Ulta’s CMO Kelly Mahoney on Marketing, Beauty Matters Campaign

With a new chief marketing officer at its helm, Ulta Beauty is powering up its marketing machine, both for itself and its army of brands.

“We are a branded house of brands,” said Kelly Mahoney, who was named CMO in February. “Part of our responsibility is to create our purpose and talk about our purpose as undeniably Ulta Beauty. That being said, we’re also there to support the growth of all of our brands that choose us and that want to grow with us.

Beginning with what the customer wants, data from Ulta Beauty’s 45 million loyalty members has helped Mahoney identify two types of key guests. 

“Ninety-five percent of our sales are coming from our members. That allows us to have this rich first-party data set,” she said. “That data set can power content choices that we put in front of our customers, but it all starts with understanding who our customers are.”

Ulta has divided those guests into the beauty expressor and the beauty investor.

“The expressor is that traditional core customer. They view beauty as part of their daily ritual. Their beauty routines are as important as eating and exercising, and they want beauty to be part of their self-expression and to feel confident and empowered,” said Mahoney.

“For the investor, beauty and wellness are a part of their holistic routine. They’re looking for efficacy, for the long-term benefits. They want brands that are more aligned with their value system, with how they can be more healthy, more pro-aging and how they can solve problems, so their choices are a bit more intentional,” she continued. “They show up very similarly in a lot of ways, but their intent to purchase is very different, and that’s important for us to understand, because the way in which we want to market to them and serve them as customers needs to be very different.”

This is where personalization comes in. With 600 brands on its roster, Mahoney believes personalization is largely about discovery.

“We have so many different categories, we need to help with discovery, and to do that, you really need to make sure you have relevant, personalized experiences tailored to suit what that guest needs. Not every industry wants that, but in our industry because beauty is so personal, they do,” she said, adding that how to better automate that process faster and in real time is going to be the future of personalization.

In addition to those two groups, it is imperative that any beauty retailer has their eyes firmly set on capturing Gen Z and Gen Alpha, who are more knowledgable about beauty than any other generation.

For this reason, the age of Ulta’s loyalty program was recently lowered to 13, although members under the age of 18 must obtain their parents’ or legal guardians’ consent prior to participation.

“We decided to decrease the age of our Ulta Beauty rewards program to allow for us to be able to provide them with experiences that are meaningful to them,” said Mahoney. “So gifting, eventing, because we know they love that. Then that’s going to allow us to have that connection with them.”

In terms of social media, she believes it’s about having the right voice and showing up in the right places. For Gen Z, that means TikTok. “TikTok is an incredibly important channel. This is where that next-generation beauty consumer is getting their inspiration and the power of discovery.”

While Ulta boasts 45 million members of its loyalty program, Mahoney said there’s room to reach new customers. “There’s still a lot of room for us to continue to grow,” said, noting that with 1,400 doors awareness isn’t the mission. “It’s really about consideration and ensuring that when you see an ad, or when you see us, it’s relevant and it’s convincing that I see myself and that I can go to Ulta Beauty because I have confidence they’re going to meet my needs. No matter what age I am, no matter what life stage I am, no matter what ethnicity I am, I feel like Ulta Beauty can serve my needs.”

A key part of her strategy to achieve this will be the Beauty Happens Here campaign launching this month. “It’s a declaration, it’s a movement and it’s my first brand equity effort since taking over the role,” said Mahoney. “Beauty is something that happens. We see it every day when we’re in our stores. When you see a guest, they’re expressing themselves. They feel seen. They feel like they’re able to connect with those around them, whether it’s their family members, friends and that’s really special. But it’s that energy, that momentum that we are picking up on, and that’s what this is all about. Our beauty enthusiasts are really craving that from us right now.”

As well as advertisements, Beauty Happens Here will have immersive elements: “If Lollapalooza is coming up, that’s an opportunity where we’re bringing people in. We have a point, we have a purpose, we have a message and we have a reason to be there. That’s an example of us building our equity through an immersive experience. Beauty Happens here. We’ll continue that thread,” she said.