Brand Storytelling & Brand Experience Framework for Premium Beauty Brands
Description
Project Overview
This project explores how premium beauty brands can translate their inner philosophy, founder identity, and emotional intelligence into a cohesive brand story and lived brand experience — across content, customer touchpoints, and perception.
Rather than focusing on surface-level storytelling or trend-led narratives, this work examines how meaning, regulation, and identity are encoded into brand systems, creating resonance, loyalty, and long-term brand equity.
The project is designed to support beauty brands that are moving from visibility to authority, and from marketing activity to brand world-building.
Objectives
To analyse how premium and luxury beauty brands communicate identity, values, and emotional safety
To understand how storytelling translates into brand experience, not just messaging
To identify frameworks that allow brands to feel felt, not explained
To explore how founder-led energy influences customer trust and brand perception
Scope of Research
Brand storytelling models within premium and luxury beauty
Emotional and psychological cues in brand experience (pace, tone, restraint)
The role of ritual, consistency, and sensory coherence
How brands signal authority without education or persuasion
Case studies of brands that operate from presence rather than performance
Methodology
Secondary research across premium beauty, luxury, and wellness sectors
Qualitative analysis of brand worlds, content sequencing, and customer experience
Comparative analysis of storytelling vs. experiential branding
Synthesis into a practical framework that can inform brand strategy, content direction, and experience design
Expected Outcomes
A clear framework for translating brand philosophy into lived experience
Insight into how premium brands build trust without over-communication
Strategic guidance on storytelling that strengthens authority rather than dilutes it
Research that can be applied to brand positioning, content systems, and experiential strategy
Guidance for Students Taking On This Project
If you’re planning to submit a proposal for this project, here are some pointers to help you build a strong foundation, from academic literature to data sources.
1. Understanding Brand Storytelling Elements
Start by exploring core concepts of brand storytelling and its key elements. Search in your library website terms like: "Brand experience", "Brand storytelling", "Narrative branding", "Consumer engagement through storytelling"
2. The Fashion Industry and Beauty
Narrow your research to fashion-specific storytelling and branding. The following books and journals are great resources:
- Journal of Global Fashion Marketing
- Storytelling in Luxury Fashion
- Founder-Led Brand Theory
- Communicating Fashion: Theoretical and Practical Perspectives
3. Industry & Data Cross Examination
Cross-examine your suggested framework with examples from industry cases and include market trends in your suggested model. You might look at:
- Luxury beauty and skincare brands
- Wellness or slow-living brands
- Founder-led brands with strong personal energy
Focus on patterns, not praise. What systems repeat? What is intentionally absent?
These data sources could be useful:
Statista, IBISWorld, Euromonitor (Passport), McKinsey’s State of Fashion reports, Business of Fashion (BoF)
Video
Interested in this project?
15 days left to apply