Marketing Happy Hour - Building Marketing Strategies Grounded in Tangible Results (+ Modernizing Legacy) | Blair Lancer of Lancer Skincare

Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to Marketing Happy Hour, a weekly podcast helping marketing professionals and entrepreneurs build better strategies and hit career goals. I'm Cassie and I'm Allie. We're marketers and your host through these unfiltered convos with your peers and experts in the space. Let's dive in. Grab your favorite drink and let's get to this week's episode. We are very excited to have Blair Lancer here today with us, a CMO of Lancer's skincare. So excited to dive in to just the story behind the brand, their philosophy. I will say, Allie and I have been absolutely loving our products so far. And so I'm sure we'll get into that a little bit more. But Blair, welcome to the show. Thank you for having me. And I'm so excited to hear that I know we were just

Starting point is 00:00:46 chatting, but music to my ears. Yes, absolutely. So I'm really curious. I'm actually going to switch up this question a little bit now that I'm thinking about it. I would love to know, one, of course, what's been in your glass lately. And then number two, what's your current favorite Lancer skincare product. Perfect. Okay, well, I keep my skincare and beverages the same. Very, very simple. I never really switched them up.

Starting point is 00:01:11 I have recently, and I know now it's warm out today, but it was cold. I am such a hot water with Lemon Girl or a Freshman Peppermint Tea Girl. Those are so big for me. I never switch those out. But I would love to switch out for an April Sprits soon because it is beautiful. What is my favorite product? Okay, I know we just talked about this. The method is my core. I know technically that's three products. If not, I would count that, but the polish. The polish has been our bestseller number one since like the day we launched. I cannot go a day without it. I know certain people have to build up to it if you're not used to using an exfoliator daily. This was formulated to be used every single day. It's gentle enough. And I swear I was just telling you, if I don't use it for a day, like I can actually see a difference in my skin. I can feel a difference. Like, I'm so. addicted. So yes, I love it. We were also telling you off record that that has been a favorite of ours.

Starting point is 00:02:08 Again, just like, you know, tangibly, visibly cleaner, smoother. It's amazing. So highly recommend we'll have, we'll have all the links to the products below. So definitely check those out. But Blair, with that too, if you don't mind, like introduce yourself for us and tell us a little bit more about the brand too. Totally. So my dad is at practice. Dermatologist. I always had this innate desire to carry on his legacy, but I never wanted to be a doctor. I thought dermatology was absolutely not happening for me. So my background is actually in fashion. I studied fashion at NYU for undergrad, all my internships, et cetera. Everything was in that space. And then I believe it was junior year. I landed, I think it was in the EEP program at SACS,

Starting point is 00:02:55 if that's what it's still called. So I worked there. That turned into a full-time position. and I was actually shocked to see that, obviously, I'm a fashion girl. I love the fashion. I thought that that would, like, catch my eye. But when I was there, I was so fascinated by just like the cosmetics department and all these cosmetics buyers and what they were doing and what was cool, what wasn't, what was missing. And that was the first time that I thought like, oh, maybe there is a way to bridge my true passion of fashion and beauty and all of that with the medical side in the skincare and also working with family. So that was about 10 years ago now. Time flies. And I decided to go back to the family business. So, you know, a big piece of that was there was really a white space at that

Starting point is 00:03:42 point. There wasn't really a skincare brand that was dabbling in makeup. Makeup wasn't really dabbling in skincare. There was just a huge gap. So I went back and, you know, I shared this with my dad with the team and that's when we launched our enhancement category. So if you'll have to try, if you haven't already, the Danny Glowing Skin Perfector, named after my mom because she does not wear a foundation. It's like this great universal, fabulous, glowing product. But that was our first step into that arena. And I just loved working with family. And it's very much, I always say it's church and state because my dad is on the medical side.

Starting point is 00:04:20 He's practicing. And I'm on the business side. So it's like, you're working with your family, but it's not 24-7. So yeah, it was really great. I basically started from the ground up, was doing, I think my first role was social media. And then it was communications working with, I guess there weren't like true influencers back then, but makeup artists like YouTube makeup, like Desi Perkins, that whole area, working with collaborations and mailers, all that good stuff.

Starting point is 00:04:50 Then I moved into PR. And then COVID hit are. CEO at the time called me and she basically just said, you know, COVID has hit. We're fully restructuring the company and I need you to build out and run the new product development department. And I thought she was crazy because I had never been in this area at all. I'm like me, you want me to do that? She said, it's fine. We'll have training wheels. We'll have somebody come, you know, help you out or train you, mentor you. And I'm so happy I did. It's the best thing I truly ever did because it kind of led me to where I am now. I think being really,

Starting point is 00:05:25 really at the core of our brand. When you're marketing, and obviously you guys know this well, it's very easy to storytell and to come up with, you know, ingredient stories and what the consumer wants, but to actually be with the products from beginning to end from, you know, inception and really just working with doctor, he practices full time. So to be able to hear from his patients directly, to get very interesting, cool new ingredients from his medical journals like that piece of it to work with the lab to test and then do the marketing piece it kind of just all tied together so because of that I moved more so into marketing which is really where I am now overseeing you know social media communications marketing product development etc and then I'm sure

Starting point is 00:06:12 we'll talk about this later but the second piece has really been becoming a face of the brand so that happened about probably a year or two at this point ago and I mean, if you had told me 10 years ago, I would be filming myself talking to a camera. I would have laughed. But that's a majority of my role now. It's, you know, speaking directly to the consumer, coming up with fun videos just to have that like young female relatable voice. And a little background, sorry, went a little off track, but on the actual skincare brand. So Dr. Lancer founded this brand. He started practicing in the 80s. Always had this brand available to all of his patients, but it was never, you know, consumer face. And so, Dr. And so Dr. Dr. Lanser founded this brand. He started practicing in the 80s. Always had this brand. But it was never, you know, you know, or commercial until Oprah was actually one of his patients. And she said, you know, these products are incredible. It's crazy that nobody has access to them. So she launched us. I believe it was in 2011. I can't believe it's been, I guess, 15 years. And the rest is history. So here we are. I love it. That's absolutely amazing. Thank you so much for sharing a little bit about your journey, but also Lancer's journey as well. I want to double click into something you said specifically

Starting point is 00:07:22 around it being a family business. I think there are a lot of assumptions in the industry about, you know, what it's like to actually grow up in a family business. And I'm curious to hear from you, what's something people maybe assume about growing up in a family business that isn't actually true? I think it's different depending, one, on your actual family, to the industry and three, the size of the company. We're not, you know, like a huge, huge, huge brand. So it operates a bit differently. I would say the biggest misconception. People think, oh, you know, you're the daughter. You walked in a CMO the day you showed up and that's it.

Starting point is 00:07:59 And I would almost argue it's the opposite. I think because my last name is Lancer, I had to like double prove myself. And it's funny. I actually was on a podcast maybe like two or so months ago with another team member of ours. And she was saying, you know, Blair, I always have to push you because you have these ideas and you want to execute them. that you're like too scared to push anyone because you think since you're a Lancer, like,

Starting point is 00:08:24 I try not to like overstep. So I would say that's definitely it. People think I just like make all the decisions and don't really address anyone else's concerns. And it is the absolute opposite when it's your company, I would say. Absolutely. And I think it's it's funny that people jump to that, right? That doesn't really make a lot of sense. Like when you think about it in practice. And I think one of the things you touched on is the work that you're doing to actually kind of lead a shift at Lancer, particularly to go into that younger category and have the brand resonate a little bit more in terms of how the look and feel is and the tone of voice. And so what actually sparked that need? Is that something that you felt like it was time to go into a new category?

Starting point is 00:09:06 What kind of sparked that for you? Yes. I think it was, it had to be a couple summers ago. I was with a bunch of friends and they're pretty well versed in this industry. And I would say, you know, our products are so amazing. And they said, I know they're so great, but like, I think people look at them and think they're not ready yet. And it just clicked. That's what it is. We were almost coming off as like your mother's brand. Like, I'm not of a certain age yet. I don't have fine lines or wrinkles. I don't need to be bothered. In the meantime, let me just stick with like pink, fun, fruity, watermelon, skin care, whatever it may be, like just fun stuff. So I would say that definitely sparked it. And, you know, people always ask me,

Starting point is 00:09:49 I'm somebody, you know, I don't get filler, I don't get Botox, I haven't had, like, I pretty much just get facials and, you know, knock on wood, people compliment my skin. And I always say, you know, less is more. I almost think people who get a lot done, sometimes that ages you. But that's because of using this really incredible, let's call it clinical doctor brand skincare since I was, you know, 11-ish years old, 12 years old. So I thought, you know, we're really missing that piece, people need to see this brand as multi-generational. Like, it's not necessarily once you hit a certain age. And I think it was coming off a bit almost like cold and clinical and just not approachable, not relatable. And so, you know, I thought, what is the best way to change that? And I really figured

Starting point is 00:10:38 it's not necessarily through the education and the storytelling quite yet with the ingredients and the products, but it was that like first hit with the consumer of the visual when they first see you. So, you know, that's a couple different pieces. One, if they want to look you up or Google you, that's the website. So we did a full website revamp. Two, packaging. We did a body revamp. And you'll start to see, look, we just launched a new product a couple months ago. That's a newer packaging. That's kind of, that'll be an evolution. We didn't want to just shock people with like a full rebrand, you know, right off the bat, we'll start to see that. And then the biggest piece was really social media, which I'm sure is no shock. But the social media piece, I mean, when we started,

Starting point is 00:11:22 let's call it 15 years ago, everything was so aesthetically pleasing. Like, everything on social media had to be so perfect. It was like a well-orchestrated photo shoot. And that's just not the case anymore. And I think as the consumer gets younger and more intrigued by skin care, you kind of have to adapt. I don't really believe in following trends and we can get into that. But it was more so we just needed to be authentic and real and true to ourselves, but in a way that felt relatable and just not so scary. So now we have, you know, lighter social media and we have a lot of UGC and real people coming out who have used the products trying, you know, trying everything. You know, we've gone to TikTok and Instagram. We were predominantly Facebook before that. But yeah, that was, I think that was the first

Starting point is 00:12:09 moment that sparked it and now it's just been this kind of long evolution. We didn't want this one hit wonder moment. We didn't want it to be, you know, today we're relaunching the brand. Here's all new packaging. Here's a new website. Here's this. We just figured we want the consumer to grow with us and we're going to make changes along the way. So yeah, that was a long-winded answer, but that's what sparked it. No, that's great. And I want to go back to that trends conversation here in a minute. But first, I'm just kind of curious. You already kind of teed up, you know, that you're doing all of these different things on these different platforms. When you're overseeing everything from product to social to any sort of campaigns that you're building, how do you just ensure that everything is staying

Starting point is 00:12:52 cohesive and aligned with that brand image and with what you guys are trying to accomplish goal-wise? I would almost argue, and I think a lot of people probably would disagree with me, but I think if you're having to try to be cohesive, then you may not fully be authentic to yourself. I think that if you really know your heritage, you really know your brand and your core, and you've done that work, everything just naturally and organically will be cohesive. Like, for example, you know, we now have two voices. We used to only have one, which was Dr. Lancer. Now you have the two of us. We have him. He's in a white lab coat. He is the science, the authenticity. He's that trust that you have. And then we introduced my voice, which is, like I said, you know, younger, female, more relatable.

Starting point is 00:13:41 But our story is the same. Our messaging is the same. Like, nothing has really changed or shifted. We're just showing you this is what has worked for X amount of years. We've gotten great feedback on this. So this is what we're bringing out. This is our truth. And even back to social media.

Starting point is 00:13:56 Like, here are other people who have experienced the brand. So on all of our channels and all of our retailers, everything we're doing, it just organically becomes cohesive because we know our story so well and we really stick to it. Yeah. No, that's, that's great. I really love that point. And I guess similar to just following trends, right? Like, if you know who you are and who you're speaking to as a brand, a lot of these trends often, I'm sure for you, don't quite make sense to tap into. So tell us a little bit more about just your approach with trends. Like, how do you guys look at that as a brand overall? And what's your approach to content instead. Yeah, I mean, the content piece is one piece of it. I mean,

Starting point is 00:14:41 especially TikTok more so I would say than Instagram, maybe both, but on TikTok, it's so easy to fall into that. And people come up with these skincare trends that like, I don't even know where these are coming from. They're so wild. But people will just look at, you know, I like this influencer. I like the way she looks. So I'm going to copy exactly what she does to a T. And this person has, you know, different skin than you do, different skincare, different genetics. Like there's so many things that go into this. Copying one person never really works out well. But I do feel the same way with trends that when you're chasing a trend, it shows.

Starting point is 00:15:17 People can tell. Like I even as a consumer, I can tell when other brands are doing it. It's just not authentic. And you almost, again, you lose your core. And it's like they're throwing spaghetti at the wall and just seeing what sticks. Then you're almost diluting your demographic a little bit because some people, are going to like one thing. Some people are going to like this. Other people are going to like this. You're like spreading yourself too thin versus really focusing on your core demographic and then

Starting point is 00:15:43 bringing people in who actually resonate with your core. So I would say that. I also think it's a really big issue with ingredients. So I think some people will hear, you know, like a random buzzword and brands will look and see, okay, this exact term is all over the place. Like longevity, I would say, is like the biggest one right now. Such a buzzword. Most people don't even know what it means 100%. I actually went to an event yesterday off topic where they were discussing this.

Starting point is 00:16:11 And this person who had built a whole wellness center on longevity was even saying we don't fully know it. So like we're all just learning. It's very easy and like very early. But anyway, the point of this is a lot of brands will look at a buzzword and just say, okay, we have to shoot out a product right now.

Starting point is 00:16:28 Like this is going to be the new hot ingredient for 2026, let's just get a white label product, bring it, like, slap our label on and sell it. And the issue with that is you're always chasing trends. You're always chasing the buzz. So your products might not always be the best. If you're doing white label all the time, just throwing a label on there, people are going to start to see that the efficacy is not there. So I think if you wait until even a year or two down the line when the ingredients and the technology improves, you're going to get an ingredient or a product that's significantly better. People are going to try it. They're going to re-buy. They'll be a repeat customer versus, you know, just throwing

Starting point is 00:17:08 things together for the hell of it because you've heard this word online. Yeah. Well, speaking of that, too, that tees up my next question perfectly. So what does clinical credibility actually mean in a world full of marketing buzzwords? Like, what are you guys kind of leaning into on your packaging and in your marketing, I'm not sure that there's that authenticity and transparency there. Totally. So, I mean, I would say, again, our biggest point of difference, even as a doctor brand, we have a doctor who's in office five days a week. So already, that's our clinical credibility. Like, he's a board certified dermatologist. He's around, you know, all of his different clients and patients every day. He hears what's going on. He sees things firsthand. It's not, like,

Starting point is 00:17:53 outdated information. And because of that, he also gets, you know, his medical journals and access to things that other people necessarily, you know, wouldn't. But yeah, I would say that that's the biggest thing. And our core is really practiced a product. So we always talk about, you know, every single product we come out with is supposed to almost mimic in a way the results of different treatments and procedures that we offer in our office. So, you know, the polish, which we were saying we all love, that's a product that mimics our microderm abrasion that most of our patients get done. We have our caviar line, which is, you know, supposed to mimic both a facial in a jar and some of the peals that we have at the office. So it's really important, I think, to bridge those two.

Starting point is 00:18:37 And that's something that we have access to that a lot of people don't. That's the credibility that all of this is coming from a clinic, you know, no pun intended, where all of these procedures are almost, I guess, influencing the at-home products that you're seeing. And that's just a natural way to storytell, right? Because you have those real-life examples. And I think as a consumer, I know I love to know that it's backed by real science and that I'm not just putting a cream on my forehead that is meant to do one thing and does another, right?

Starting point is 00:19:09 I think there is real credibility, authenticity, and also quality that comes from that type of storytelling that I think Lancer is doing so well. And I'd love to hear from you, from your POV, kind of what excites you most about where the skincare industry is headed, in general, but also with Lancer as part of that industry. I was actually going to piggyback off of what you just said, which also answers this question. I am not an expert by any means, so I'm like, limit your questions. But AI, I think is just really going to change the entire game. I don't know how yet.

Starting point is 00:19:47 I think it's so early. I think we've seen how AI can change, you know, can make everyone's lives easier, at least on our phones and our computers like electronically digitally. I'm very excited to see where that goes, like in real three dimension, like with actual products. It's very early. We still have to see what happens. But, you know, you were talking about authenticity. The consumer, you can't hide anymore. You can't hide anything with the consumer.

Starting point is 00:20:13 All you have to do is throw something into claw, chat, GPT, whatever it is. and the full transparency is there. So I think that's such a big thing. And now that consumers know that, that goes with the trust. But, you know, I don't really know. I do think AI will really limit the need for trial and error. That's a big thing that I've been saying.

Starting point is 00:20:32 I think right now, you know, it's so easy to, like I said, look at an influencer. They're using this product. Let me try it. You try it at home. You think you have dry skin. You don't. You break out.

Starting point is 00:20:43 I think being able to input products, I think there's a company called Oasis. Is that the app where you can scan the barcodes? It might be. I'll look at it. I'll go back to you. But like, yeah, it scans and it tells you about different foods. I wonder if that will be the case for skincare as well.

Starting point is 00:20:59 Yes. And being able to leverage that technology and really use AI to tailor and to customize for your actual needs. I think that people have a lot of skincare concerns. And we all do. We think we're dry or we have fine lines, wrinkles, whatever it is. But I think narrowing that down and having AI help you maybe focus on one thing at a time or put together a regimen where you're not like doing 15 things at once, where they work against each other and then you get nowhere. That authenticity from, I guess from the brand being then spit into AI through the transparency you get after, that's going to change things.

Starting point is 00:21:38 As far as Lancer, I mean, we want to keep implementing AI as much as we can. That's what I would say. I'm very curious to see how, you know, our lab will continue to utilize AI and how our products will change, how the process will change. You know, launching a product now, you guys know, could take a year or two years. It takes a while. So how will that process speed up? Then going back to, you know, these buzzwords. Right now, people want to rush, rush, white label, move on. Maybe that won't be the case anymore because we'll be able to do things very quickly.

Starting point is 00:22:10 It sounds like there's a lot of excitement just around implementing the AI process and kind of seeing how it works, like even on site or, you know, in the office. However, it can kind of help make that journey of skin care just more personalized and customized for patients, which I think is is really, really cool and very anxious to see what you do there for sure. I want to pivot a little bit back to just career journey in general. We have a lot of listeners that are very into the beauty, skin. care kind of just industry and fashion as well, truthfully, which I think people will resonate a lot with your journey in terms of starting in fashion and then kind of making the jump over to beauty. So as starting in social, kind of growing into now your role is CMO, which includes product development and other kind of arms of marketing, what pieces of those journey, what pieces of

Starting point is 00:23:03 your journey do you feel like helped make that leap for you? I think, well, the biggest piece of advice through all of this, which kind of goes to your question, I don't think you have to focus on the destination. I think so many of us do that. You know, when I was 16, 17, whenever applying to school, I thought, I need to know what I want to do. And then I graduated, okay, I'm Matt Sacks. Now I have to be here forever. This is my trajectory. So I think focusing more so on the journey, I would also say, just say yes to things. For example, like the biggest piece to answer your question that really shifted my career and my journey was, I mean, I was so shocked. I'd no idea what to do when my boss called me and said

Starting point is 00:23:41 you're taking over on PD. I barely know what that was at the time. But I said yes, and you definitely will fail. I had a bad product fail, but it ended up working out really well for us, which I'm happy to share. But don't be afraid of that. I think people get so nervous to say yes to something that might not be exactly what they want. There can be something that's adjacent or maybe in an industry that's just close enough. Like if you want skincare, you can start in fashion or beauty. Like people move around. It's a lot about networking. It's connections. Show people you're a really hard worker. Show them that you have interest and you're willing to try and you never know where you'll end up. Again, I have been all over, even within our company, I mean, if I were to tell someone I've been

Starting point is 00:24:23 in social media, communications, product, online, social. I mean, these are like all different things and they've all helped in some way. But yeah, that would be it. Just try different things. Something will shift and like put you on, I guess, on the right path. Yeah. Couldn't agree more. We had, I referenced this quote all the time, but we had a guest probably a year

Starting point is 00:24:46 ago or so who said you have to collect the dots before you connect the dots. And it really is just about gathering information and experience. And then one day you'll look at out everything and everything will just kind of connect together, which is awesome. Totally. Yeah. Yeah. I celebrate. Yeah. Well, Blair, on that too, you know, we also have a lot of listeners that are interested in getting into the beauty industry. So I'm just curious, like, to those listeners, what would you say to them? Any tips or as you're hiring and just looking to build out a team? Like, what are some of those skill sets that you're looking for, et cetera? Anything you'd say there? So I think one thing now with AI, people really crave, like,

Starting point is 00:25:28 the intimacy of an actual human or personality, be somebody who is really eager and really passionate and so excited to work. I, when I hire people, and this sounds terrible, I skim their resume. I look at it. I see what they've done and that's fine, but that doesn't tell me much about the person. I would much rather hire somebody who's come to me with almost no experience who is so excited to learn, who's like ambitious, passionate wants to be in this industry and will literally do anything, try anything, be in all different areas of the business before I hire somebody who has like this stellar resume, but you just don't feel that it's like an intangible kind of feeling. So I think that's really

Starting point is 00:26:14 important. I will say I actually, I'm starting a substack. My first substack, I wrote yesterday and I started off with this kind of notion when I guess this was, I thought, my first job in 2016, so call it 10 years ago. We had to hide who we were. You know, look, we had to delete all of our Facebook photos. We had to hide everybody on Instagram. Like, if you were seen with a red solo cup, like, that was it. And I don't believe in that. I think people should have their own life outside of work. People should have hobbies. They should have friends. They should have things going on that make them really happy and excited about life because that will come into work. When someone has that like zest for life and excitement,

Starting point is 00:26:59 they'll also be really passionate and thrilled to be at work and working with you and building something. So honestly, again, maybe a hot take. A lot of people probably would disagree, but that's far more important to me. I resonate so deeply with that. Just looking at, you know, teams that I've been on and teams that it's always the people that have other sort of extracurricular activities that they're involved in or other income streams. and things like that that feel really aligned with what they're doing, whether it's a full-time job or a part-time job, whatever that looks like.

Starting point is 00:27:31 I completely resonate with that. And I think that's great advice. So thank you so much for sharing that. Of course. And Blair, this has been incredible. As Cassie mentioned at the top of the episode, we're big fans. We've been loving using the product.

Starting point is 00:27:43 Thank you, thank you. Would love if you could share where everyone can find you and follow along with the journey for you and for also Lancer as well. Sure, sure. So Lancer, we're just at Lancer skincare for, I guess, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok all over. I started a TikTok not maybe a year-ish ago now where it's very much like it's just scattered. It's like me and my personality, my fashion, my beauty, all those kinds of things. So that's just at Blair, Lancer.

Starting point is 00:28:13 And then my Instagram is also my name. That's a little calmer. But that's, you know, for skincare and travel and life and all of that. Awesome. Blair, thank you so much again for just sharing your journey with us. We're so excited to see what you guys continue to build and do. And we'll definitely be checking in here in a bit. So thanks for joining us. Thank you so much for having me. This was a blast. Thanks so much for listening to this episode of Marketing Happy Hour. If you enjoyed it, make sure you're subscribed to the show and sign up for a weekly newsletter with insights and marketing resources. We also invite you to check out the MHH collective. Our community for marketers looking to connect, grow, and learn to.

Starting point is 00:28:52 together. Check out the links in the show notes. We'll see you next time.

Marketing Happy Hour - Building Marketing Strategies Grounded in Tangible Results (+ Modernizing Legacy) | Blair Lancer of Lancer Skincare

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