Image by grahamc99 via Flickr

You may be running your own one-woman-man-and-a-dog band or heading up the UK arm of a global enterprise or part of a team anywhere in the huge range of companies working in our industry.

We are in all business and fortunately it is the beauty business. Fortunately, because it is surviving the financial storms so well but the underlying pressure of uncertainty is a common thread we all share.

Our view is to keep pushing ahead; keep one eye on the financial weather but keep the focus facing forwards and the result has been an increase in business.

I have had the same conversation with many people now and heard so many positive comments which themselves are a reflection of the whole positive nature of the beauty business:
“I can’t bear to read the papers or hear the news because it is just too depressing, we just have to keep our heads up and keep powering on.”
“At times you wonder if it’s all worthwhile but then something good happens and you realise that it is.”
“Human nature is stronger than the economy and by sheer determination and vision we will succeed.”

If you think about it beauty is about feeling good, looking good, building confidence and this attribute is deep within the DNA of the people driving the industry which is key to why we do succeed and that along with products that fulfil the consumers’ needs makes for a very exciting combination!

What motivated me to write this?
Driving in this morning Radio 4 reported on Italy’s bond rates exceeding the critical 7% figure; investors are moving out of the safe currency countries such as Austria and Robert Peston mentioned ‘meltdown’. The traffic was horrendous, even though of course I was also ‘the traffic’ and for the briefest of seconds a wave of despair entered my brain.

So is this my own personal counselling session? Of course not but this morning inspired me to put pen to paper (well fingers to keyboard) and express the overall and overwhelming positive vibe we pick up on in our everyday dealings at every level in the beauty business and which inspire my team to keep pushing forwards. There are also some other key statistical indicators.

Ad revenues are up year on year across every beauty sector.

The number of beauty editorial product mentions is up, overall.

Fragrance column centimetres will continue to increase in 2012 and we predict an increase in ad spend around celebrity brands.

There are some downs. 39% less new product launches but that can help the consumer who is tending to stay with their tried and tested favourites, and after all it is the consumer who is the litmus test of our success, and success is what the beauty industry delivers.

Selecting Product Ranges

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9th September 2011

Beauty Snipz

There’s Gold in Them Thar’ Hills.

As you know we love to show off how much we know about the beauty business so thought that you might appreciate receiving our weekly snip.

If national press titles are on your target list, it is worth knowing that nearly 50% of all beauty coverage falls in between pages 25 to 49.

So do you want stand out or be in with the crowd?

Need to know more? Drop us a line and we can dig a little bit deeper!

From the Engine Room

The Price is Write

Our team of analyst looks at over 10,000 piece of beauty coverage a month. Unsurprisingly this means that they know more about whats happening in beauty than just about anyone else. Each week we’ll let you know what they’ve been talking about.

And this week the thought of Katie Price launching a magazine has been sending shudders through the team. We don’t think we’ll be adding this to our reading list just yet but we will be keeping an eye on it. If it become an important title for beauty coverage then we’ll have no choice.

The problem will be finding a member of the team to read it. Maybe Katie will come in and do it for us – she is clearly a fan.

Beauty and the Blogs

Each week we’ll look at some of the most interesting stories from the UK Beauty Blogs:

• The British Beauty Blogger has a very honest post about her relationship with PRs.
• The Yummy Mummy Beauty Blog lists her six summer staples.
• Beauty’s Bad Habit talks about the products she regrets buying.
• I Heart Cosmetics takes us through her pre-holiday beauty preparations.

2nd September 2011

Beauty Snipz

As you know we love to show off how much we know about the beauty business so thought that you might appreciate receiving our weekly snip.

Did you know that in Look! magazine an amazing 52% of its beauty coverage is about cosmetics. That is 21% above any other publication.

So if your consumers are after your ‘look’, look no further! (Apologies – we couldn’t resist).

From the Engine Room

Worn out of Warne

Our team of analyst looks at over 10,000 piece of beauty coverage a month. Unsurprisingly this means that they know more about whats happening in beauty than just about anyone else. Each week we’ll let you know what they’ve been talking about.

The hot topic this week has been male vanity. Much discussion has been had both in the papers and in the office in regards to Shane Warne, Wayne Rooney and others. Apparently the over preened look is on its way out and a more natural look for men is coming back again.

Shane claims his look is just down to the glow of love and Elizabeth Hurley’s moisturiser. Wayne Rooney has more pressing concerns.

Beauty and the Blogs

Each week we’ll look at some of the most interesting stories from the UK Beauty Blogs:

• Handbag.com lists 10 iconic beauty products from the last 10 years.
• Style Junkie looks into Coconut Oil.
• Amrita at The 6Inch Stilettos lists her top 10 make up brushes.
• Just Nice Things asks 20 questions to fellow blogger Nightly Nails.
• Escentual looks at the beauty trends for Autumn/Winter 2011.

If it’s been a while since you looked at the help section then now is a great time to check it out. In particular the worksheets provide step by step guides to helping you get more out of your reports.

To access the help section simply click one of the help link at the top right of the page:

In the help section you find four links that take you to the different help resources:

The resource are listed as:

The quick start guide and training videos are a great place to get started or remind you of what mymarketmonitor.com can do.

If you want to understand more about how we evaluate beauty print media then check out the methodology and reading list.

Finally the ‘Worksheets and Examples’ section will show you how to do everything from finding the AVE for a specific article to creating custom groupings.

If you have any feedback or would like to suggest an idea for a worksheet then don’t hesitate to email or comment below.

That is nearly 10% higher than any other publication.

Have you got a beauty business question we can run a Snip on? We would love to hear from you.

But Closer magazine bucks the trend with 50%, and Celebrity coverage accounts for 60% of that 50%.

So if you’re a cosmetics brand with a celebrity maybe Closer is worth a closer look?

Have you got a beauty business question we can run a Snip on? We would love to hear from you.

Beauty Editors know what their readers want so you will be interested to hear that ‘Face Of’ beauty coverage is up by a massive 204%.

Conversely ‘Editor’s Choice’ an influential driver for any beauty brand is down by nearly 30% so maybe it’s time to take someone out to lunch again!

Hopefully you find our Snipz interesting and we would love to hear from you with any ideas for future Snipz.

Skincare launched 2,694 new products this year to date, more than any other beauty category.

26% of new products this year are skincare products.

In particular it suggests that the UK has fallen by 100,000 users in a month. With Mark Zuckerburg predicting Facebook will reach 1 Billion users, is this a sign that Facebook could end up going the way of MySpace and Friends Reunited?