On May 20, beauty fans descended on Brooklyn Cruise Terminal for Beautycon. The one-day-only festival combines experience culture, influencer meet-and-greets, beauty tutorials and product samples for today’s buzziest consumer-facing beauty event.
Now in its fourth year, Beautycon NYC has grown to include three times as many brands as last year. Panels and meet-and-greets offered a stacked roster of celebrities that included YouTuber Gigi Gorgeous, Gabrielle Union, Drew Barrymore, the founders of January’s Women’s March and more.
Beautycon festivals have proved irresistible to generation Z and millennial beauty fanatics, a highly-sought-after yet fickle demographic. They are even shaping the way a new generation shops: According to a new survey from Beautycon and Trendalytics, 12% of 13- to 18-year-old beauty junkies said festivals were their most important source of information when looking for new products.
Beyond festivals, this “IRL and URL” brand also offers a digital content platform and a subscription box. At the festival, CEO Moj Mahdara sat down with JWT Intelligence to discuss generation Z consumers, cult brands, and the future of the beauty industry.
What accounts for Beautycon’s success?
There’s a quote that says, “Luck is when preparedness meets opportunity.” We are, as a team of people, very into culture, experiences, and brands. There was just something massive missing for this audience. Who’s really focused on creating a platform for young women and people to feel amazing about themselves? And to enjoy being freaks, and enjoy being expressive.
We are super intuitive and we pay attention to our audience. We’re obsessed with what they want. We ask them in a hundred different ways: surveys, questionnaires, interviews, focus groups. So we’re close to our audience.