Why blogging pioneer Tina Craig is prioritizing print in her beauty brand’s first campaign

Today, Craig is channeling the knowledge she gained running BagSnob.com into the first-ever ad campaign for her startup beauty brand, U Beauty. “What began as this blog based on my personal passions for luxury fashion and beauty, evolved into this far-reaching enterprise that not only gave me a great platform to launch this endeavor, [but] it also fed my obsession with skincare,” says Craig.

Developed with creative agency Kingsland, the ‘Precision matters’ campaign launched this week across digital, out-of home placements in Dallas, San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York City, as well as two-page print ads in several publications, including New York Magazine, the New York Times, the Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal, among others.

Despite Craig’s career on the internet, she and her team placed a heavy emphasis on print for U Beauty’s inaugural marketing campaign. The reason? To target “skintellectuals“ (described by the brand as consumers curious about innovations in skincare) as well as a mature, literate and affluent clientele who enjoys the luxurious, tactile feel of glossy articles and advertisements.

“The decision-making around print and out-of-home was guided by brand positioning imperatives,” explains Kate Klobe Wasserstein, chief brand officer of U Beauty. “We really wanted to sit alongside the watch and jewelry brands that were advertising there, because we believe our brand deserves to be there in terms of quality.”

Founded in March of 2020, U Beauty is a skincare line whose products sell for $58 to $228. According to Craig, U Beauty stands out from other skincare brands in the marketplace due to its novel, patent-pending technology dubbed “Siren capsules.“ Developed by a medical-grade lab in Italy, the Siren capsules reportedly penetrate deeper than any other capsule in the world to reverse damage on the skin and protect it from future damage.

Naturally, U Beauty’s first major marketing push needed to not only draw a distinction between the brand and several other influencer-created brands, but also educate consumers on its novel technology. And in such cases, print might be the best medium to do so. According to Katie Borghese, chief marketing officer at U Beauty, the endeavor builds on other recent print-based efforts from U Beauty.

“This was the year of print for us; we previously worked on two catalogues via direct mail,“ she says. “This two-page spread also gives us a little bit more space to dive into the science. The newsletters are more copy heavy – our customers can’t get enough of those. They enjoy that dialogue and having a deeper understanding of our products and the science behind them.“

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