Skin-care brand Matter of Fact launched in 2021 with an eye on the “skintellectual” consumer. At the time, much of the buzz around the brand surrounded founder Paul Baek’s history — Baek was once a K-pop musician. With new packaging, three new products and a launch at Sephora, the brand wants to reshape its narrative. It will launch on Sephora.com on August 8 and in stores on August 25.
The L.A.-based company is made up of a small team of less than 20 people. Sources declined to comment on its annual revenue.
“Through our straightforward formulations, combined with our rigorous approach to testing, we hope to delight Sephora customers,” Baek said. “Knowing people will consider using their hard-earned money on our products is something I take seriously.” Formerly, the brand was only available direct-to-consumer.
Straightforwardness is a major tenet of the brand’s new, retail-ready identity. “The initial packaging wasn’t built to buy on-shelf; it was just going to show up at your front door. Now, we’re going to be in 270 doors,” said Erin Dwyer, Matter of Fact’s CMO. The new packaging and aesthetic were designed to be less “masculine” than the originals, Dwyer said. In addition, a newly adopted color scheme communicates the end goals of its different products. For example, products in white bottles are nourishing, while products in blue bottles contain active ingredients — like the brand’s hero product, its Brightening + Firming Serum, which contains 20% L-ascorbic acid.
One way the brand plans to differentiate at Sephora, as well as communicate the rigor of its clinical testing, is via QR codes. While QR codes have become commonplace since the start of Covid, Dwyer said it will be the first brand at Sephora to use them to drive to microsites for each product.
“We were nervous to [to implement QR codes] because, technically, that’s taking the consumer to a digital space instead of the physical retail space,” Dwyer said. But, while in conversation with Sephora, it was determined that QR codes made sense based on “the length of the [brand’s] clinical studies, the [rate at which] such information could be updated, and the depth of the information about the ingredients and what works.” The details, which could overwhelm everyday shoppers, are available to those who are interested.
To get the word out about the Sephora launch, the brand it is working with influencers from nano to macro. Among them are Melodie Perez (@diaryoftroubledskin; 152,000 followers) and Chloe Morello (@chloemorello; 1.2 million followers),” said Jennifer Hsu, senior manager of social media and influencer at Matter of Fact. “We have also expanded our efforts and started to work with new Sephora Squad members, including Tomiwa Rodia (@tomiwarodia_; 101,000 followers), Gym Tan (@californiaistoocasual; 140,000 followers) and Stephanie Guditus (@thelalaglow; 6,000 followers). They’ll create custom and engaging content [for Matter of Fact] across Instagram and TikTok” Finally, the brand will be partnering with close to 100 UGC creators to generate a wider range of “testimonial content,” Hsu said.
