EcoEssence: Creating a sustainable brand in the beauty category

In 2023, the French personal care conglomerate Clément appointed Charlotte Girard as the new brand manager of EcoEssence, a sustainable line of beauty and personal care products. This fledging brand had been launched in 2018, targeting the eco-conscious consumer segment that was willing to pay a premium price for a more natural/ sustainable offer. Girard took over at a critical point if time for EcoEssence. After a troubled arrival to the market, which involved a lawsuit from consumer groups that prompted the company to relaunch the product with a new formula, the disruptive brand was now doing well in France and parts of Western Europe but had seemed to reach a ceiling, and it was still far from the eur150 million global target that Clément's senior management had set for it. The brand now needed a further push to establish itself on the market and meet its targets. The case describes the history of Clément and its recent move to put sustainability at the center of its strategy, before going into detail in the development, launch, and subsequent relaunch of EcoEssence, before being taken over by Girard. Girard was one of Clément's most senior Marketing Managers, which showed the importance that the group gave to the EcoEssence product line. The brand needed to broaden beyond a pure sustainability focus in order to attract bigger target groups, gain critical mass, increase brand loyalty, and thus be able to stay in the market and grow. Girard and her team had to execute this in an increasingly challenging environment, all while taking into account Clément's new corporate sustainability strategy.