Dr. Brandt Integrative Dermatology Reintroduces Itself
The skin care brand previously known as Dr. Brandt Skincare, founded by dermatological pioneer Dr. Fredric Brandt, has undergone a face lift.
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Dr. Brandt Integrative Dermatology has reformulated its products to be vegan and cruelty free with a no-list of 1,700 ingredients. The products are comprised of, at a minimum, 85 percent natural origin ingredients. Packaging is at least 80 percent recyclable.
The brand is starting with its hero franchises, including Needles No More, which is rolling out to its full distribution — including Sephora and Macy’s — this month. Dr. Brandt is also rethinking its microdermabrasion products, as well as its ID-Stress range.
“We’ve been in business for 25 years,” said Stéphane Colleu, the brand’s chief executive officer. “We knew our brand needed to evolve. The market has shifted a lot and the expectation from the consumer and the market from our retailers has changed considerably….It wasn’t easy to tackle, but it was important to keeping our brand relevant for the next 10 to 15 years.”
Part of those priorities include sustainability and products with “clean” formulations, and the other piece is social responsibility. “We created the Dr. Brandt Foundation after Dr. Brandt passed away, and our commitment to society is to de-stigmatize the conversation around mental health and self care,” Colleu said. Part of that will be programs aimed at providing mental health resources to those in youth centers, schools and foster care, including animal-assisted therapy.
That also ladders up to Dr. Brandt’s broader repositioning. Among the heritage clinical skin care brands, Colleu updated the brand’s tag line to include “Integrative Dermatology” to better reflect its holistic approach to beauty.
“We want to go above and beyond dermatology, and now we’ve seen that more in beauty. What we’re trying to do is reflect that the scientific world has much more data than in past decades that your skin can be affected from the inside and the outside,” he said. “Integrative dermatology has different layers: environmental, biological and psychological states.”
He’s also tapped the first medical experts for the brand since Dr. Brandt’s death in 2015. They include a dermatologist, a psycho-dermatologist, a nutritionist and an aesthetician.
“This is how we are communicating our mindset, and not everyone talks like this. We are hoping to educate on well-being, lifestyle and modern health,” Colleu said. Though he didn’t comment on sales, industry sources think the brand will exceed a volume of $20 million in 2023.
Education will also be the focus on social media platforms. “Social channels are important for the new generation, and that’s really important to make sure you can be one of their skin care solutions,” Colleu said, adding that the current Dr. Brandt shoppers average at about 35, given that the brand has franchises for consumers ranging from 20 years old to over 65.
“Dr. Brandt has been back in front of the beaty industry because people are looking for efficacious and solution-driven products from a very legit skin care brand,” Colleu said. “We didn’t resonate enough with the new generations because of the stories behind it, so we made sure everything is safe and sustainable. But the mission, at the end of the day, is still to provide solutions.”
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