Tatcha Branding

A BRAND DEVOTED TO UNEARTHING ancient, natural beauty secrets of Japan, Tatcha partnered with Tether to find a differentiating niche in the global beauty market. Finding inspiration in Japan, we were able to help bring a new approach of inspired-by-Japan and BETTERED WITH SCIENCE. Starting with this strong foundation, we then went to work creating all the assets needed for an enduring global brand.

SITUATION ANALYSIS

Tatcha is a jewel of a brand devoted to unearthing the ancient, natural beauty secrets of Japan. Tether partnered with the founder to create its strategy, positioning, name, identity, marketing, packaging and digital experience—creating the brand from the ground up. There hadn’t been a successful Japanese-inspired brand since SK-II and Tatcha was ready to authentically position itself in that market.

APPROACH & STRATEGY

Tatcha launched with just a single product—authentic Japanese aburatorigami facial beauty papers. By gathering insight from the Geisha and drawing formulations from a 200-year-old Japanese beauty book, we were able to marry that with the enthusiastic endorsements of celebrity makeup artists. By doing so we were able to meet our goal of creating a brand of ancient meets modern to capture the hearts of A-list actors, celebrities, beauty bloggers and consumers worldwide.

Now with multiple collections, Tether has woven together Tatcha’s artful package design with a digital array—banner ads, eblasts, social assets, blog entries and retail site—to inspire a devoted customer base and impressive marketshare in the field of luxury skincare. As Tatcha has evolved, so has our opportunity to tell their unique story.

FROM JAPAN, WITH LOVE

Tatcha’s brand expression bridges the gap between ancient and modern, wisdom and science, product and consumer.

GUIDELINES THAT BRING TO LIFE A STORIED CITY

Tatcha’s brand guidelines are designed to evoke the simple elegance of nature and rich textures of Kyoto: purple dusk, grey cobblestones and gold leaf.

HERITAGE AND VITALITY

The unique watercolor illustration style unifies photography and illustration assets with Tatcha’s signature purple. The resulting image hybrids place the brand’s Japanese heritage in a modern context and add vitality to their image.

A BEAUTIFULLY EVOLVING STORY

Tatcha’s packaging needs have evolved from one simple, entry-level product to a complete line of luxury skincare and moving into color cosmetics. Tether helped fuel consumer desire by bringing together Japanese heritage forms and materials with a modern touch.

HOLIDAY GIFT SET LAUNCH

Tatcha, like most retailers, relies on the last quarter of the year to drive annual sales goals. Traditional Japanese gift giving was Tether’s inspiration for both holiday gift set packaging and a strategic campaign to existing customers. The result was Tatcha’s biggest holiday ever in 2014.

A NEW TAKE ON PURIFICATION

With the skincare industry trending towards purification, and with smartphones driving 63% of Tatcha’s gross sales, Tether developed a responsive mobile user experience to translate the benefits of adding Tatcha’s Kinu Silk Polishing Face Cloth into a daily skincare ritual. The result? This exclusive product offering sold out in one week.

BRIDGING LOYALTY ACROSS CATEGORIES

When Tatcha was ready to leap from high-end skincare to luxury cosmetics, Tether crafted a lipstick story rooted in Japanese heritage. For their premiere product, we crafted a digital teaser campaign inspiring loyal customers to be the first to purchase an exclusive, geisha-inspired Kyoto Red Silk Lipstick.

THE FACE OF A BEAUTY BRAND

Tatcha’s primary sales vehicle is its website. Tether created a site flexible enough to tell Tatcha’s Japanese heritage story while still putting product front and center.

A RITUAL OF DISCOVERY

To familiarize consumers with Tatcha’s skincare ritual, Tether developed an online Skin Consultation so consumers could discover the ideal products for their personal skincare routines.

THE GREEN BOOK

The key to the geisha’s hidden world of beauty, this revered 200-year-old manuscript was rediscovered by TATCHA and is now the foundation of its science.

RESULTS