CHALLENGE
Beauty is big business. Really big business. The majority of power rests in the hands of a few, who sell the same story they’ve been selling for the past 100 years. It’s a safe and proven formula; there’s only one problem – for Gen Z, it’s all bullsh!t. To differentiate and connect with this audience, a no-bs brand was needed.
As an accessible, trusted advisor that sparks authentic conversations between consumers and brands, Mira helps consumers connect with the brands they love, and, in turn, allows brands to better serve the beauty community. This central hub function meant mira was at the crossroads of many different audiences.
A core challenge was speaking to the beauty category while recognizing that this is a technology platform, functioning as both a search engine and a social/connection app. And, as is common with startups, there was an aggressive push to launch in a few months. Fortunately, we’ve seen this before!
SOLUTION
We started by applying our proprietary process for branding, focusing first on an in-depth on-site discovery facilitated at Mira HQ. C42D conducted additional research, investigated trends, and fleshed out user personas. Once we had the raw materials, we developed our findings and recommendations for brand strategy. We then developed key messaging, a brand narrative, tone of voice, value proposition, brand attributes, and a map of how the brand positioning is structured.
We used a vibrant color palette as a starting point to build the design system, followed by a photography library that accentuates authenticity. Mira is all about people discovering and experimenting with real beauty products in their homes. Thus, it was important to include photography that felt authentic, unprocessed and not styled by a makeup artist. We employed bold, rounded, slightly quirky typefaces and friendly, organic shapes to evoke youthful brand expression. Fun, authenticity and energy were our guiding principles.
