Joseph Tarnowski sits down with Dave Korinek, Chief Brand Officer at Pearl Resourcing, at ECRM’s Beauty and Cough & Cold Sessions in Dallas to discuss how CPG brands can determine if it’s time to refresh their brand, and what it takes to execute a successful brand refresh.

Among the topics they discuss are:
●Beyond the Logo: Branding isn’t just a "handshake" like your logo; it’s the ethos of everything – from your tone of voice and customer interactions to the unboxing experience.
●The "Purple Cow" Factor: With a "sea of sameness" on the shelf, Dave discusses how to stand out visually from 20-30 feet away to draw consumers in.
●Recipe vs. Chef: Why selling your product's "story" is more impactful than just listing its ingredients.
●Retail Readiness: How to use feedback from retail buyers to determine if your brand story and visual identity are truly aligned.
●The Strategy-First Approach: Why design without strategy is just "throwing things on a wall," and how to build "deep roots" for your brand to grow.
Korinek also shares why it’s important to pressure test your brand using consumer surveys and competitive analysis to ensure your hierarchy of messaging delivers on your product's promise, and how to find a brand agency partner that’s focused on solving your specific problems rather than offering "cookie-cutter" packages.

Harley Sutton, founder of Thanks Naturals, is all in on TikTok, using the platform to transform her all-natural beauty and wellness brand into a social commerce powerhouse. In this interview with Joseph Tarnowski, recorded on location at ECRM’s Everyday and Holiday Cosmetics, Skin, Fragrance & Bath Session in Dallas, Sutton shares the various ways in which she uses TikTok to stay engaged with customers and sell products.

This includes tapping into TikTok’s organic affiliate model, sending out 200 samples daily to real users who create authentic, unscripted content, and hosting TikTok Live where she broadcasts for hours every day to answer customer questions in real-time, build deep community ties, and drive immediate sales on TikTok Shop. She also broadcasts live from retail locations to drive traffic into the stores. Ultimately, Sutton’s goal is to host TikTok Live broadcasts 24/7/365.

Sutton shares everything brands need to know to incorporate TikTok Live streaming into their business, including equipment and setup, when, where, and how to broadcast, and different ways to engage the audience.

Bubbles & Mane,is a hybrid salon/spa concept in Astoria, N.Y. that offers a variety of beauty and wellness services in a beautiful, community-focused space. Just launched last year, the 2,500-square-foot facility spans two floors and offers a full-service Hair salon and color bar; luxurious head spa; nail, pedicure, and body wrap treatments; and a full-service spa with traditional facials and medical aesthetic procedures.

In addition, it has more than 50 linear feet of space featuring clean beauty, wellness and lifestyle products carefully curated to make the look, feel and vibe of the place. To find some of these products, Owner and CEO Michelle DeMartino worked with RangeMe on an Immediate Opportunity campaign to find local, woman-owned brands that reflected her mission as well as the aesthetics of Bubbles & Mane.

In this episode, Michelle takes us through a tour of the location and its offerings, shares details on how she worked with RangeMe to curate more than a dozen innovative brands for her retail space – one of which virtually sold out during the holidays!

She also shares some of the unique activities and community events Bubbles & Mane will ost, as well as its expansion plans into other major U.S. cities.