Balm Dotcom: the chapstick that’s more than a chapstick —Product Differentiation

When I started writing on this blog, I started off by talking about the origin of Glossier, when they developed four products: The Soothing Face Mist, Priming Moisturizer, Perfecting skin tint foundation, and the Balm Dotcom lip gloss. Out of these four products, Glossier has gained incredible popularity around the last, the Balm Dotcom. The product itself began as, and still is, just another chapstick. However, their differentiation starts with its design: instead of a stick push-up formula, it’s in a small paint tube that you can squeeze out. Beyond changing the style of the chapstick and ensuring the design be sleek and minimalistic, Glossier launched a strategy of differentiating its products from others by highlighting the way customers were using their Balm Dotcoms. Glossier would post pictures of customers making their Balm Dotcom into a keychain, they would highlight tweets where people joked about balm dotcom being their one source of joy in life, and share posts where people posted about losing their balm dotcom on the lost connections page on craigslist — all of these tactics helped boost the popularity and differentiate this product from other chapsticks. In addition, Glossier created a line of unique flavors of the product that you will not likely find with other chapstick sellers. Flavors like cookie butter, lavender, fig, and many more found a special place in Glossier’s line, and thus helped the company stand out in the beauty community. Finally, Glossier began adapting this approach to all of its products, and started trying to give each of their products their own mini-brand-identities, so people would be more drawn to purchasing them, even if they weren’t die-hard Glossier fans. Overall, Glossier succeeds in differentiating their products from similar products with other producers.