This week, I checked in with the teams at P&G and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Properties for an exclusive first look at Olay’s big bet on its new Cleansing Melts, which are the official face cleanser of the Paris Olympics this summer. Additionally, executive moves and a bevy of new celebrity spokesperson appointments.
Olay’s new waterless Cleansing Melts will be the official facial cleanser of Team USA at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
The partnership is part of parent company Procter & Gamble’s ongoing sponsorship of the Olympic games which started in 2010. It will include the placement of Cleansing Melts in the athlete’s gift bags and throughout Team USA’s training and recovery facilities in Paris and throughout the world.
The Cleansing Melts will also be seen in OOH advertising around the Olympics village, on billboards in select U.S. cities, in TV ads during competition broadcasts, and on social media through paid partnerships with Team USA track stars Sha’Carri Richardson and Athing Mu; soccer player Rose Lavelle; rock climber Natalia Grossman; and Olympics gymnast-turned-commentator Laurie Hernandez.
“We love how each of these athletes represents fearlessness, empowerment, boldness and courage to go after their goals,” Stephanie Headley, svp and brand franchise leader of Olay and North American Skin at Procter & Gamble told Glossy.
The announcement comes just after Olay’s May 1 unveiling of its newest product, which has more than 50 patents. “It’s probably been 20 years since Olay has had a really big innovation in the facial cleansing space,” said Olay’s Headley. “In mass, half the category is facial cleansing, and quite frankly, we just hadn’t really participated in a breakthrough way until now. The Cleansing Melts represent over a decade of innovation.”
Cleanings Melts are water-activated squares formulated to deep clean the skin without over-drying. According to Olay reps, they’re especially effective for athletes cleansing several times per day while training.
The Melts are available in three versions: Vitamin C for brightening, Hyaluronic for hydration and Retinol for use with Olay’s retinol suite of products. They retail for $4.99 for 12 or $9.99 for 32. The Melts already have full Olay e-tailer distribution with Amazon, CVS, Target and Walmart and will begin hitting store shelves this summer.
Other sponsors of the games include LVMH, Toyota and Coca-Cola. “[The Olympic committees of] other countries that we compete against often have a significant financial backbone from their federal government; we do not in this country,” Dave Mingey, svp of partnerships at the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Properties, told Glossy. “The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee is one of the very few committees around the world that receives no federal funding. … Corporate support is essential to the success of Team USA.”
Olay anticipates its samples will reach more than 22,000 athletes and staff as they’re checked in and fit for uniforms for competition.
“[When the Team USA athletes arrive at the games], they come in from all parts of the world and go through a central processing system or experience that we call TUWE for short, or Team USA Welcome Experience,” Mingey told Glossy. “We take over a facility and we kit it out with images and graphics and there’s a DJ playing. The athletes get fitted for a lot of their competition apparel and for their ceremonial wear by Ralph Lauren. They’ve got tailors customizing the jackets and the suits, and they get a lot of products.”
Mingey told Glossy the event represents far more than just uniform pickup — and Olay gets to be part of it. “It’s a special moment where you see many of [the athletes] realize that they’ve actually — they’ve achieved their life dream,” Mingey said. “The athletes qualify in various ways, but when they finally get into that special Team USA environment, someone steps forward to shake their hand and says, ‘Congratulations. You’re part of the 2024 Olympic or Paralympic team!’ You see a lot of heads kind of pop back and they’re like, ‘Wow, I’m here.’”
The global waterless cosmetics market size — which includes shampoo bars, solid and powdered cleansers, dry masks, solid perfume and oil-based skin care — is on track to reach more than $23 million by 2033, thanks to a 9.8% compound annual growth rate, according to a report by market research fund Custom Market Insights. In 2023, it was a $9.1 million market.
Still, growth for waterless cleansers has been relatively slow, said Anna Keller, global senior analyst of beauty and personal care at market research firm Mintel. For example, “powder format cleansers [made] up just 1% of new global product launches in the category of facial cleansers over the last three years,” she told Glossy. “But the category has tremendous potential for its ability to tap into key beauty trends that consumers are looking for.” This includes more conscious consumption, value, portability, ingredient efficacy and a reduced need for preservatives, she said.
Whether or not Olay’s big bet will pay off outside of the summer games is yet to be seen. As Mintel’s Keller pointed out, the roadmap of successful waterless product launches has been touch-and-go. For example, solid shampoo bars have been launched by many brands including Unilever’s Love Planet Beauty and indie darling Ethique, but have yet to gain mass appeal. Another example is the short-lived brand Plus, which launched soap sheets in dissolvable packaging to TikTok fame in 2021 and entered Target in 2022 before shuttering this spring.
“If [a water-free cleanser] works well and delivers on the claims they’re promising, this is a category that should have the potential to grow in the years to come,” Keller said.
Executive moves:
- Francine Li is the new CMO at IPSY. Previously, Li held roles at Netflix and Riot Games.
- Monica Rutherford is the new chief commercial officer at Matrix brands, which counts Cowshed, Arkive Headcare, Soho Skin and Cultured Biomecare in its roster. Rutherford formerly held roles at Rose Inc and Juice Beauty.
- Renée D. Reid has been promoted to senior merchant of wellness at Ulta Beauty. She has been with Ulta for more than seven years having served as senior brand manager of DEI and senior manager of conscious beauty.
News to know:
- The Food & Drug Administration is cracking down on beauty products sold stateside without the proper FDA clearance, including dermal injection pens, LED masks and laser hair removal devices. The FDA has issued a warning letter to Ostar Beauty Sci-Tech Co Ltd, one maker of said devices.
- Maybelline New York named DJ, model and singer Peggy Gou as its newest face. She is set to promote the brand’s 16-hour lip product, SuperStay Matte Ink Liquid Lipstick.
- Rare Beauty is “Time” magazine’s most influential company of 2024.
- French skin-care brand Caudalie has launched its first U.S. sunscreen using non-nano zinc oxide as the active ingredient. It is available on Sephora.com.
- Procter & Gamble has been hit with a lawsuit alleging deceptive marketing over Tampax’s Pure Cotton tampons, which include ingredients like polypropylene, polyester and titanium dioxide in addition to cotton, the suit claims.
- VC group Squared Circles, which invested in Nutrafol and Magic Molecule, has secured $40 million in series A funding from LVMH-backed private equity firm L Catterton.
In the headlines:
“Bridgerton”‘s Simone Ashley is the new face of L’Oréal Paris. How Belle Brands is carefully plotting the future of former Amyris Brands JVN Hair and Pipette. Unsexy sells: What brands should make of TikTok’s enthusiasm for beauty’s homely workhorses. Kim Petras puts her money where her mouth is as the new face of MAC’s Viva Glam.
Need a Glossy recap?
Sephora is launching in Tanger outlet centers across the country. The flat lay is back. Redken is the latest hair-care brand zeroing in on textured coils. Taylor Frankel on 10 years of Nudestix. How to effectively seed new products to beauty editors, according to The Beauty Loop’s Erica Metzger. Founder Alicia Yoon on Peach Slices’ first campaign: ‘We’re going an inch wide and a mile deep.’
