Advising undergarments startup on brand strategy and creative direction.
In 2020-2021, the underwear market witnessed significant shifts. Victoria's Secret's declining market share opened the door for more inclusive and diverse brands, led by women, to establish their presence. The marked was ready disruption, attracting new entrants, including Chinese manufacturers transitioning from global brand production to launching their labels. Capitalizing on this shift, young Chinese startups targeted Gen-Z through cost-effective Instagram advertising, gaining a foothold in the fragmented market.
Peppermint, a Shenzhen-based startup formed by three friends with backgrounds in Silicon Valley, sought to leverage their US experience and connections with Chinese manufacturers. Their vision was to create a brand offering high-quality underwear at competitive prices. This consulting project chronicles Peppermint's journey from a mere concept to a fully-fledged brand, encompassing market positioning, brand identity, product development, and comprehensive marketing and growth strategies.
To move fast, we kicked off the brand with a discovery workshop with the core team on brand strategy.
Kicking Peppermint's journey off with a strategic discovery workshop to rapidly define the brand's direction.
Having secured seed funding, Peppermint aimed to rapidly validate its business model by establishing a tangible brand presence across multiple channels and touchpoints. The immediate objective involved testing their product, pricing, and overall value proposition. The primary hurdle was 'sourced product' nature of their first collection, which lacked differentiation to set them apart, including in pricing. Competitors like Parade in the US were aggressively capturing market share through heavy Instagram advertising and direct-to-consumer (D2C) sales, even at a loss, making it increasingly challenging for new brands to gain traction in a market where social media advertising returns are diminishing.
For Peppermint, the key to differentiation lay in carving out a unique niche in an underdeveloped yet promising market segment. The brand's distinctiveness would stem not from the product itself but from an authentic brand narrative. This narrative needed to resonate emotionally with customers, offering perceived value benefits that could eclipse the lack of of product's uniqueness.
Challenge
We landed on creating an empowering intimates brand that is both unisex and functionally versatile.
We landed on creating an empowering intimates brand that is both unisex and functionally versatile.
Positioning Peppermint as 'cool and sustainable underwear for every occasion', we emphasized attributes like comfort, functionality, style, and sustainability. Our strategy revolved around crafting underwear that was versatile, inclusive, comfortable, moisture-wicking, and odor-resistant, suitable for various activities.
Targeting an audience as diverse as our product range, the brand drew inspiration from the founders' experiences to support individuals regardless of height, weight, sex, or gender. The narrative we crafted focused on themes of vulnerability, stepping out of comfort zones, self-acceptance, and the resultant empowerment and support.
We took this narrative to build a brand and a community that epitomized radical inclusivity and personal growth. Our vision for Peppermint was to transform it into a symbol of a movement that champions support and empowerment. Peppermint - your support system.
Approach
The brand identity is ever-changing and evolving, bold and created to stop the scroll, to pop off the screen.
The brand identity is ever-changing and evolving, bold and created to stop the scroll, be different.
Solution
In partnership with the founders, we divided our work into three strategic monthly sprints: strategy, product & marketing, and growth. Central to our approach was 'Peppermint - your support system,' under which we developed a unique, versatile, and inclusive brand identity, distilled into two main features: the Peppermint logo and its signature color.
The logo and color were carefully crafted to distinguish Peppermint from conventional and uninspired brands. The dynamic Peppermint logo is designed to be stretchy, bold, and unique, embodying the brand's distinctive character. Its signature color, a vivid green-blue, combines the luxury feel of brands like Tiffany with a playful and bold twist, existing solely in RGB to highlight its digital-first nature.
Customers are to discover Peppermint as the underwear of choice by KOLs and influencers who are, like our brand, weird and different, seeking support as they grow outside their comfort zone. The channel strategy is to leverage social media for brand building and ads for further retardeting using owned channels and marketplaces.
The first underwear collection focused on physical and emotional comfort inside one's skin.
The first underwear collection focused on physical and emotional comfort inside one's skin.
Results
Within just three months, Peppermint successfully made its debut in the US market, leveraging key digital platforms like TikTok and Instagram for customer acquisition. By July 2022, the brand expanded its presence with a new office in Los Angeles, enhancing its proximity to the customer base. Remarkably, Peppermint amassed over 20,000 Instagram followers and distributed 10,000 pairs of underwear for free as effective acquisition strategy.
Ultimately, Peppermint navigated its market entry effectively, preserving its investment capital. Impressively, the company succeeded in saving 75% of its initial investment, a testament to the agility of its brand strategy and the impact of our collaborative effort.
Our ambition was to create an agile brand, easy to manage, fun to be part of yet with a deep and engaging narrative.
