Christina and Amelie Zilber

Christina Zilber, Founder & CEO Jouer, is aiming to broaden the clean beauty brand’s reach through a new partnership with a Gen Z influencer she knows very well – her daughter, Amelie. The brand will debut a limited-edition shade of its Blush + Bloom Cheek Duo ($32) coinciding with the influencer’s 19th birthday on March 27.  Amelie, who uses her social platform to raise awareness on political and social issues, has 2.2 million followers on Instagram (@ameliezilber) and 6.2 million followers on TikTok. This is the first time the mother-daughter duo have partnered for the family brand.

Launched in 2008, Jouer is currently available in 22 retailers, e-tailers and boutiques globally including Sephora, Beauty Bay, Mecca, Beautylish, Cult Beauty, Douglas, and Amazon, as well as cross border ecommerce in China. The brand has plans to increase its international expansion and will announce two new online retailer launches in April.

Jouer is trending 300 percent online over 2020 since last spring and is projecting 200 percent overall growth in 2021. Here, CEW Beauty News spoke to Christina about partnering with Amelie, ecommerce strategies and she shares a peek into how the brand uses Clubhouse, which she’ll be discussing in more detail at CEW’s upcoming event this Thursday.  

CEW Beauty News: Why is now the right time to partner with Amelie?
Christina Zilber: JouerxAmelie is Jouer’s first collaboration in our best-selling Blush & Bloom Cheek and Lip duo category. Amelie was closely involved with the development of the product. For years she had been mixing shades of our discontinued lipsticks to create her signature bright rose shade. She would throw it on her lips and cheeks and we just thought, this is perfect, let’s make this shade and have it come from her with her point of view. She’s also very much a minimalist who doesn’t wear a lot of makeup, so she wanted the second end of the dual-sided component to have a subtle glow balm to hydrate and give luminosity. We continue to stay focused on reinforcing our core messaging of “good for your skin, clean, ingredients in beautiful wearable shades.”

BN: What are some key strategies that has helped the business thrive during the pandemic?
CZ: Jouer was seriously affected by the pandemic, as so many brands were. For the past few years, we had shifted our focus to supporting new retail doors and our own ecommerce took a back seat. When lockdown became more permanent, we had to change course which takes time and strategy. Labs closed and our launch calendar was thrown off. We shifted to strengthen our ecommerce, re-promoted core categories like foundation, blush and lip, launched a loyalty program and developed and launched our Hand 2 Hand sanitizers, which propelled our sales in the early days of the pandemic.

BN: Can you share insights on the brand’s marketing strategy?
CZ: Aside from shifting our focus from retail to ecommerce marketing, our strategy hasn’t changed much. We’re continuing our influencer marketing strategy with sends and fostering that community with new additions and improved communication. Our social media marketing strategy has evolved as new emerging platforms call for more video content and we’ve been testing in Clubhouse to gain new insights as well as meet new faces in the beauty community. We will be taking about our Clubhouse strategy at CEW’s Trend Talks event on Thursday, March 25.

For ecommerce marketing, we’ve been focusing on building customer retention through a robust loyalty program that we launched in the Spring of 2020. Giving customers an opportunity to earn points for products has proven successful so we’re strategizing new ways to make that program even stronger in 2021. With ecommerce being a top priority, we’re constantly auditing and optimizing our website to meet the needs of our customer with things like expanding our product pages, improving our Foundation Finder Quiz and launching our blog, Jouer Memo, to bring more added value to their shopping experience.

BN: How is the brand been performing in China since it entered the market in 2019?
CZ: Conducting business in China has yielded fantastic growth opportunities for Jouer. The Chinese consumer has been a longtime fan of the brand and we see that reflected in our sales. In December of 2020, sales were up 50 percent versus October and there’s been such a high demand for blush that our forecasting is up 25 percent for 2021. We’re known for our lip care products and we’re seeing the expansion of that category take off as well.

BN: What advice do you have for entrepreneurs?
CZ: Jouer has experienced growth spurts over the years and it’s always been a result of pivoting our marketing. I would say don’t get attached to any one platform or any one style. Have an experimental attitude, often the experts are a step behind.

Christina will be on a panel at CEW’s upcoming free event, Trend Talks: Insiders Discuss Social’s Next Wave: Clubhouse, at 12pm EST on March 25.  Moderated by Mimi Banks, Founder and CEO of MB Social, the panel will also include Divya Gugnani, CEO & Co-founder, Wander Beauty; Ron Robinson, Founder & CEO, Beautystat; Elana Drell-Szyfer, CEO, RéVive Skincare; Michela Wariebi, Makeup Artist, Beauty Educator and Originator of The Beauty Clubhouse, and Katie Welch, CMO, Rare Beauty. The panel will share insights on how Clubhouse works, best practices and the roles of brands on the platform. To learn more and register, click here.