While most beauty brands struggle with rising social media advertising costs and navigating the emerging Gen Alpha consumer base, Glow Recipe has found success through a fundamentally different approach.
Speaking at the WWD Global Fashion and Beauty Summit, cofounder and co-chief executive officer Christine Chang revealed the organic social strategies and thoughtful Gen Alpha insights that have propelled the indie skin care brand to become one of Sephora‘s largest independently owned brands — and also earning the company WWD’s International Beauty Brand of the Year award in presented in Riyadh last week.
“Our approach has never really been ad driven,” Chang told Jenny B. Fine, executive editor of beauty, WWD, explaining how the brand has built a global community through platform-specific content strategies while meaningfully engaging with younger consumers entering the beauty space.
Mastering Social Strategy by Platform
Chang provided detailed insights into how Glow Recipe approaches each social platform differently, a strategy that has proven crucial to the brand’s organic growth. “Every social platform is a little bit different,” she explained. “Instagram is still a little bit more of the curation, the lifestyle, the business card of the brand, if you will, where you can have these direct conversations with the customer.”
In contrast, Chang described TikTok as “more of that immediate, real-time conversation with your best friend,” requiring the brand to tailor content accordingly. This platform-specific approach has allowed Glow Recipe to build authentic relationships rather than relying heavily on paid advertising.
“Our approach has never really been ad-driven. Ads are part of an overarching strategy,” Chang noted. Instead, the brand focuses on skin care education, ingredient education, and ASMR-style sensorial content that showcases product textures beyond just efficacy claims.
The strategy extends globally, with Chang revealing that social conversations have become surprisingly universal. “When we launched at Sephora Brazil, all of the Brazilian influencers we met were intimately familiar with all of the TikTok trends that are on my FYP,” she said. “We were able to share that same language, and I think it’s very much the case here in the Middle East as well.”
This global social connectivity has enabled innovative approaches like Glow Recipe’s “Glow Conference,” modeled after Apple’s product announcements. The event featured simultaneous viewing parties across key markets including the U.K., Dubai, Southeast Asia, and Mexico, generating 23,000 comments during the live stream.
Navigating the Gen Alpha Beauty Boom
Perhaps no topic in beauty generates more discussion than the “Sephora kids” phenomenon, and Chang offered nuanced insights into how brands should approach Gen Alpha consumers. “The Sephora kids slash Gen Alpha phenomena was a very, very involved conversation,” she acknowledged.
Chang, who shared she is a mother to a middle schooler, brought personal perspective to the debate. “I understand why Gen Alpha is seeking out skin concerns, because if you’re wearing an SPF daily to protect your skin, then you have to cleanse it off, and after cleansing, you should moisturize and replenish that moisture. So that alone is already a routine.”
Rather than targeting specific age groups, Glow Recipe maintains that “skin care is created via concerns and benefits and ingredients versus by age.” However, Chang emphasized the responsibility brands have in providing appropriate guidance. “I think it’s our job as brands to make sure that we’re educating that it’s clear which products are and aren’t appropriate for that age group.”
The brand has responded practically to this demographic shift by launching SPF products tested for ages 3 and up, allowing entire families to use the same products. “Both products were tested for three years and up so that the whole family could use this SPF product,” Chang explained of their sunscreen stick and Dew Shield launches.
“This customer is here to stay,” Chang acknowledged about Gen Alpha. “I think it’s the brand’s role to make sure that we’re providing the right transparency and ingredients.”
Community-driven Growth Strategy
Chang detailed Glow Recipe’s tiered community approach, emphasizing how the brand started as “a community of two,” just the cofounders, before expanding to include micro and macro influencers. The brand’s Global Gang ambassador program connects with 300 ambassadors worldwide through direct Zoom sessions with the founders, product previews and exclusive launches.
“We have to think about a tiered strategy, because a macro influencer is very different from a micro influencer and how we engage,” Chang explained. This community-first approach has proven particularly effective on social commerce platforms like TikTok Shop, where the brand recently launched with trial-size product kits to drive both platform engagement and conversion to traditional retailers like Sephora.
Chang also addressed the evolution of beauty retail, noting how “customers no longer go to department stores, per se, for a prestige experience. Prestige can be found throughout multichannel, TikTok Shop, Amazon, all of these other channels.” This shift has reinforced Glow Recipe’s positioning as an “entry-level prestige brand” focused on accessibility and approachability.
The brand’s venture into social commerce through TikTok Shop exemplifies this omnichannel approach. Chang revealed that by launching trial-size kits rather than full-size products, they sold “a couple thousand of those kits in a very short period of time,” demonstrating the platform’s power for driving trial and eventual conversion across channels.
Chang’s emphasis on authentic, platform-specific content over paid advertising reflects a broader shift in consumer expectations. And the company’s thoughtful approach to Gen Alpha consumers — focusing on education and age-appropriate products rather than avoidance — is a measured response to this demographic reality.
For fellow founders, Chang stressed the importance of maintaining core brand values while remaining agile. “I think that’s a huge strength that indie brands have. Our team is also very mindful, and that allows us to take risks in a way a bigger brand might not be able to.”
Chang concluded, staying true to your “North Star” while adapting to platform changes and demographic shifts remains the key to long-term success in beauty.