SKIN IN the game

Cirsten Hannken took the helm as general manager of Dermalogica UK and Ireland in May. She tells Eve Oxberry about the brand’s focus on advanced aesthetics and putting skin therapists in the centre of communication

Prior to joining Dermalogica, you had a varied career - what are the key achievements that led to this role?

“My background is marketing and sales and I started in the fragrance industry before moving to [personal care giant] Beirsdorf in Germany, where I eventually moved into the pharmacy division. Similar to the salon business, it was very much about personal relationships. We were dependent on recommendations from pharmacists and dermatologists, and we had neglected that for a while so I built a new department called professional recommendation management.

“We built a community and a platform for them to communicate, as well as a new education programme. I also built a sales force and worked much closer with the dermatologists. The company still invests a lot in these areas since I left.

“I then went to La Mer and then on to Dermalogica in Germany as general manager, so that helped me a lot when I was coming to the UK because I know the products and treatments, the strategy and the multichannel approach. But the brand is much more established here and the business is much bigger.”

What has been your key focus in the first few months of leading Dermalogica UK?

“I would say putting the professional channel back into the centre of our activities. It has been a focus for our global department as well, but prior to that, a lot was done on retail products.

“We launched a lot of innovations, which makes sense because the market is innovative and consumers were demanding new products so we caught up there a lot, then two years ago we developed a lot of new professional products and treatments, but I think here in the UK we did not give the love to the professional channel that the channel deserves. Hopefully it’s now more in the centre of our thinking because it’s the biggest channel for us. It’s the most important channel, and there’s competition out there.”

What changes are you making to support professional therapists?

“It’s a lot about communication so marketing is a big part of the strategy – putting the professional skin therapist as the focus of our communication to the consumer. In the retail channel that’s easier because we have treatment rooms and professional skin therapists at the counters. It’s more difficult in our online channels to communicate the professional expertise.

“We have launched branded treatments, such as Luminfusion, to drive consumers to salons. For a lot of businesses, the focus is on getting new clients so we have focused on driving consumer demand. We know that when we’ve had influencers going in for Luminfusion, people then search for the treatment, come to our site, and we drive that traffic into salons.

“We really see a spike in traffic. So we are using what can sometimes be seen as the enemy to some salon owners – the influencers – for their benefit. They’re going to a professional, they’re showing the professional’s hands on their skin and the results that have been achieved through that. They can’t achieve that themselves, but they can capture it so brilliantly and direct their followers to the right place.

“One of the biggest targets we have is to professionalise the professional skin therapist; we want to take them on to the journey to offer more medical aesthetic treatments. So, we have new protocols, new education programmes for them to stay competitive because the doctor-led aesthetic channel wants this business too, so we have to bring our traditional professional skin therapists on that journey with us.”

What else is coming up in 2025 that you’re excited about?

“We are launching exosomes. We’re really excited about a product called Exo Booster. Predominantly we’re going to use it in combination with our pro microneedling treatment but it can be used with fractional laser and other devices as well.

“As we know, human exosomes are not allowed in the UK, however both plant and bacterial-derived ones are. Dermalogica’s new Exo Booster is vegan, as it uses bacterial exosomes, and we have white papers and clinical trials to prove the results. A lot of therapists are currently microneedling and it takes that to the next level.”

Will this help you move into the medical aesthetic clinic market?

“We’re highly interested into going more into the doctor-led aesthetics direction. We know it can be a challenge but there is an opportunity for us because from a consumer point of view it’s so much nicer if you get a little bit of nurturing instead of just getting the clinical treatment.

“It’s not an easy market to move into but we have defined certain products. We especially think that Exo Booster could be a great product, as could Melanopro, which is a great option for pigmentation. These products allow us to speak to an audience at that more medical level, to see us as credible player within the advanced space.

“All the channels we work with tell us they need more education, and we have a huge education department. I think this is a USP for Dermalogica because we hear, especially in the medical aesthetic sector, that brands often sell them a device or product, but then they don’t have a sales force or education centres to follw up, so this is something we can deliver in aesthetics. We have a new education director and we have 350 courses in Dermalogica, so you can customise everything.”

What other trends do you see shaping the market in the year or two ahead?

“Advanced treatments that stand the test of time. With microneedling, for example, every year there’s growth and it’s projected to grow 10% over the next eight years.

“The other trend is around personalisation. People are much more aware of their own skin type and do a lot more research, but it’s always at the hands of a professional skin therapist to then say, ‘Actually, I’ve now read your skin and this is what you really need.’

“I think it’s coming back to the expertise. They’ve always been there, but I think now more than ever, it’s time for the experts to be heard because there is so much misinformation with the rise of influencers and content creators making content for their own skin, giving advice that they don’t really have the authority to give.

“I think people are getting disillusioned with that and we’re seeing a trend that people don’t want to listen to an influencer when it comes to skin advice, versus an expert who is authentic and is only going to say what they know from their training and knowledge. As we develop plans into the coming year, we will be working more with professional influencers to get that message out.”