Sonia Bainbridge is a former Miss Australia runner up, business academic and Co-Founder of Raw Beauty Lab, an independent British ethical beauty brand & the company behind the beauty industry award-winning beauty supplement, Vegan Collage
Give us the elevator pitch. Tell us about your brand.
We are a London based vegan collagen supplement company, providing a sustainable wholefood collagen powder range to help you build collagen naturally. We use 100% pure natural ingredients that have been extensively researched for antioxidant properties, to deeply nourish and plump up the skin, boost energy and improve overall wellness simultaneously while being mindful of the impact we have on the future of the planet.
What inspired you to set up your company
I was previously the Runner up for Miss World Australia and came across so many dubious practices in the beauty industry. I became quite concerned by the lack of regulation surrounding beauty products – particularly supplements and sought to use my background in pharmacology to formulate a range of products that only use 100% natural ingredients, are safe and deliver visible results.
What was your biggest challenge in year one
When we first got started, we launched a product that I personally loved but hadn’t sought any customer feedback or done much market research. The product ultimately failed but taught us the importance of listening to our customers and making sure we understand their needs first and foremost.
What would you say has been your biggest marketing success
I’d say one of our biggest marketing successes was our black friday campaign where we provided customers with the option to access our discounts 24 hrs before everyone else so they didn’t have to rush their decisions. I feel the campaign worked because we nurtured the customers beforehand with our christmas catalogue emails, why we are choosing to ‘go green’ for black friday and reminder emails, which kept Raw Beauty Lab prevalent in their minds.
What has been the biggest mistake you made
Leaving the planning and execution of new products or events too late. I had no idea how far in advance you need to plan for major holidays like Christmas or sales events like Black Friday – we start our planning just after Easter now as lead times on new products or initiatives can take a lot of time and we like to incorporate some form of customer testing
Tell us about your plans for the future
We hope to keep expanding our supplement range, supporting different skincare and lifestyle concerns through the power of plants to keep your skin and body healthy with wholefood plant based nutrients. We also hope to launch a skincare range in the future to compliment our supplements and provide an entirely holistic approach to keep skin glowing from the inside out.
