Evelyn Wang has joined Milani as chief marketing officer.
Wang, who was most recently senior vice president of marketing for Wet 'n' Wild at Markwins, starts at Milani on Tuesday. There she will oversee all things related to brand, digital, e-commerce, communications and creative, starting with a "huge digital push."
"Milani is an amazing brand in that it already has such high product quality — obviously with a color cosmetics brand, it starts with the product," said Wang. "As a result of that, there’s already so many consumers and influencers who have been organically discovering the brand. That’s kind of a great moment when you have a brand who already has this upward traction on its own."
At Milani, Wang plans to focus on amplifying the brand's organic growth, such as YouTube videos influencers have posted without payment from Milani.
"I was watching YouTube and there are these one-branded tutorials from Jackie Aina and MannyMUA, and the crazy thing is if you look at the amount of viewing time on these videos, the Jackie Aina video equates to 80 years of continuous viewing time and the MannyMUA is over 60 years on this one tutorial."
Milani's masstige positioning is an area where Wang has significant experience. She joined Markwins to lead marketing on Wet 'n' Wild in 2015, and has been credited with driving the mass makeup brand's consistent growth despite lagging mass market beauty sales.
"Consumers have fewer rules these days when it comes to shopping channels," said Wang. "They're not going to lower their expectations when it's sold at a drugstore or mass retailer. Milani has that uncompromising brand promise that it delivers quality to the consumer — it's truly the one brand in the drugstore bringing affordable luxury to the consumer."
A big focus for Wang will be enhancing consumer awareness of the brand via digital story-telling.
"When I look at brands that are relevant today, I think they are the brands that are tapping into key cultural moments and telling relevant brand stories," said Wang. "Millennial consumers more than any other have shown us when they choose a brand, they are buying into a brand story, promise, aesthetic and identity and the task and the focus with Milani is to amplify and sharpen that aspect."
Wang's appointment comes just three months after Milani tapped Grace Ray, formerly chief executive officer of Living Proof, as ceo. Private equity firm Gryphon Investors bought a majority stake of Milani in May.
Prior to Markwins, Wang spent four years on the L'Oréal Paris brand at L'Oréal, and four years working on Neutrogena at Johnson & Johnson.
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