Startup Noli appoints first CMO in bid to ‘shake up’ the beauty industry

AI-powered beauty marketplace and “matchmaker” Noli is on a mission to build a brand that “emotionally connects” with consumers and they trust to help overcome overwhelm in the category.

Backed by the L’Oréal Group, the platform gives users personalised recommendations for skincare and haircare after asking consumers to complete an online quiz and use face scanning technology.

To fuel growth, the startup has hired its first CMO Firdaous El Honsali, who joins after almost 10 years at Unilever. She latterly served as vice-president for the Dove masterbrand, before departing the business last year. Prior to Unilever, El Honsali worked at businesses including The Body Shop and the L’Oréal Group.

Noli is a brand with a reason to exist, she tells Marketing Week.

“I personally believe that when you want to build brands, they really need to have a true reason to exist and to really solve the pain points,” says El Honsali.

For Noli, (an acronym for ‘No-One Like I’) the goal is to help beauty consumers who often don’t know which products they need for their own skin or hair. El Honsali notes the current beauty landscape is often overwhelming.

“In the last few years, you’ve seen an explosion of the volume of products and brands, which is absolutely great, but it comes with a downside, which is that there are loads of claims, loads of experts, loads of advice on social,” she says, noting this advice is sometimes conflicting.

The AI used by Noli is “fed with 100 years of science”, she says, meaning it can help users to cut through the noise to find the products that are right for them.

Emotional connection

A brand cannot just have a strong product, says El Honsali, who argues it must also emotionally connect with consumers.

“I want to be able to build strong brands that emotionally connect with consumers, on top of being here to respond to a strong pain point. Very often, behind the pain points, there isn’t just a functional response, there is a need for a strong emotional bonding with the brand for them to trust it,” she says.

Her job as CMO is to make the brand “relevant” and “resonant” with consumers. She is currently working on developing her first campaign aimed at doing just that. While in the past El Honsali has worked on heritage brands, as a new brand Noli needs to build trust to thrive in the beauty industry.

“I would love for people to say: ‘I trust Noli,’” she says. “’Noli is my skincare advisor or my haircare advisor.’ That’s what I would actually see as a metric of success for the brand.”

I personally believe that when you want to build brands, they really need to have a true reason to exist and to really solve the pain point.

Firdaous El Honsali, Noli

One reason trust is key is many beauty consumers end up feeling let down by the brands they buy and end up with what El Honsali terms “a skincare graveyard” of abandoned products they unsuccessfully trialled. With Noli, the idea is this scenario would be avoided by successfully matching users to the right products.

This is something that should bring not only a consumer benefit, but also benefit brands on the marketplace.

“If people are matched with the wrong products from the brand, it’s highly unlikely that they’re going to go back to the brand and buy another product from them,” she says.

Consumers in the beauty industry often end up “bombarded” with advertising noise for products that are not right for them, El Honsali adds. She is conscious of ensuring any campaign from Noli is not adding to that noise. For her, this is about the brand being “honest” and inviting consumers to try for themselves to see if the products work.

“What Noli brings is a shake up in the industry where it puts the user, the individual, the consumer back at the centre,” she says.