How The Ordinary is Disrupting Beauty Marketing

The beauty industry has, for many years, had a reputation rooted in misleading advertising – but many brands are now looking to challenge that reputation and build a more radically honest marketing model. 

According to Yasmin O’Neal, Senior Director for Global Brand and Impact of DECIEM – owner of category-disrupting beauty brand The Ordinary – beauty brands can drive positive change by leading with values and empowering consumers with truth.

Speaking exclusively with Marketing Chief, Yasmin discusses challenging industry norms, balancing values with bold creative marketing and advice for young marketers aiming to disrupt the industry.

Please introduce yourself and your role.

My name is Yasmin O’Neal and I lead Brand and Impact at DECIEM, The Abnormal Beauty Company. Most known for its hero brand: The Ordinary. 

I create brand moments that people genuinely want to talk about, doing the thing that people least expect but which also totally aligns with its values and DNA. 

And, I love using that growth to give back to the communities we serve, building growth to power good. 

You recently won the Fashion, Beauty and Consumer Rising Stars Award at the Black British Business Awards (Congratulations!). What does this recognition mean to you, especially looking back on your journey from P&G to DECIEM?

Thank you so much. I dreamt of winning awards like this as a child but I never thought I would actually win one. So now I have, I need to dream a little bigger! Which is exciting. Anything is possible. 

The biggest shift for me has been realising there are no limits to what we are capable of, beyond the limits we put on ourselves. I only wish it didn’t take an external award to help me gain that perspective, but we’re all learning and growing – and so am I. 

You’ve said that strong brands need something clear to stand against, and for DECIEM, that enemy is the industry’s long-standing reliance on mistruths and opaque pricing. How do you consistently rally your creative and commercial teams around this ‘enemy’ without letting brand messaging slip into cynicism?

At DECIEM, we often talk about our mission being to build a better world of Beauty. Everyone who works at DECIEM believes in that end vision, and feels like they have a part to play in improving the world around them. 

One of my favourite things we say about The Ordinary is that its brand character is the Humble Revolutionary. 

That’s probably the best way to sum it up. It’s genuinely exciting to be part of a brand that is bringing about positive and well-needed change. Everyone working there feels like a revolutionary.

And to keep them invested, we show our team the impact their work has on building this vision. We celebrate the customer comments, emails, DMs that show how much our community loves and celebrates the ‘truths’ we champion throughout our campaigns. That spurs us on and shows us we’re on the right path.

Most importantly, we talk about the things that matter to our communities, both consumers and employees – whether that’s Pride, encouraging people to vote or raising awareness of the factors contributing to increased wildfires. Often, these conversations are first sparked internally, with our teams challenging us to consider how we show up across our platforms. 

It’s these moments that make us feel so much more than a beauty brand.

When developing marketing campaigns, how does drawing parallels from outside the category help land hard-hitting brand truths better than conventional beauty marketing tropes?

It makes the issue more relatable. Some of the marketing tactics we’ve come to accept and expect in beauty would look quite ridiculous in almost any other industry. 

If someone tried to sell me a banana labelled an “All Natural Magical Energy Boosting Bar”, I’d question what they were really trying to sell me. 

So why do we accept this kind of language in beauty?

How do you balance bold creative marketing with the work of ‘living by your values’ every day?

We balance the two by making sure our values are never compromised for the sake of a creative idea. Our values are always the starting point; creativity is how we bring them to life. Sometimes that means expressing what we believe in through bold, unexpected ideas. Other times, it means using creativity to challenge the parts of the industry that fall short of those values.

Either way, the principle stays the same: values first, creativity second.

When reviewing a bold campaign idea, how do you tell the difference between smart disruption and being provocative just for attention?

We ask ourselves two key questions:

1. Are we genuinely helping to solve the issue or are we in danger of rage-baiting? 

2. Are we showing people there are other ways to run a Beauty business, or are we punching down? 

Question number one is important because yes, we want to share truths with our community but we want to empower them with truths and education, not enrage them by simply pointing out everything that's wrong in the world. Whatever we do, it needs to help move us in the right direction. 

Question two is important because we’re not here to try and tear down other brands, what we actually want to do is show people there is not just one way to do Beauty. 

If you want to buy a celebrity brand then great go for it, but if you don’t want to then we’re here too. 

What is the most important lesson you teach young marketers who want to challenge category norms the way you have?

To the young marketers out there: you may be the youngest/newest person in the room and that might mean you think your opinion is worth less – you’re wrong. 

You’re seeing things that no one else in the room sees, you’re tapped into culture that the others can only spectate. 

You most likely have an idea that no one else has thought of yet – the originality of thought you can bring is incredibly valuable. 

Don’t doubt your ideas just because no one else has said it yet, that probably means it's actual gold dust. 

Who are DECIEM’s key partners?

• Salesforce: DECIEM uses a suite of Salesforce platforms and implementation partners to run its global e-commerce and retail operations.
• Sephora: This retail relationship delivers shelf space across physical stores and digital channels, propelling flagship labels such as The Ordinary and NIOD into high-volume global markets.
• Valtech: Valtech has built digital tools and helped train internal teams on agile workflows and web stack maintenance.
• Slalom: Slalom collaborated with DECIEM on tech-ops makeovers, advanced analytics and customer service automation.