Automated Webinar Transcript

Emma Steele: My name is Emma Steele and I lead our partnerships here at Highlight with our emerging and disruptive brands. And today I am thrilled to be joined by Dulce Dulce. Welcome.

Dulce Almario: Thank you. I'm happy to be here. So, hi everyone. I'm Dulce Almario. I lead the business accelerator division at Cosmo International Fragrances called C3 by Cosmo.

Emma Steele: Amazing. Well, we're so excited to have you here. Really looking forward to learning more about how you have had so much experience in the industry about how you learned about Highlight, about how you ultimately, we partnered together to do some work and how you've been able to use those insights throughout your business.

Dulce Almario: I've been in the industry for over 25 years. I started in research and development for L'Oreal. From there, I've done product development, fragrance development for another brand, and then I moved into sales and marketing at Cosmo International Fragrances. And last year we initiated our fragrance accelerator division, which I'm currently leading.

Emma Steele: Amazing. And you mentioned you've been in the industry for 25 years. I'm sure that the way that you have done research has changed so much. Could you tell me a little bit more about how you've done research in the past? And what some of those pain points were?

Dulce Almario: Yeah, no, absolutely. So 25 years ago, there were probably like 10 different consumer research companies that you can go for resources. And with basically similar type of services right, now fast forward 25 years later now you have so many different consumer companies and research companies that you can tap into. Even nowadays, you can get consumer information.

In your inbox. And then LinkedIn is also another platform, so it just goes on and on, right? But when we were doing our research for Gen Alpha, because we really, we were trying to find a partner that can basically bring what we're looking for in terms of the research for this generation. What we found was there weren't a lot of consumer research companies that aligned with our vision.

And we were so grateful that we found Highlight because Highlight definitely was the missing link to what we were trying to do.

Emma Steele: Right. And, and tell me more about that missing link. What was so important for you to be able to get, that was the data and insights that you felt like you couldn't find in other places? Or there wasn't mission alignment in terms of what the end result was gonna be?

Dulce Almario: No, absolutely. So first of all, the traditional, or at least the companies that I've worked with before doing consumer research, the data it's almost like it takes so long to extrapolate the data and then also it's not something that I look forward to because it's like really tedious and kind of blah.

So working with Highlight, for me, I feel like it's like the Gen Z of the consumer testing piece and more, most importantly, it really aligned with our business model. And we knew that with the information and the results from the test that we have done with Highlight, that we felt really comfortable moving forward with the Generation Alpha popup.

Emma Steele: Amazing.

So circling back a little bit more, I know we've talked about your experience and talking about actually the different ways that you did research. So Highlight, we're focused specifically on that in context research, really understanding how products perform, in the context of the everyday consumer's life.

So how do we meet consumers where they're at to understand what's working, what's not? And so that's something that we are really proud of the fact that we've been able to create this internal ecosystem for us to do that. But you mentioned other different types of ways of doing consumer research, and so tell me a little bit about what led you to seek for an in-home usage test, an IHUT over other different types of methodologies.

Dulce Almario: So, I've done in-store intercepts before, basically asking customers, do you like this fragrance? Do you not like this fragrance? But what we find with that is they just kinda want to shop when they're in stores, so I'm not really sure if you're really getting the value.

We've also done focus group, but with focus group sometimes you always have that one person who has like really strong opinion, then everyone just kind of agrees with this person. The fact that we didn't have to do our own store intercepts and we're able to tap into Highlight's In-home use tests for us and for us also, it's like specifically asking questions, right? That we wanted to learn from the Gen Alpha, since we work for Fragrance House, for us it's really understanding what are the olfactive profiles for Gen Alpha. Is it the same as Gen Z to? For us, it's really important to find out that information from this generation, because that will only help us when we develop fragrances for the brands that are targeting the Gen Alpha.

Emma Steele: Yeah. And, as we know, Gen Alpha is becoming such a critical part of the beauty and personal care market. They have a lot of power over the brands that are really rising to the top in terms of success, so being able to ensure that you're reaching those consumers, and having their voices heard, not just their parents. Because you know, their parents are ultimately, typically the ones that are buying the products. But at the end of the day, they're buying the products that, you know, their children want them to buy. So, really interesting to see some of the results and insights from that research.

Thinking about the main business question that you came to Highlight with, what was that?

Dulce Almario: So basically just understanding the olfactive preference of the, of Gen Alpha. It sounds so simple, but it's really not. And for us, we really needed to have building blocks internally to really understand what is it that they like, what resonates with them.

And I have to say the data and the results that we receive - and by the way, the videos from the kids is really like a plus - it really made the consumer testing more fun. I couldn't wait to basically extrapolate the data and like everyone internally was like super excited, so.

Emma Steele: That's awesome. Yes, I know I personally looked through some of the videos and it was really interesting to see those insights around some of the kids were responding to the different olfactory profiles saying things like, I like this fragrance because I think my friends would like this fragrance. Or some of them said, I actually don't like this fragrance because it feels too grown up for me. Like something my mom would wear. Or on the flip side, some of them say, oh, I like this one because it makes me feel more grown up. And thinking about those emotions that come through. I'm curious how you think about the two sides to the product development.

There's really the product itself, how is it performing? And then how is the emotional receipt of that to the consumer. So I'm curious if there's anything, from that perspective of like the two sides of product development of insights of how you applied that.

Dulce Almario: Yeah, because I think it kinda, it goes hand in hand, right?

So it's like, but it's also, you cannot also take it literal. These type of results, I think that's the other piece that comes into play. It's our duty or it's our responsibility to figure out the best approach and the best way to take the results from Highlight. 

But I wanna point out also that there's so much value from the results and the research and the partnership that we've done together, that it's not just gonna stop when we're done with Gen Alpha. So these are like valuable information that we can continue to build on maybe next year. You know, we do like another consumer tests.

Just trying to understand how are they evolving with the olfactive preference, because I think that's really key. Like understanding how the consumers are continuing to evolve as the beauty industry is evolving.

Emma Steele: Exactly, yes. And I think there's so many things that we see within the beauty industry in particular that it's hard to identify.

Is this a micro trend that's just gonna be in the market for a short amount of time, or is it something that we're actually gonna see continue on and really stick with consumers? And so, I love what you said about iterative testing and how important it is to ensure that, you know, we're not just checking in with them at one point in time, but actually learning.

How does what we've learned here build upon all of our future learnings? And so I think that is a really cool thing to hear that that's something that you guys value.

Dulce Almario: Yeah, absolutely. Yes. Awesome.

Emma Steele: We talked a little bit, we're here in New York City and we talked a little bit about your commute into the city and how your best ideas, and when you do a lot of your thinking is on that commute. When you think about product development and what you have in front of you for 2025. What is keeping you up at night?

What are you thinking about on that commute? What are the different goals that you have for C3 as you look forward?

Dulce Almario: So in the beginning of the year, we laid out our cadence in terms of the information that's missing. That's just gonna make us stronger as a company, but as a company and as a fragrance, how do we make sure that we're answering the need and then we're on top of their new beauty habits, the way they're thinking? Because I'm pretty sure it has changed in the last, like few, four years ago.

Emma Steele: Right? Yes, absolutely. I think coming out of the pandemic and just in a world of information overload we have people who are picking up new habits constantly.

And so having a regular cadence of understanding, you know, what is my consumer doing with this product? How are they utilizing it? How have their preference changed is so important to, to business growth.

Dulce Almario: Yeah. And then I just wanna add also, in terms of like continuing our partnership with our different partners. As I mentioned earlier when we were having a side conversation, what are the synergy that we can bring to the table where we can introduce some of our clients to you who are needing help with consumer research? Because for us that's really important because that the business model is also evolving and changing.

So we wanna make sure also that we're tapping into that need and we're basically here to support our clients.

Emma Steele: Dolce, can you tell me a little bit more about the ways that you actually actioned on the data from Highlight?

Dulce Almario: So as I mentioned before, we use the data to basically kick off our Gen Alpha popup in our New York City location, but also it gives us credibility when we present the Gen Alpha information to the different brands that we're currently working with.

Emma Steele: Yeah. Can you speak a little bit more to, you've mentioned the Gen Alpha popup. What is the Gen Alpha popup? You're using the data from Highlight, but what is that doing for you as a business?

Dulce Almario: So for us, what it's doing as a business, so it's getting our name out there as well as a company, but also we want to promote our ideation space. And we want to promote the C3 by Cosmo, the fragrance accelerator division, where clients and our partners can come in and co-create with us. And the other piece that's really valuable for us, when our clients come to this space, they also learn so much about this generation. They learn about the brands that we're featuring in this space that they would've never heard of before.

And more importantly, when they leave this space, they have a better idea also olfactively which direction to go. And thanks to the research that you've done for us.

Emma Steele: That's awesome. Would you recommend the Highlight platform?

Dulce Almario: Yes, absolutely. 100%. I have to say, I've done, I've worked with a lot of consumer research companies before, and by far, Highlight is my favorite one, and it's the favorite of the team.

So the ease of navigation, being able to download the videos, and also everything is in one portal. I didn't have to go through Excel sheets to extrapolate all the results. We can basically just take it and then put it in our own presentation. So for sure.

Emma Steele: Awesome.

Dulce Almario: So, we really see Highlight now as an extension of our business and also would Highlight some being agility and speed, which links to one of the vision for the fragrance accelerator, so I feel like it's a perfect match. We were able to put together the Gen Alpha popup in like six weeks.

Emma Steele: Yeah. And how long do you think that would've taken you before, I guess you said it wouldn't have even happened, but.

Dulce Almario: Oh my God. Like, I don't know, maybe like, sometimes it takes like two months to get the results, but it's also extrapolating the results. It's like, it's really painful with my experience with the other companies. First of all, like, it's not fun. It's really tedious, so right off the bat, it's almost like it's a chore, right? Versus with Highlight, it's like, oh, I couldn't wait to see the results. I couldn't wait to put everything together.

I mean, honestly, I think I was looking at the results on the weekend, that's how excited I was.

Emma Steele: That's so great. I love that. Yeah, we have customers that will say like, I just click the refresh button. Like, just to see all the data come in. And those are, those are always fun studies for us too. Knowing that this was something that you were doing for foundational learning, so really anything's on the table, you know who kind of knows what the results will be. So that's really cool to hear that that was part of your experience too.

Dulce Almario: And like overall, like I'm truly grateful and happy that the first experience working with your company and with your team of course, like was such an amazing experience so definitely more to come, as I mentioned, You're part of our strategy for 2025.

Emma Steele: That's awesome. We're so excited. We're so excited for what's to come in 2025.