Jergens, a longtime staple in the sunless tanning and body lotion categories, is expanding its offerings to cater to people with melanated skin. To do so, it formed The Jergens Glow Collective, a group of BIPOC experts charged with weighing in on product development for its new collection. The Collective includes board-certified dermatologist Dr. Angela Lamb, celebrity makeup artist Sheika Daley and beauty expert Danielle Gray.
“Jergens is a brand that’s been around [since 1901]. Things have changed within those 100 years. Over the past two years, we’ve focused on who are we as a brand, our purpose, our vision and our promise to consumers. In the world we live in today, we [always] need to be more inclusive and more approachable. Our purpose is to help people feel good, so they can be themselves,” said Stephanie Kimutis, senior brand manager for Jergens Skincare.
One result of the new focus was reevaluating the meaning of “glow,” as the brand’s sunless tanning line is called “Natural Glow.” For caucasian customers, a “glow” can be achieved with sunless tanning products, a market in which Jergens is a dominant player, thanks to offering a wide variety of dedicated products.
With the Glow Collective, the brand sought to define what “glow” means for BIPOC consumers. “Everyone glows differently. And the glow that we were offering within the Jergens portfolio was definitely a self-tanning glow,” Kimutis said. “Obviously Black women don’t self-tan, so we knew from the product offering perspective, we had to figure out [the demand].” With the Glow Collective, it defined BIPOC women’s desired glow as “hydration without being overly greasy” or “radiating or enhancing [one’s] natural skin tone without altering it.”
The result is two new products: the Jergens Melanin Glow Illuminating Moisturizer and the Jergens Deep Conditioning Shea + Cocoa Butter Blend Moisturizer. The Melanin Glow product will be exclusive to Target — the brand’s No. 2 retailer, based on sales — for a year.
Kimutis noted that the Glow Collective used the products on their skin and provided feedback on the smell, feel and results. Based on feedback at one stage, for example, Jergens dialed down the level of shimmer in the Illuminating Moisturizer, which comes in a gold and a bronze shade. The new products only mark the beginning of Jergens’ comprehensive look at how the brand’s product portfolio can meet the needs of customers across the Fitzpatrick Scale, Kimutis said.
In addition, the Glow Collective assisted with marketing communication around the products, in terms of “what is appropriate to say and not appropriate to say,” said Kimutis.
To promote both the products and the Collective, Jergens will introduce Glow Collective members on its social media channels. “We’ve done a ton of work with [Target] on how the digital support will come to life, in their world and in our world. In-store, we’ll have a shelf [display] that has a beautiful visual of women of color. And the shelf tray will be inclusive of Melanin Glow, [as well as our] Natural Glow Moisturizers and our Instant Sun moisturizers. We’re trying to bring to life on the shelf this glow-for-all vision,” Kimutis said.
