Her business title has people asking Annie Ford Danielson: What does a global beauty authority do?
‘‘At the Benefit counter, we want to give a fun experience while encouraging women to try new products,’’ said Annie Ford Danielson.
The American executive briefly explains that her job is to spread the word about Benefit Cosmetics and to listen to the needs of women all over the world, so travelling is a big part of the job for Danielson, who was recently in Bangkok to talk about Benefit's instant beauty solutions.
"Make-up brands mostly offer products based on fashion trends, while we develop products in a very different way by focusing on what customers tell us. They want to look good right now, and we want to give them a product that makes them say, 'Whoa, it works and makes me look good'. That's the reaction we're going for," said Danielson.
Her mother and aunt, Jean and Jane Ford, are twins and former models whose career had them doing their own make-up. As a result, they soon realised that putting on make-up can be a complicated process and so in 1976 established Benefit Cosmetics to offer practical beauty solutions.
"Before Benefit, make-up was about artistry. It was intimidating, it was hard," Danielson said. "My mother and aunt just took what make-up artists do and made it fun and approachable."
One of the first products launched in 1977 was Benetint, initially a nipple stain ordered by an exotic dancer before becoming a cult cheek and lip stain used by other women.
Based in San Francisco, the brand then became notable for its make-up with creative packaging and quirky names.
Today's bestsellers include Pore-fessional, a skin primer to help minimise the appearance of pores. A quick touch-up with the balm keeps pores in hiding during the day.
Other beauty quick-fixes include Boi-ing concealer to camouflage dark circles and skin imperfections; Gimme Brow fibre-gel to bring back awesome arches; and They're Real mascara to make sparse eyelashes look longer and lusher.
"A man who knows nothing about cosmetics will look at Benefit as sheer chaos, but a woman will find how we uniquely make each product a problem-solver while being girly, feminine and sexy," she said.
"For example, we could have put a mascara in a black tube and called it mascara. But what's the fun in that? So we called it They're Real, and using it makes the process much more fun."
Observing cosmetic counters in department stores, Danielson believes other brands take beauty too seriously whereas the Benefit counter is a playground to have fun with make-up.
"At the Benefit counter, we want to give a fun experience while encouraging women to try new products," she said. "My mother taught me that there are no rules, and if you make a mistake just start over."
With a degree in art history, at first Danielson wasn't interested in helping her mother run the business until 2008, when she and her older sister Maggie officially joined the company as the second generation of beauty leaders, to bring a fresh and modern perspective to the brand.
"The brand image makes us look like cosmetics for young women, but Benefit is also for the young at heart and for anyone who wants to have fun," she said. "Believing that laughter is the best cosmetic, we want to make women laugh. When a woman laughs, she is at her most beautiful. And when she looks good and feels good, we have done our job."
