotions and cleansers grew 14.8%, 8% and 5.8% respectively. Respectively. As reported, skin care has become an increasingly important strategic priority for mass market giants such as Coty Inc., L’Oréal and Elf Beauty.
Neither Legend nor Lowe have commented on sales, but industry sources believe the brand could reach $10 million to $30 million in sales in its first year.
Naomi Osaka’s competitor is Naomi Osaka’s Kinlò, which offers darkening sun care sold at Walmart and d-to-c. The brand is also an A-Frame brand, and Lowe says that in a larger ecosystem, brands exchange notes and collaborate more than they compete.
“I talk to the brand president of Kinlò almost every day. “We solve a lot of problems together, make sure we are negotiating the right things, and work on everything from micro-influencer strategy to larger topics around brand awareness.”
They even run the same retail circle. Kinlò said last year that he also entered Walmart, Osaka told WWD at the time. ”
Photo courtesy of Loved01.
Celebrity-founded brands are key to the revamp of Walmart’s beauty section. Last year, as an exclusive, the world’s largest retailer introduced her Itk, her brand of skincare created by TikTok creators (and sisters) Brooklyn and Bailey Maesa of her McKnight. There’s also singer Halsey’s Af94, her mass-market sister brand to her About-Face, and a shop-in-shop concept with luxury beauty retailer Space NK. Loved01 lives in the skincare section of the brand.
Last year, Walmart’s vice president of beauty merchandising, Clayton Kipper, told WWD that there was a gap in Walmart’s assortment of “brands that fit the biology of different skin tones and skin types.” Told.
Loved01’s products may be specialized, but Legend wants the brand to be as broad as possible. “We want whole nations, we want globalization. There are people all over the country, and all over the world, with skin rich in melanin,” Legend said. and a large portion of the 7 billion people living on this planet, it’s important to let everyone know that we created these products with you in mind, and we want these products to be accessible. I think.”
That footprint will eventually grow. Lowe said the brand plans to explore international distribution in three to five years, but “we want to do very well in the US first.”
Lowe focuses on important urban markets. This includes coastal areas, New York City, Los Angeles, Texas, Chicago, Atlanta and Washington DC, where brands will use a mix of digital and physical advertising.
“While we are primarily focused on digital, there are some out-of-home opportunities that we are seeing in key and experiential markets now that the pandemic is over,” said Lowe. “Digitally, John leads the way as our core influencer, but we also work with a variety of content creators and influencers to bring our message to life.”
Loved01 calls itself “clean”, is cruelty-free and vegan. Working with Boakye, science played a key role in the development of the product.
“We have a mission to ensure the science and business of dermatology and the products that are taught, prescribed, and marketed to people with melanin-rich skin,” said Legend. , also did some initial learning about how dermatologists are taught and how products are tested. And FDA trials often ignore our skin.”
Each product is also formulated with a pH range tailored for melanin-rich skin. “Darker, melanin-rich skin is reported to be slightly more acidic, so we formulated it so that the pH range doesn’t confuse your skin or cause irritation or problems. Calm down.” hand.”
The debut line of exfoliating cleansers, face and body moisturizers, face and body oils, shave creams, toning mists and face and body washes will be expanded to address other skin concerns.
“We’re going to expand quite a bit,” Legend said. “More specialized products, and pigmentation-focused products. I will deal with the problem.”
Lowe added: They have very strong anti-inflammatory properties. We know that black and brown skin can react to external and environmental aggressors and cause skin irritation. ”
