This Skincare Brand Used the Rough, Dry, and Cracked Textures of Toronto to Launch its New Store

To launch its third brick-and-mortar store, Consonant Skincare and Zulu Alpha Kilo saw an opportunity to show Toronto’s trendy West Queen West neighbourhood the best way to reveal their beautiful skin.

To introduce itself to Queen West, Consonant took over the neighbourhood with a series of ambient coupons and wild postings that took advantage of various surfaces found in the area, like rough brick, dry wood and cracked cement. These surfaces were used to represent different types of skin challenges and invited pedestrians to visit the store if their skin felt like any of the textures.

For the store launch, Zulu’s design team also created a multi-layer hoarding that consumers could interact with to literally reveal beautiful skin. It was located at the store front and featured a series of removable skin-tone coupons that passersby were encouraged to peel off. As the coupons were removed, an invitation was uncovered for consumers to come and reveal their best skin and redeem the coupons at the store’s official opening.

“We are doing things differently in the category and wanted our communications to reflect that,” said William Baker, Founder of Consonant Skincare. “The team at Zulu understood that and created an unconventional way to launch the store with a campaign that’s clever and impossible not to notice. It reflects how we want to reinvent what it means to be a beauty brand in the 21st century.”

Consonant Skincare’s new location at 819 Queen Street West will also serve as a community hub for wellness, offering a holistic approach to skin health with experts in nutrition, dermatology, meditation and fitness, along with personal analysis and recommendations to achieve great skin.  

“Consumers are seeking personalised skincare guidance from experts and don’t know where to turn for answers,” said Zak Mroueh, CCO and founder of Zulu Alpha Kilo. “What better way to show a neighbourhood that the brand will be there for all their skincare needs than by using the neighbourhood itself to convey our message.”

The new flagship store opened 30th June.