The day-to-day of leading a brand has a way of filling every available hour. Between product launches, campaign deadlines, and the constant pull of urgent tasks, it's easy to lose sight of the bigger picture. Strategic planning doesn't mean having all the answers. It means creating space to ask better questions and being honest about what you find. Some of these questions might feel obvious - but when was the last time you actually sat down and answered them?

Every year, beauty and lifestyle brands commit to leaning more into storytelling. The intention is there and the desire is real, but often teams don’t know where to start. Sometimes when something feels unfamiliar, we default to what we know. And so often brands end up is the race to stay current, and everyone’s feeds begin to blur. We see the same trends, hooks, formats, and trending songs, with all of this alongside the rest of social feeds that ticks the box for mandatory content for your latest launch and how to use your best seller.

Core product content and trends will always remain key. But the content that actually differentiates you are the stories only your brand can tell. The brands that do this well go beyond posting about their products, and create regular narratives that reflects both their identity and their customers' reality.

At Cosmoprof Asia in Hong Kong, we joined Hismile and NielsenIQ to explore a question many brand leaders are trying to answer right now, which is how to build a genuine connection with Gen Z.

Gen Z’s purchasing power is rising, and their expectations will play an increasingly significant role in shaping how brands show up in the world. Some brands like Hismile have already cracked the code, while many others are thinking carefully about how to attract Gen Z without alienating their core customer base.

Here are our key perspectives shared during the panel discussion.

At some point, every brand reaches the moment where the story that launched it no longer carries the weight of where it’s heading. The early narrative was perfect for the first chapter. But growth changes the customer and the expectations. When the original story becomes too small, the signals start to surface.

Inside the business, this tension becomes hard to ignore. Growing a brand requires an enormous amount of energy, and in seasons of expansion, teams are solving problems in real time while keeping everything moving. Brand teams feel the pull toward deeper strategic work they talk about it, bookmark it, plan for it. But the pace of delivery takes priority, to keep delivering product launches and campaigns. And the kind of strategic work that would reset the narrative asks for time ad space, the very things the day-to-day rarely allows.

As the brand matures, the gap grows clearer. Leaders begin to see the patterns that show the strategy needs to evolve:

Some brands rarely test new marketing channels when things are going well. They wait until something breaks. When costs rise, conversions drop, or revenue slows, then they're open to diversifying.

Smart brands treat media diversification like R&D. Some budget goes toward 'business as usual' channels that are working, and the rest goes toward finding the next growth lever, building the next growth lane before they desperately need it. Right now, one of the strongest untapped opportunities is YouTube. It's a genuine white space to reach new audiences, while competition remains relatively limited and attention is still priced accessibly.

There’s no single formula that works for every brand. Allocations depend on business model, team structure, lifecycle stage, and strategic priorities. As a general rule, marketing budgets average around 10–20% of revenue across industries, with beauty, wellness, and personal care brands typically spending toward the higher end of that range.

As you plan for the year ahead, here are a few guiding principles to help shape a budget that reflects both best practice and your brand’s unique growth goals.

Community is no longer a “nice to have” for brands, it's becoming a growth engine. In a market where product features can be copied and ads get more expensive every quarter, what can’t be replicated overnight is a thriving, loyal community. More brands are moving beyond transaction into relationship, turning buyers into advocates and advocates into evangelists.

The business case for brand community is undeniable, McKinsey shows brands with strong communities hitting 4%+ conversion rates while their social engagement rates often exceed 2% when retail brands average around 0.63% engagement on Instagram. Just like nurturing any meaningful relationship, successful brand communities require multiple ways of showing care and creating connection. This is where Gary Chapman's 5 Love Languages framework becomes surprisingly relevant for community strategy.

Let's be real, 2025 has been a wild ride for beauty and fashion brands. Inflation's still biting, ad costs are up, and consumers are more selective with spending. The landscape looks different now. We're hearing from brands that average units per transaction are dipping. Customers are still buying, but they're being more strategic about it, and also spacing out purchases to make their budgets stretch further.

So what exactly are brands doing to move the needle right now? Here's what we've been seeing across the market

While every other brand is knee-deep in TikTok, some forward-thinking brands are diversifying their focus and taking a different path. For the brands we work with, YouTube is taking center stage in 2025.

We’ve always believed in getting brand foundations right first—focusing on brand-building strategies and engaging content, to build vibrant brand communities. Great results on YouTube stem from strong brand foundations and the ability to connect with audiences meaningfully.

But surprisingly, very few indie brands are taking advantage of YouTube ads—a platform with untapped potential and the ability to deliver a more cost-efficient CPC compared to Google or Meta ads, right now. For indie brands looking to scale effectively, it’s a powerful yet underutilized channel for driving more impact and efficiency

The Creator Economy’s worth $250 billion. But brands still get stuck with content they can’t use. And I’ve heard some wild stories from the UGC trenches.

Pet cameos, that were clearly off-brand. Skincare routines filmed on the floor. Bad lighting, odd angles and the list goes on. Over time brands continue to evolve their briefing processes, but in 2025, creators from your own customer community just might be your saving grace.