Creating A Cultural Movement With Nail Polish

Candy Harris is showing the world that even in a crowded product category like nail polish, there is room for disruption if you leverage the individualism and self-expression of high-profile talent. The company she cofounded with Steve Astephen, Unlisted, created a genderless nail polish with Machine Gun Kelly (nee Colson Baker). UN/DN LAQR has received critical acclaim and won several awards. Harris’s work shows that you can create game-changing brands in product categories or market segments that traditional brands have overlooked.

Building Brands In Product Categories Ripe For Disruption

Candy Harris built and launched brands that challenged the status quo throughout her 20-year career. When she joined the sock brand, Stance, friends, colleagues, and family asked her, “How disruptive can a sock startup really be?” But as a marketer, Harris realized that any product category could be a canvas to tell a much bigger story, such as championing human originality.

She has brought brands to life by building partnerships among ambassadors, collaborators, and brands, from Rihanna to Libertine to Disney. She makes brands memorable by ensuring they are full of heart and human connection and that what they say matters.

Working with Rihanna and the NBA, Harris helped grow the Stance into a cultural movement. But, when the brand surpassed the $100 million mark, it was time for Harris’ next challenge. Her passion is businesses at the early stage of development. “I love the anything-is-possible, dream-it-into-existence attitude of startups,” said Harris.

At the same time, Steve Astephen—a leader in the sports industry—relaunched his talent agency, The Familie. It represents athletes, musicians, artists, and media personalities who think differently. He asked Harris, who had worked with him early in her career, to co-found a sister company, Unlisted Brand Lab. It has an incubator that builds brands in product categories ripe for disruption around high-profile talent and a creative marketing agency that works with companies born in the incubator as well as with established brands.

Unlisted’s (the incubator) mission is to build brands around underserved category opportunities, including serving a new consumer segment, approaching distribution in a new way, or bringing innovation to a category lacking attention. They often work with influential talent who embody the same spirit of pushing boundaries. It goes without saying that building a great brand starts with a great product.

Finding Success In Shattering Norms

Unlisted launched two months before the pandemic hit. They had to navigate an uncertain period.

There is a saying that obstacles aren’t what’s blocking your path; they are your path. For Harris, this is her defining philosophy as an entrepreneur. “I try to imagine every deviation from an original plan as the basis of a great success story,” said Candy Harris. “In my experience, facing obstacles forces you to reconnect with why you started the brand in the first place and helps you build something meaningful that resonates with people beyond the product.”

An opportunity presented itself. Colson, aka Machine Gun Kelly and MGK, is represented by The Familie. He is a rapper, singer, songwriter, musician, and actor who is not afraid of making a fashion statement by wearing bold nail colors on the red carpet. Nail brands approached him to collaborate, but Baker didn’t identify brand voices in the market. Instead, he wanted to develop his own brand.

Harris and her team and Colson went to work creating everything, including brand conception, product development, logistics, marketing, creative, e-commerce, and fundraising for UN/DN LAQR. It’s a nail polish brand that champions individualism and self-expression. It was the first brand incubated and marketed by Unlisted.

Unlisted is incubating two future brands—one will launch early in 2024—and doing agency work for established brands.

Men wearing nail polish is not without controversy, and negative comments can fill social feeds, but the Unlisted team has a strong counter-voice.

• UN/DN LAQR is shattering gender stereotypes, normalizing men wearing nail polish by collaborating with NBA basketball star Jalen Green, singer-songwriter and TikTok personality Jaden Hossler, emerging artists like Jack Carden or Tyler Spangler, and the Cleveland Cavaliers basketball team.
• The brand is showing up in unlikely places, like giving manicures at music events and festivals, and when the Cavaliers opened their team store, UN/DN LAQR did nail nights.
• Brand enthusiasts also challenge the traditional, outdated notion that men wearing nail polish is unacceptable in social media.
• Messaging encourages individual expression and creativity, regardless of gender. UN/DN LAQR message? Nail polish—or any type of fashion—does not define masculinity.

Their innovative approach to beauty has made them a standout in the crowded product category. “UN/DN was the right product, the right individual, and at the right time,” said Harris. There was conversation around stereotypical gender norms, and this idea of an all-gender beauty brand bubbled up.

During economic shocks, consumers spend money on affordable luxuries. Now that the pandemic is over, people want to leave their homes, show off their creativity, and have fun. The big players are focused on femininity. UN/DN LAQR is about being bold and genderless. It has done well for a brand that is less than two years old.

• 30% of nail polish sales are from people who identify as men, signaling UN/DN LAQR’s gender-bending appeal.
• Audience engagement is critical to the success of the marketing campaigns: Engagement is 15%—15x the beauty industry average of less than 1%. The company receives hundreds of DM’s weekly from customers.
• The nail polish has received rave reviews, including W Magazine, Vanity Fair, and Allure. Vogue called Machine Gun Kelly the “Willy Wonka of beauty.” It won the 2022 Allure Beauty Award for Best Matte Top Coat and the 2022 POPSUGAR Beauty Award for Best Nail Polish.

How are you changing the conversation in your marketing?