Julia Cash on Mad Beauty’s innovative approach to bringing brands into beauty

Julia, I’m delighted to connect. To kick us off, what led you to launch Mad Beauty?
I was a beauty therapist originally – nothing to do with licensing at all… It never entered my thoughts! I started doing consultancy work in the beauty industry and my husband, Trevor, was in the music industry. He was distributing musical instruments. One day, a magazine he worked with knocked on the door and said to Trevor: “We’re starting a nail magazine. We know your wife is in the industry. We’re covering an exhibition in New York, would you guys like to come?” We thought: ‘Why not!’ and while we were there, we picked up some items that I felt were really innovative and different. That sparked an idea to start a beauty company.

So licensing wasn’t a focus, or part of the plan for the company at that point?
No, not at all. We just wanted to supply something different to the professional beauty industry, who were mainly selling high-end beauty products to a very captive audience.

And the name, Mad Beauty…
Well, Trevor’s company was called Mad – it stood for Music and Audio Distribution. That’s why we called it Mad Beauty. Little did we know that we’d really grow into that name!

“We want to do things that are innovative – that usually involves taking a licensor out of their comfort zone.”

Brilliant. How did you get involved in creating licensed ranges?
We were moulding so many products, because our focus was on creating new, innovative items – our first product was a range of nail polish that changed colour! Our first mould was a lip balm shaped like a cupcake. We were known for that sort of thing… So we had to ensure that we’d be commercially viable, considering all the money we were spending on moulds. That led us to look at the licensing industry.

The other thing is that we started to get copied by the mainstream. That’s when we knew we had to bring Mad Beauty into the mainstream, so we largely left the professional beauty space and looked at bringing our products to everyday consumers.

What was your first licensed range? And how did it come about?
It was Kellogg’s. We had looked at the existing world of licensed beauty and found it very boring; it was stuck in a rut. You had old-fashioned licensed lip balms for kids that smelt horrible – there was no innovation. So, we looked through the licensing magazines and came across Kellogg’s. Everybody said: “How can you do a Kellogg’s beauty range? It has nothing to do with beauty whatsoever!” But we knew we could do something special there.

We looked at the brand and thought about how we could make something that felt ‘grown-up’, because there was a strong sense of nostalgia with Kellogg’s. We looked at some of the vintage Fifties artwork in the style guide, and created a Kellogg’s carton of Bath Milk. We took a long time working out what we could put inside the carton to ensure it held the liquid without comprising the packaging.

Then we moulded a bowl of Frosties cereal as a lip balm. They were fun! And in the first year of those launching, we won Licensed Brand of the Year. Richard Pink of Pink Key Licensing was very supportive on that project. We got it into Tesco. It was an unbelievable journey.

Amazing! And I imagined that opened the door to more brands coming your way?
Yes, Disney came to us! They loved what we’d done with Kellogg’s and wanted to do something different. And, I can’t quite believe this, but we said “No”.

Oh!?
Yes… We said no to the biggest brand! Then they started to show us some things they were doing in Japan and what they wanted to do when they say “different” and it clicked – I got it. We wanted to make a difference, and why not make a difference with Disney.

On that, do you find brand owners’ version of ‘different’ is usually aligned with your definition of ‘different’?
We want to do things that are innovative and that usually involves taking a licensor out of their comfort zone. We don’t work with brand owners unless they want to do that. If you want to stay in your comfort zone, don’t work with Mad Beauty. Mad Beauty has an identity, and we want to bring that to licences.

Your ranges feel very authentic to each brand you’re working with. It certainly doesn’t look like cookie-cutter approach. What is your process like? Is it different brand-to-brand?
We don’t look at anyone else; we try to be a leader. We want to give customers something they’ve never seen before. The process involves lots of things. It’s product, it’s packaging, it’s moulding, it’s formulation… It has to thrill, but also be a genuinely good product. These aren’t novelties.

We look at new innovations in beauty and see if that can inspire something new in our area. We discovered innovations in foaming handwash and created a Lion King foaming hand wash with a pump that pumps out the foam in the shape of a paw print.

Lovely!
A lot goes into these things. Another good example is something we did for Beauty and the Beast. We wanted to do a rose lip balm, and we wanted it to be encased in the dome that you see the rose presented in within the film. The dome was the hardest bit! I’m lucky to work with an incredible team of designers and factories who understand our vision, and so I showed that idea to the factory. They had a think and found a cover for a watch that worked perfectly for this!

So yes, a lot goes into making a Mad Beauty product. If we don’t ‘ooh!’ and ‘aah!’ over an idea, it’s not for us.

I can imagine. And I remember seeing a Wizard of Oz cosmetics bag from you guys where the witch’s feet stick out of the bag, and it looked as striking as some high-end collector’s items you get in that space.
Exactly. And it’s not a level of creativity or detail that you’d expect in a beauty item. The customer is all important to us and I want them to be excited and wowed when they see a Mad Beauty product. And we’re not expensive. That Wizard of Oz cosmetics bag is £9.99. We’re there for everybody, including collectors.

What makes a brand right for Mad Beauty?
We’re not brand-slappers. We don’t want a great big portfolio, and we’re approached all day long by licensors. It has to be right for us, and also right for the moment. We took Barbie years ago because we knew we could do it in a retro, different way. We created some beautiful products, like a Fifties-style American refrigerator with Barbie beauty products inside. We did a radio too; they were incredible… They were some of my favourite products, but they didn’t do very well and the partnership died. And then a year later, the Barbie movies came out and we didn’t have the license, so timing is key.

One recent launch is a Rocky Horror collection. Now hold on a minute, what connects Disney and Rocky Horror – nothing! But for us, Rocky Horror is more relevant today than it’s ever been. We have to look at what customers want and that informs who we work with. Rocky Horror is something a bit different and that appealed to us. So it’s not a scientific process; it’s largely gut-feel.

It looks terrific! As you mentioned with Kellogg’s, some of the brands you work with aren’t ‘obvious’ fits for the beauty space. Do you enjoy those kinds of creative challenge?
Absolutely. Winnie the Pooh is another good example. That’s a lovely collection and has done really well. We did Mulan a few years ago and did a nail file that was a fan. It was a fan you’d open up, and on one side of the fan was a nail file. That’s certainly a first! It’s about looking to see what you can do with a brand that will stand out, regardless of how it might ‘typically’ fit into beauty.

Great example. Do any others come to mind as being unique designs you’re particularly proud of?
I’d say our Disney 100 line. We wanted to celebrate the milestone and do Walt Disney justice. Disney’s whole thing was to bring something to life through movement – animation. We wanted to bring movement to the packaging, so we did a honey lip balm that is encased within a flip book. When you flip through the pages it animates Winnie the Pooh.

Nice!
Very simple, but very different. We also did a nail file where you could animate Mickey’s arms. It was about making these characters come alive. We’re very proud of the range.

Rightly so. Speaking of Disney, you work with some of biggest brand owners around, so what do you feel is the key to successful creative collaborations with studios like Disney and Warner Bros?
We have a brilliant relationship with the likes of Disney and Warner Bros. When we start a project, we tell them the truth! This is us – we don’t just want your style guide. We want to have the freedom to do what we want to do, and yes, we’ll get knocked back every once in a while, but if we believe in an idea we’ll fight for it.

How do you fight for an idea? What can be persuasive?
You’ve got to articulate the reason for the product existing. It’s all about communication. We don’t just send emails, we like to explain concepts to partners in meetings. A collaboration doesn’t just exist on paper; you’ve got to get together. Hats off to all of our partners – they know who we are and how we like to work.

Is that partly because Mad Beauty itself has a brand identity? You want to ensure your collections have your DNA and the brand’s DNA in equal measure?
Billy, that’s so important to us. We don’t exist just to push brands forward. We’re here to also represent Mad Beauty. Our name is on the product because it’s our brand – and our integrity, design-thinking and creativity is wrapped up in that. Someone told me the other day: “I saw something earlier and before I picked it up I knew it was Mad Beauty.” That’s what we want; we want people to know our signature. It’s really important.

And we also have the Mad Beauty brand that’s independent of licences. That exists on its own. We did a ‘Fiesta’ range recently that included a full-size maraca that’s full of bath salts. One year we brought out a sand-timer filled with bath salts. So that arm of the business is also full of innovation.

Does the work on your non-licensed lines inform what you do with your licensed ranges at all?
Definitely. Sometimes we’ll try something in Mad Beauty and if it works, we’ll then bring it into a licensed range. And vice versa actually.

Julia, this has been great. Before we wrap up, what would you say is Mad Beauty’s most underrated launch?
I’d probably say the Barbie range I mentioned earlier. Another one that comes to mind is our Disney Colour collection. Disney had a style guide centred around the colours used for certain characters. They gave us the stills and we took one colour from one aspect of a character and focused a product on that. For example, a bath fizzer in the yellow of Dumbo’s hat. It was a beautiful line. Trevor always says that when he loves something, it never does well – and he loved that range!

Ha! He’s the curse! I also wanted to ask about the creative culture at Mad Beauty. How would you describe your approach to cultivating that?
We look for passionate people filled with ideas and we’re very picky! It is a bit mad and full on… We should’ve called ourselves Calm and Tranquil Beauty! But it’s all about inspiring each other, and I work with some really creative people. We all know each other’s strengths and weaknesses, and they understand me as well which is useful – I don’t come from a design background so that’s important!

And what inspires you?
Something you’ll see in a supermarket, or on the train… Moments. Being creative isn’t a nine to five thing… It’s 24/7. It’s about being alert to inspiration that surrounds us all the time.

My last question! What should we look forward to from Mad Beauty for the rest of the year and beyond?
Well, 2025 marks 25 years of Mad Beauty. It’ll be a big year for us and we’ll be pushing the boat out creatively. We’ll have two very big launches – one will see Mad Beauty in a different space. The other centres on a license that’s been done before – but we can do it better! That’s all I can tell you!

Beautifully teased! Thanks again Julia!