Welcome to Students Incorporated. I'm your host,
Mr. Jason. Join me weekly as my students and
I bring you content that's informative, positive,
fun, and uplifting. This podcast is created and
produced with the help of students from the International
Community School of Bangkok. Hello everyone and
welcome back to Students Incorporated. In today's
episode, we're excited to dive into the world
of ethical beauty with a very special guest.
Joining us today is Mr. Boom, the brand manager
of Lush Thailand, who has been with the company
since its very first shop opening here in Thailand.
We'll be exploring Lush's journey in Thailand,
what makes the brand unique, and how it balances
fun products with deep values such as sustainability
and opposition to animal testing. By the end
of this episode, you'll not only know the story
behind bath bombs and perfumes, but also the
ethos that drives one of the most ethical brands
in the beauty industry in Thailand. Now, moving
on, let's hear our quote of the day and get some
headline news. Our quote of the day comes from
Jeff Bezos. Your brand is what other people say
about you when you're not in the room. This perfectly
captures the essence of what we're talking about
today. A brand isn't just a logo, a fancy color
schemes, or a clever advertisement. It's the
feeling, the reputation, and the story that lives
in the minds of your customers. It's what they
text to their friends after using a product or
what they post online after visiting a store.
For the cosmetic companies we'll be discussing,
this is everything. Their success depends entirely
on whether people are saying, this product made
me feel amazing or I love what this company stands
for. It's about building a genuine reputation
that exists long after the marketing campaign
is over. And that is our quote of the day. And
I have the privilege to bring you to our news
as well. Our first headline comes from the Vogue
business, and it is about a major player blurring
the lines between technology and beauty. Estee
Lauder launches AI shade match, promising a perfect
foundation match through your smartphone camera.
According to a report from Vogue business, Estee
Lauder has rolled out a new AI -powered tool
within its mobile app that analyzes user skin
tone with remarkable accuracy under different
lightning conditions. The technology not only
suggests the perfect product, but also allows
the virtual try -on that look incredibly realistic.
This is a massive branding move, positioning
them as a legacy company on the cutting edge
of personalization and inclusive technology.
Our next headline comes from The Fast Company,
a startup company about skincare. A story about
how a new indie brand is making sustainability
its core identity. Biotech beauty brand Symbiotic
Labs secures funding for its lab -grown, water
-free moisturizers. As covered by Fast Company,
the startup Symbiotic Labs is branding itself
as post -natural, using biotechnology to create
high -performance skincare without depleting
natural resources. Their headline products are
solid, water -free moisturizers that come in
biogradable, mushroom -based packaging. Their
branding rejects the traditional all -natural
narrative in favor of a message about scientific
innovation for planetary health, attracting a
whole new segment of eco -conscious consumers.
And for our final headline, it comes from Glossy
Reports. We look at how our brand is building
a cult following by growing hyper niche. Odyssey
Fragrances reaches viral status on TikTok by
creating scents based on fictional worlds. Glossy
Reports that directs a consumer's brand. Odyssey
Fragrances has exploded in popularity by creating
entire collections based on beloved fantasy books
and video games. Their branding is built entirely
on community engagement, with fans voting on
the next world to be turned into a scent collection.
It's a masterclass in how to build a powerful
brand by catering specifically to a passionate,
pre -existing fandom and letting them drive the
narrative. Thank you for the quote and the headline
news. Let's jump right into our interview with
Mr. Boom. Proud will start us off with our first
question. So welcome to the show, Happy Boom.
Please introduce yourself and tell us a little
bit about what you do. Hi, everyone. Good morning,
I guess. I'm Boom. I'm a brand manager and perfume
category lead from Lush Thailand. So to give
you an understanding of fresh handmade cosmetic
brands, I've been working here for nine years,
starting as a part -time position. while I'm
studying my second year in universities. And
then after graduated, become a full -time. I'm
starting the position in the store to learn how
to operate the stores and how to give customers
excellent services first. And after that, around...
two years or three years ago, become one of the
supporting teams who support all the store managers.
And then for a couple months ago, like three
or four months, become a brand manager who's
taking care of all the communication activities.
marketing activity both online and offline and
then i'm looking for e -commerce and also because
i'm passionate in perfumes um uh honor to respond
or everything in in in in terms of like perfumes.
So I remember Lush was so booming and then it
was the trend for all the teenagers. So can you
take us back to the first day of Lush when it
opened in Thailand and like what was the atmosphere
like? Thank you for sharing that it was booming.
So it's like for me, it's like come and go, which
we would like to keep the trends like more steady.
Back in the first day, it's nine years ago. So
we're opening our first store in Siam Center,
a flagship store still. But right now we have
11 stores and tomorrow we're gonna be opening
the Phuket store. So in case anyone go down there.
So the first day opening the store, we probably
have like... a thousand people that are in the
stores because at the moment I remember we also
have the Lush trend from the US celebrities so
most of the customers who come and visit us is
that the customer they went to abroad and they
know the brand very well so they kind of like
excited because nine years ago Lush still like
very cultural brand like if you are a fan club
you not go anywhere you just come and support
the brand so it's it's it's very chaotic there
but everyone actually i think uh everyone also
amazed by our thai hospitality attitude and service
line because even in last store uh i i also thing
that Thai people can do or Asian people can do
much better customer services compared to other
countries. So even they're expecting Lush to
be very lush, but when it comes to Lush in Thai
market, it's like the top notch of the customer
service. so everybody like loved it but they
kind of like uh shocked at the price because
because uh we are imported all the stuff from
japan and at that time they don't understand
why all the shower gel cost you like a thousand
uh five hundred baht so we we we we have a huge
like period of time to make customer understand
about our values and about the service that they
will get from our store so it's very fun thank
you for all the customer who's still using our
products now today That sounds really amazing.
A question that came up to my mind is, what made
you want to grow your career with Lush instead
of moving to another brand? I actually get this
a lot because like lots of our team members,
we work together since day one. And from my background,
I actually have the geology degrees, which like
totally like... another world but but but it's
it's also like help me to understand why the
environmental issue is important now for the
for the brand especially cosmetic brand the reason
that i won't go anyway yet is that uh they actually
allow us to create our own ideal workplace environment
they they they allow us to speak of our minds
all the feedback like we are very flat structure
company uh even in thailand or in the uk or other
country if you are a part -time you can actually
go straight to the ceo and say hi do you have
five minutes i have some feedback to share this
is what happened and i think it's affect this
and i would like to change in which way so i
think these cultures still i think most of the
companies still develop the the the feedback
culture in their company but the tightness and
also something like we are always like Which
I think it slowed down the work and result. But
here in Lush, we are very honest to each other.
We very respect each other. We don't blame anyone
if we fail. We fail together. We support together.
So it's kind of like a very bubble workplace.
But it also has a bad side as well. because everyone
will be like uh it's i'm not sure it's called
imposter syndrome when everybody like keeps supporting
you and tell you like you're the best this is
good and we don't really know like is it is it
good or not until we see the result even the
result went like bad we still like oh it's okay
we can do it together So it's something like
that that I think I would not find any like workplace
environment like Lush, especially retail brand.
If you went to the store, you will see the differences
between Lush staff and Lush experience compared
to like other retail brand because we're cultivating
the motivation of staff to have passion. in the
brand not just like come to work but we come
to like spread all the lush legacy to the customer
and we would like all the customer to know more
of our product because our product is high quality
it doesn't mean like oh we are selling to just
like make a profit and the company like pay like
high salary it's not like transactional I think
so that's why I think these environment it's
suit me i totally agree the environment is one
of like the factors that made you stay long and
also like when i went to lush like there's this
like bath bomb and then all those cute things
like i when i was young i loved it so much so
then like how did you trans decision from like
the shop floor experience to brand manager leading
multiple teams like was there any difference
in that i think i'm not sure like anyone like
knows or others companies are doing this but
all the like key position or like the senior
position in the company need to start as the
sales ambassador first We don't hire management
level from other brands. We are only hiring the
self -ambassador position. And then all the management
team will observe, will coach you and train you
in a way that you would like to be. For example,
we have a trainer position. We have the visual
merchandise. We have our social media teams.
Everybody needs to be in the store. first to
understand the products the brand the customer
service what are we doing the customer like trends
and behavior so that's where i think every like
position still need the core skill from the stores
and believe it or not i think i have learned
a lot by just like selling everybody as so Because
we learn negotiation skills. We learn to observe.
We have to be very observant. We know how to
convince people. We also know how to show excellent
demo skills. We have very excellent interpersonal
skills. I think all those skills, that helps.
for for other like responsibility as well for
example if i'm a brand manager but i don't know
the customer i don't know the brands i don't
believe in what the brand believing for example
it'd be hiring another brand manager from like
other brand yes of course they will have like
lots and tons of experience from other brands
but they don't have lush They don't know how
we do a market. They don't know, they don't somehow,
they don't believe on what we believe. So I think
it does help and lead. And because we actually
care every staff and we would like them to grow
in a way they would like to grow. Hope that answers
your question. It does. That's such a heartwarming
environment as a workplace. I think I would love
to work like that. Another question that I have
is, how has your role evolved, especially with
perfumes, e -commerce and PR? I think as I mentioned
earlier, when we know everything in the stores
and know the customer, it also does help in terms
of like, for example, like PR. We know exactly
how to impress others. We know exactly how to
keep all the relation between us and customer
or the brand manager. We know exactly how to
communicate. uh things from the brand to the
customer but it's just like a broader platform
it's more like instead of doing this in with
one customer but we doing what we do being in
the store but in other platform and and other
like maybe like in the partnership in other company
and also for the perfume uh i think i love flush
perfume and i basically like love perfume in
general and it's like talking with with customer
also give us give me a lot of like insight and
also the the customer opinion of how Me, myself,
gonna grow my career path and also grow my profession.
So I think the experience in the store, if you
would like to improve yourself, if you would
like to be more grown up, if you have a goal
of what you would like to learn, I think the
retail work and the retail store experience can
give you. So that's how I developed all those
like position and passion in brand manager, PR
and pressure throughout the store experiences.
And that's a great place to pause our first segment.
We'll be right back with our second segment right
after this short PSA message. Ever notice how
much plastic comes from a simple delivery? It
can be overwhelming, but we all have the power
to change that. This is a quick reminder to rethink
the wrap. Before you click buy, take a moment
to consider. Does the company share your values
on sustainability? Are there low waste or naked
options you can choose? Those little decisions
add up to a big impact. When you finish a product,
take the time to properly recycle the container,
or even better, look for ways to reuse it. Make
mindful consumption your next must -have. You
can look good and do good. And that's our PSA
for this episode. And we are back with the second
part of our interview. Proud will start us off
again. For those new to Lush, how would you describe
the brand in just a few words? Because we are
in the cosmetic industry, basically, but we have
head -to -toe products. So three words actually
cannot like describe Lush, but I think fresh
handmade cosmetic. It's actually like a certain
word that we would like to go. And also to make
it more like a clearer. I think, imagine like
when you are six, when you catch a cold. So you
either go to taking the pills or you're going
to drink the honey, like warm honey and lemon
drinks. So if you would go with the honey and
lemon warm water, you think of Lush. But if you
would like to go with like the pills or antibiotics.
you can go to others. So I think this is a very
good analogy for the customer to understand exactly
what Lush Gun are trying to do. And if you go
with all of our products, we are actually supported
by all the ethical buying values. We supported
the animal habitats, the environment. There are
so many things that we do support. We are not
a people who... And not the brand who come and
take advantage and make much more profits from
the customer. But we are also very caring to
the world, animals and people as well. So that's
also something that keeps me working for them
for nine years. Because we are not just a decent
brand. it will attract and draw more of the decent
people as well. Since you talked a lot about
environmental stuff, is there an example of a
partnership or campaign that perfectly reflected
Lush's value here in Thailand? Okay, so basically
we have six core values. We have the fresh cosmetics.
We have handmade cosmetics, everything we try
to do handmade as much as possible to support
the people. And we have 100 % vegetarian and
95 % vegan. And we have fighting animal testing,
which is the core values of our brand. We are
not just like non -testing on animal, but we
also fighting as well. We give out 250 ,000 pounds
every two years. for like the scientists and
organization that support and think of the innovation
of fighting animal testing which we don't have
to but we would like to do and then we have the
ethical buying value which is resonance myself
the most it's very difficult how to explain the
ethical buying to other customer but nowadays
we have lots of the brand do the same thing like
I'll mention with my honor to everyone the smoothie
they actually set the price for the farmers so
we don't buy ingredient like from the I'm not
sure like the we go to support like directly
from each farms and each suppliers so I think
these are our six core values and then we have
support value of like support the human rights
support in animal welfare and environmental For
example, the campaign, example, international
campaign first. So these two soap, it's actually
launched like probably three or five years already.
This one is Ula Utang soap. So we produce, from
what I recall, I think 3 ,000 pieces of this
Ula Utang soap. So it's equal. like the real
Ularutan in Indonesia so we call this project
SOS because we would like to raise the awareness
that in our like planet we only have like 3 ,000
Ularutan left so we and also this one is a koala
so remember when we have the five wildfire in
in australia so so we do this soap to give the
charity and when lush mentioned about charity
we do a hundred percent we don't do like five
percent of selling price go to this organization
for example like last two years we launched this
soap it's called equality soap you can see like
it's had equal size here and it's come with the
heart shapes so these launch during the cry periods
after taxes reduction we go a hundred percent
to support the organization that support this
kind of issue the organization that we went for
call like thai gta thai transgender alliances
which is the organization that support things
that i think other brands don't really would
like to approach or catch for example like free
sex clinics or like the things like in thai we
we think that it's like a bad thing but but but
let's do support so these are we call it the
campaign products and then we have other products
we call it charity pots uh but we stopped selling
charity pot last year because we thinking the
charity pot is a body lotion which 100 % of selling
price go to the charity pots, like the money
pots. And then each year, every country, they
will select one non -profitable organization
and support those money to that. And basically,
we will support on human rights, on animal welfare.
Last two and three years, we support a wildlife
friend foundation, Thailand. So we rescued two
tigers. We named them Blushy and Nata. Those
two tigers were raised in the zoo. And then the
zoo is closed. And then they have no place to
go. And they are actually just like... confident
and and and and strong enough to go out from
the cage like last two year i think you can search
on the build flt there's still like lots of photo
there as well so yeah so so i think these kind
of campaign we if i if i'm not telling you you
probably don't know because a part of the campaign
because we don't do advertisements We don't like
hiring like sell like brand ambassador or the
celebrities or the influencers. Because as you
know, and as I mentioned earlier, like lots of
celebrity use our products, but we don't do marketing
that way. So if you come to the store and they
start telling all this stuff, that's where you
understand and know what we are stand for. Compared
to like most of the brand nowadays. If they use
just like 1 to 5 % of organic ingredients, they
will claim they are an organic brand. Or if they
do this, they do in like the CSR aspect, just
like for the PR themselves. But we do this because
we believe that we are, we were born to share
to others. So I think it's a very strong last
point compared to other brands. And we still
have lots of campaign products coming more. I
love to hear that. And I never knew about this
side at all because I just thought that, oh,
it's just like a store selling bath bomb and
all those things. But listening to it, like it's
a really meaningful thing to hear about. So many
customers see bath bombs as like the fun side
of Lush. So how do you communicate the deeper
story, ingredients, ethics and like sustainability,
as you mentioned? At the first place, we're doing
excellent customer experience and customer service.
If you went to Lush store, please be prepared
that you will get lots of questions, but we don't
force you to answer. For example, like instead
of saying like, this is our bestseller products,
you should try. We go by like... Have you used
our products before? Have you known our brands?
How can I help you today? We have plenty of products.
We start by establishing customer needs first.
And then when we have enough of the information,
we will analyze the customer needs and we will
come up with not just one product. a ton of products
as well. We call these service like the slave
consultation where the staff will go with these
all the products and then we will introduce each
product to fit in the customer routine. For example,
like every staff should introduce like What is
the product? How to use the product? What is
count inside product? Two or three ingredients
should mention to every customer and every ingredient
has their own stories. And also, if the customer
show any size of interest in, like, for example,
if I talk to the customer and I know that they
are into, like, ethical stories. so that's where
i share more of the ethical story and when when
when the story reflect the customer interest
they will understand they will like pay lots
of attention and then they will share so that's
okay it's 11 o 'clock okay okay uh My mind was
out there. So come back to the way we communicate,
right? Both aside of the customer experience
and customer consultation, if you can see, we
actually develop our store virtual merchandise
to have more of the signage. In the stores, you
will have, you will see like lots of signage.
For example, like we are the Bad Bomb Inventors.
We use like a honey from the Brazil where we
don't have any bees, something like that. So
we also like develop our platform to communicate
to customer as well. And also I think we have
like the certain group of the customer that we
know that they will value our values. For example,
if you probably just like go back home and tell
your parents that like, oh, the platform that
I have used actually supports like things like
people and human rights and something like that.
So I think it's more sustained rather just like
doing a billboard or going to like advertisement
in all the social media platform and people just
like. and then they're just like gone. There's
no connection between customer and brands. I
think we are doing that strategy of the communication
at the moment. And also the podcast, the events,
we will go to the market every week if we can.
We do the party. When we do a party, like making
soaps and making bath bomb and bubble bath, those...
those communications also need to communicate
throughout that activity as well. Wow, that's
such a great history and brief explanation about
the deeper meaning about the ingredients, ethics,
and sustainability. What do you most love as
your role as a brand manager? What do you most
love about that? As I mentioned earlier, it allows
me to communicate what I believe in a broader
way. and more of the mass channels. Because if
I went to the store, I can just probably communicate
everything about the brand to maximum three or
four customers. Because it's very tiring, like
talking non -stop. But if I go to the events,
if I go to the podcast, I can communicate more
of the broader way. We have more of the viewers.
And then... I think what I love is that I would
like to share and I would like to make all the
customers understand why Lush is expensive and
why we are a very motivated group of people.
Because what we do is what we believe and what
we believe is actually effective. to the environment,
to the animals and to the people as well. I think
I would like to share that, hey, we are a group
of people that do decent things. We don't just
like come and take advantage and we don't come
just make a profit. We also give out a lot to
the community. We fail, it's okay. We learn and
we move on. And I think that's the fun way. And
also to see the people that are amazed by like,
Lush values as like Kraus and Esther mentioned,
it also fulfills something in my core value as
well. So what do you find most inspiring about
your colleagues or like the brand globally? Like
after working with Lush for nine years and that's
like a really long period of time, like what
do you find most inspiring about it? I think
I... something very funny story because every
year we will send the staff to go to visit the
factory in uk in japan if we have events in korea
we send them to korea as well so we have actually
like a broad activity activations going on throughout
the years so every time i The first time I visit
the UK factory and I keep asking, like, how many
years are you working with Lush? And they will
go like 15, 17, 20 years. I worked with Lush
before Lush was born because before Lush, we
have cosmetics to go. We have a listen bag. So
it's actually like the same company, the same
group of people, but different brands. It's also
proved something that even like everybody I talked
to, like in May this year, I went to the UK and
I keep asking the same question. Everybody like,
oh, I'm working 25 years already with Lush and
I probably don't go anywhere. hundreds of people
like still with this company for 20 years it's
also show something it's also mean something
and there are very talented people if if really
talented people very bright people still decide
to work with this company so it's also reflect
something as well this also very inspiring me
to make and coach the staff, like the junior
staff, to become and feel like I feel. I feel
the same as my first day in the store in Siam
Center. I still feel like, oh, I would like to
go to work. These are the work that I need to
finish. I want to go to talk to customers. I
want to coach this person to become more of the
senior level. Those kind of things actually inspire
me a lot. And I hope I can also inspire others
as well. Because I would like to coach them to
make them feel like I am. So I think it's something
that inspires me. Thank you for sharing. If you
could describe the Lush working environment in
three words, what would they be? I would say
the first one is... challenging because it's
actually challenged in terms of like because
our brands believe in something that most of
the brands don't i don't think they don't believe
but they don't take it serious which is if if
they would like to take it serious it's totally
okay because we would like everybody to leave
the world then we found it together with the
brands. So it's very challenging because we don't
mark up the marketing price, for example, a lot.
Because if you go to other brands, they will
have a lot of marketing costs. When they pay
the celebrities, it's very huge of money. For
example, like an event, you probably will see
just only like one big event from Lush. Like
last three, four, five years ago, the showcase.
Because it takes lots of money. So it's very
challenging. if if we sell these products with
very high qualities and if you have used our
products you will know the differences between
our shower gel and other shower gel our perfume
other perfume our soap other soap or the hair
care so it's very challenging but it's very fun
the second word is very fun i am not sure it's
just like me or everybody feeling fun but When
I see other Dutch members from other countries,
it also proves me that everybody is a very fun
person. They are very inspiring people. And then
the last one is probably very supportive. I think
we don't lose our time on negativities. We just
like come and sit down and talk and then we plan
things in very fun way. We are very creative
people. We don't do like things inside the box
because the brand is actually outside the box
already. So I think challenging, fun, but very
supportive environment can be described the workplace
here. I feel like there's so many other words
that could describe Lush, but only three is kind
of limited. Looking ahead, what excites you the
most about Lush's future in Thailand? In the
future, I think I would like to make Lush to
a broader audience. And also like... We would
like to communicate more with the customer. We
would like to have more awareness of the brands
and the values that we believe. So I think something
that excites me is that how me as a brand manager
grow the fan base of Lush. So we call them a
Lushie. So if you can see there's so many more
of the... content from the Europe and the US
side because they really love Lush and because
their economics or the minimum wage compared
to Lush product they found that it's quite a
cheap like very affordable like high quality
brand so they have a lot of fan base and just
for your information like everything you see
on the social media is not not paid. It's all
organic content. So that's where you probably
get misinformation from the clips or something
very subjective from the customer in the content,
which we encourage everyone to go to the stores,
come to us, and we will give you the best consultations.
And then if you really like it, then you will
share it somewhere else. So I think... how to
grow the fan base or how to grow the Lushy because
I think lots of people still aware that we are
just selling a platform. We're just a brand that's
full of the colors and full of the fun and bubbles.
But do you know we have deodorants? We have like
food powder. We have oral care. We... Thai market,
Lush Thailand is actually wind light. the award
from the perfume that we selling like the higher
percent perfume compared to every country in
the world like from 900 stores we win this prize
like two year consecutive so i think we we we
have so much more things to communicate and we
would like to grow this community together because
if you can see we don't have any packaging here
and also all the bottles from lush we use the
plastic from the pop pop means the organization
that they will go and pick up the trash in the
ocean and then they will transfer all those trash
in the ocean to the plastic bottles it's come
from prevented ocean plastic which i believe
i think and what i have researched in the market
lush is only the only a very few brands like
big brands that adopt this plastic to the whole
system so which mean like all the plastic that
you use from lush not just come from the landfill,
the land trash, but in the ocean trash, because
trash in ocean can cause more of the damage to
the environment and animal in the oceans. So
it's so much more to communicate and very excited,
but we will not going to that point if we don't
have any, like more of the customer to support
us. Thank you, Mr. Boom. We appreciate your time
communicating with us the important aspects of
how a leading brand like Lush is helping change
the world through these unique and valuable initiatives,
like the adoption of sustainable and recycled
plastic that's environmentally safe. And that's
a wrap for this episode. We don't always get
to see behind the corporate door of large companies,
but it's refreshing to hear that companies like
Lush have made sustainability a core part of
who they are, and they wanted to encourage their
customers to do the same. We hope Mr. Boom's
journey with Lush Thailand has inspired you to
see how businesses can be both fun, meaningful,
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