The Research & Development (R&D) and Marketing departments of a cosmetic brand are both groups of highly professional and skilled individuals essential to success… yet their approach is from such different perspectives, issues are bound to arise over time and discussions can sometimes get heated.
How can you get the best performance out of each of your teams particularly when a challenge hits your multi-faceted project? Read on to find out…
The way marketing sees it…
Your marketing team is essential to:
• identify cosmetic product opportunities within the competitive marketplace;
• conduct market research to drive product creation and strategy from the concept stage;
• create effective marketing campaigns to be seen and heard by your target market;
• determine the right price and place for products to be available;
• monitor and grow product sales.
Your marketing department want a great product with outstanding ingredients and performance they can truly boast about so they can get consumers to love your brand as much as they do.
Surely a team of R&D specialists can mix some ingredients to give them what they’ve asked for?
The way R&D sees it…
Your R&D team is essential to:
• create safe, stable and efficacious cosmetic formulations that meet the needs of a brief;
• run regulatory checks and provide compliance information;
• conduct safety, stability and performance tesity and performance testing to prove all theoretical work;
• create an amazing product formula that can be scaled up easily.
Your R&D department have created a fantastic product that has a great shelf life and complies with the rules. Surely a team of marketing specialists can create advertising copy and make it leap off the shelves?
R&D and Marketing red flags
Exactly why do these two groups within the same company conflict? It could be:
• issues with the product development brief: marketing would have researched their target consumers well before finalising the brief, so its little wonder they aren’t keen on making changes to this very important document just because a Chemist says something is not possible, or Regulatory says a rule can’t be broken. However, those are the exact types of situations that commonly arise.
• clarify responsibilities: cosmetic product development is a multi-stage project where crossovers can (and often do) occur between various departments. For example, a formula could be totally inappropriate for certain types of packaging or dispensers – so this needs to be finalised early. Which department is in charge of finding the right packaging? An ingredient list can’t be finalised until a cosmetic formula is signed off, and even then, it’s not a certainty until minimum accepted stability tests have been completed. Who is wearing the risk if changes need to be made for quality reasons that impact printing, just to meet a tight schedule?
• micro-managing or over control: R&D need to respect the consumer knowledge the marketing department has, while marketing needs to respect the ingredient and formulation knowledge the R&D team brings to the table. Issues can occur when R&D tries to tell marketing how to write product copy or what consumers want. They can also occur when marketing tries to tell R&D how to adjust their formulas. Let each department know their strengths and weaknesses, don’t try to tell them how to do their job.
• workflow: certain stages of cosmetic product development can rely heavily on a department or even an individual. If too much pressure is applied, steps can be missed and human error can occur. It may be necessary, especially when multiple projects are under way, to check if there is sufficient experience and team members to prevent this from happening.
• understanding time and the process: conflicts will often arise where someone doesn’t understand the other person’s role well enough, or the required time to complete certain stages of a cosmetic development project. Does the R&D team understand the commercial reasons why a certain performance, claim or even feel is essential? Does the marketing team understand what stability testing is, and why it can’t be rushed? People can’t know what they don’t know; and if these two teams don’t know enough about the challenges that each faces when trying to create and sell a successful cosmetic product, there are sure to be issues down the line.
Ways to help R&D and marketing work better… together!
Try these approaches to smooth things over and get the best possible outcomes for your brand and cosmetic developments:
• consider the product development brief as a tool for communication. Yes, a fair bit of work has gone into its creation, however changes are often necessary. Work together to achieve the desired outcomes knowing these are bound by scientific principles and regulatory restrictions. At the same time, if the brief changes too much, it may no longer have its competitive edge. What ideas can everyone discuss to jump the hurdles rather than let them be roadblocks?
• explain issues using the right language. Explaining the issues with the current brief, or dilemmas with altering the brief, can help people from both sides of the company understand how to find a suitable solution. While scientific or regulatory discussions enable one to speak very specifically, they can make it sound like you’re trying to talk above another person’s intellect. On the other hand, creative explanations can sound like waffle to a pragmatic person. Both R&D and marketing personnel will need to find ways to highlight the issues they face with any changes needed using language the other team will properly understand.
• be open to brainstorming. Marketing are typically creative types; R&D are typically more rational. Brainstorming needs creativity before it can walk a rational path, so brainstorming can often be best started by the marketing team alone. With a few options on the board, the R&D team can then explore which idea has the best scientific (or regulatory) potential, and the teams can meet again.
• be flexible without breaking. You’ve discovered some changes need to be made to the product, the formula or the brief. Which changes can be made without losing sight of the original objective? Are there different ways of approaching a formula, outside of the box your are normally formulating within? Both teams may need to ask themselves: what is the closest acceptable alternative? Discussions could be fruitful once each department has used this approach.
• walk the walk a little. Invite the other department to spend time in yours. This can be tricky – let’s face it, everyone is so busy these days – but even just a small amount of time spent walking in each other’s ‘shoes’ could lead to massive gains in existing and future projects. I’m not suggesting a marketing person should suddenly start creating a cosmetic formula, but if they could watch a complex regulatory search get conducted, or see a failed stability test, they may suddenly have a greater appreciation for what is involved. Similarly, a chemist who gets to see market survey results and competitor analysis will better understand exactly why the brief has certain requests. When there is better understanding, teams are more congruent and resolutions more forthcoming.
You’re all on the one team
A market leading cosmetic product needs both a fantastic formula and effective marketing campaign. Achieving both is impossible when your R&D and marketing departments are more like opponents than teammates. Use the tips in this article to identify where issues have occurred in the past and implement strategies for solutions to overcome them in the future.
The results will be amazing products that truly get noticed, with the sales results and happy consumers you’ve been hoping for.
Happy formulating!
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