Paula's Choice CMO Erika Kussman on creating "the right message and the right content on the right channel"

For 26 years, beauty brand Paula's Choice has traded on the principles of truth and transparency in skin care. This was pioneered by its founder Paula Begoun, known in beauty as "The Cosmetics Cop."

But when Erika Kussmann, CMO and general manager, arrived at the clean beauty brand about five years ago, she knew Paula's Choice had an opportunity to reintroduce its story with a larger audience. Begoun had stepped back from daily operations, and though Paula's Choice was a cult beauty brand, Kussman admitted it was a "pretty small cult" at the time.

"Awareness is so important," said Kussmann. "If you're going to be raising and really driving awareness, you want to be consistent so that you get that recognition and it's working harder for you." This was especially true as Paula's Choice was facing more competition from emerging skin-care brands like Drunk Elephant and The Ordinary. Both -- and many others -- had adopted their takes on non-irritating, fragrance-free clean ingredients.

Following a rebrand complete with visual cues, the digitally-native indie brand has found its way to a Gen-Z audience. "These younger generations are quite savvy; they're doing a lot of ingredient research. Specifically, what's interesting about TikTok is that it's a place where you can have quick education and hacks," Kussman said. "We have everything from this long-form, more serious research content that can be translated into a skin-care routine to [content] that's fun for these channels."