MAM
GUEST COLUMN: Can D2C beauty brands of today be the market leaders of tomorrow?
Mumbai: A lot is being written and said about direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands in general, and D2C beauty brands in particular. Low entry barriers, relative ease of consumer targeting through online channels, and a burgeoning beauty market overall have led to a veritable explosion of beauty brands that have followed an online-only (or online-first) approach to product marketing. Can these brands eventually replace some of the incumbents today as the market leaders of tomorrow? The answer (the easy one, as always) – it depends. On what? Three key factors:
Product strength and innovation capabilities
Marketing gets the customer; the product keeps her. Any amount of smart & shiny marketing (made all the easier through creator apps) will not substitute for the moment of truth when the consumer applies the product on face, lips, hair or body. And for the compliments, she gets from friends or family or colleagues, which is a key factor in driving overall delight with the product.
Being able to consistently deliver on interesting promises, while keeping up with rapidly evolving tastes and trends, is the top critical success factor for new-age brands looking to become market leaders. This takes a motley combination of agility, patience, long-term commitment, and the right innovation approach to get the marketing mix right – again and again.
Omnichannel expansion
Despite explosive growth, the online channel still accounts for 10 per cent or less of the overall beauty market in India. It is believed that the online share in China and the US is closer to 50 per cent, even with the post-Covid acceleration. It’s clear, therefore, that in the medium term, any brand with scale ambitions has to be able to succeed in both online as well as brick-and-mortar distribution environment. The two could not be more different from each other and need diverse sets of skills and capabilities to be developed. The arrival and maturing of distribution aggregator apps might make this a little easier for newer brands, though.
Scalable systems and processes
Most of the (well-funded) emerging brands today are solving for speed and agility (defined as flexibility and speed of response). Sustainability of the approach, margin stability and resilience in the face of extreme market swings (on both supply- or demand-side) are yet being developed. Several brands are expected to reach a somewhat mature stage over the next 2-5 years, and those that are able to put in place scalable systems and processes across functions (marketing, distribution, supply chain etc) would be the ones poised to make the leap into the big league.
The landscape in 2026
The inherent strength of the incumbent brands in terms of brand, distribution and product capabilities notwithstanding, it can be safely said that the dynamics of the industry have changed forever. Consumers are open to (and in fact, hungry for) fresh ideas and delightful new experiences, and a lesser-known brand is no longer a barrier. The market is likely to be no longer dominated by a handful of brands but would indeed have a ‘fat middle’ of similar-sized brands, best known for a few categories each. To get there, and stay there, new-age brands have their work cut out along the above three dimensions.
(About Author: Shankar Prasad is the founder and CEO of Plum)
MAM
VML India lands two finalist spots at Cairns Hatchlings 2026
The Mumbai agency is back in Australia with two teams, a UN brief and 24 hours to impress
MUMBAI: VML India is heading to Australia again. The Mumbai-based creative agency has secured two finalist spots at the Cairns Hatchlings 2026 competition, one in the Audio category and one in Design, making it the only Indian agency to have reached the finals in both editions of the contest since its launch in 2025.
Four people will make the trip. Senior copywriter Shilpi Dey and senior art director Raj Thakkar will compete in Audio. Art directors Shabbir and Shruti Negi will go head-to-head with the world’s best in Design. The finals take place at the Cairns Convention Centre from 13th May, culminating in an awards ceremony on 15th May.
The work that got them there is worth examining. For the Audio category, Dey and Thakkar tackled a brief for LIVE LIKE MMAD with a campaign called Inner Voice, Interrupted. Using spatial audio techniques, the campaign recreates the overwhelming self-doubt that descends after a long workday, physically panning negative thoughts left and right before cutting the noise entirely to reveal a confident inner voice. Strategically targeted at commuters via Spotify during evening rush hours, the campaign reframes the hours after work as an opportunity for personal growth and charitable action.
For the Design category, Shabbir and Negi worked on a brief for Canteen’s Bandanna Day, a campaign highlighting how cancer pushes teenagers out of their own defining moments. Using a pixelated design language to create stark contrast between a blurred world of isolation and a focused world of connection, the campaign, titled The Flipside of Cancer, shows teenagers fading into the background of birthdays, skateparks and school proms. As a Canteen bandanna appears, the blur flips and the teenager snaps back into sharp focus.
Kalpesh Patankar, group chief creative officer of VML India, made no attempt to disguise his satisfaction. “We are immensely proud to see our teams consistently excel on the Cairns Hatchlings platform since its inception,” he said. “They have masterfully tackled challenging briefs across diverse categories, demonstrating both layered storytelling and a unique creative approach. This exceptional teamwork is truly inspiring.”
Dey and Thakkar, returning to the finals after last year’s run, were candid about the demands of the audio medium. “It’s one of the most demanding mediums, where we only have a few seconds to capture a listener’s world with sound alone, so absolute clarity is essential,” they said. “The true measure of creative work is its ability to create positive change, and our audio submission was made to help those who need it most while encouraging people to silence the inner voices that hold them back.”
Shabbir and Negi, competing in Design for the first time, described the experience as “a completely different beast.” “We see it as an opportunity to showcase our expertise, raise the bar, and challenge ourselves in new ways, while also learning from creative minds from across the globe,” they said.
In Australia, the four finalists will face a live 24-hour brief from the United Nations before presenting in a live pitch session. Twenty-four hours, one brief, one shot. VML India has been here before. It knows exactly what is at stake.
