By Esti Goldstein

5 Career Lessons in Beauty Marketing: A Speaker Event with Nathan Pence, ULTA Beauty’s Vice President of Marketing

When one imagines the Marketing Vice President of one of the largest beauty retailers in the nation, Nathan Pence is probably not what you would picture: a soft-spoken, humble individual who easily commands a room. Pence had some well-earned advice to share with the Vault on Oct. 25, but his best lesson came from leading by example. The manner in which Pence spoke about the past brands he has worked with, including Method Products, bareMinerals, Lands’ End, Kohl’s and Belk, was nothing short of complimentary. When asked if there were occasions where he’d been impressed by campaigns run in his past companies, a smile lit up his face as he answered “all of them.” Each company he has worked with taught him a different lesson, many of which he still goes back to today in his work at Ulta Beauty.

Lesson 1: “Create from the Core”

The Gap’s core branding revolved around hand-drawn figures, shades of blue and white, a combination of records and denim and a counter-culture aesthetic as a touchstone. Pence spoke about the importance of stretching and modernizing the core branding, while staying true to their original values throughout every campaign.

Lesson 2: “Create a Culture of Collaboration”

Something Pence loved about Method’s initial brand creation was their initiative in hiring different people from unique backgrounds and skill sets and having them distill the brand together. Building around a value-based culture allowed them to push each other further, enabling Method to ask, “we want to go here, how do we get there?” Method’s branding was based around selling an idea: changing the world for the better with their cleaning products. 

Lesson 3: “Create Disruption”

Pence’s connection to bareMinerals runs deep, as he was employed there on two separate occasions and holds a lot of love for their company and mission. He described them as a “disruptive company”, always trying to disrupt their own process and punch above their weight. bareMinerals’ innovative campaigns incorporated ideas ahead of their time, such as a campaign with no retouching, where models were picked in a blind interview process in a search for “truly beautiful” people, on the inside and out. 

Lesson 4: “Tell a Good Story”

The Lands’ End campaigns were more centralized around family and function-over-fashion. There, Pence used storytelling to captivate his audience, explaining that people don’t remember facts and details, they remember a story. He did this through flying out the models’ families for a holiday campaign photoshoot, in order to build a story around selling their clothes. This allowed consumers to see not only the models wearing their products, but also their family members which created a story of holidays and togetherness revolving around those products.

Lesson 5: “Create an Emotional Connection”

Ulta Beauty’s brand centers around the idea of “making beauty a force for good.” One way they work toward this is by choosing photography and video footage of models within a large and inclusive demographic. This strategy helps to curate a brand for everyone, and ensures that all consumers feel represented. Campaigns are built upon defining the brand through values-based messaging, then connecting with clients through engaging content and driving seasonal events/promotions. These elements build trust and loyalty to the brand, which ultimately creates an emotional connection.

Throughout Pence's career, he has worked for multiple brands, always moving with an interest in growing and learning if the opportunity presented itself. His biggest piece of advice to the Vault and other young creatives is to ask yourself, “what will be your story?” It was an honor to hear from Nathan Pence, and we are so excited to see what he does next!

Edited by: Nicole Borras, Sam Teisch, Lenah Helmke, Katherine Rubenstein, and Bella Matias, and Lauren Veum

DEI Reviewed by: Katherine Rubenstein

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Personal Branding with Cesar Vizcarrondo