R.e.m. Beauty, the beauty brand founded by Ariana Grande, has tapped André Branch as chief executive officer.
“Having André join us here at R.e.m. has just been such an incredible gift and cosmic collision while bringing such a fresh perspective to the business side and having such a strong track record of bringing bold beautiful ideas to life,” Grande told WWD in an exclusive statement. “He totally understands our point of view as a brand and believes in the products and in our mission the way the rest of this beautiful family so fiercely does and that just means so much to me as the founder.”
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Along with beauty, Branch brings decades of experience across leading consumer goods categories including food, wine and spirits, vitamins and luxury, through roles at companies such as Deloitte, Kraft Foods, Diageo and The Nature’s Bounty Co. In beauty, he previously held positions at L’Oréal and The Estée Lauder Companies, and most recently served as general manager of MAC Cosmetics North America.
“R.e.m. Beauty has an immense amount of potential within prestige beauty,” said Branch. “The business is still relatively new. It’s been growing exponentially since launch. And when I think about Ariana and her platform, how world-renowned she is, her fan base, I think there’s tremendous upside. When I think about her values, I think about R.e.m.’s values; they’re similar to my own. So I’m super excited to be here as a result of all of that. She wants to impact the world positively with R.e.m. She wants people to be free to express their creativity on who they are as individuals, and she really pushes diversity and inclusion as well. It’s important to her. So, we’ve got a shared purpose for what we’re looking to do with the brand. And with her creative vision and my operational expertise, I’m just excited to continue to add to that and create value, and I think we can really do that together for the consumer and for the category.”
Grande’s mission for the brand — launched in 2021 and sold at retailers including Ulta Beauty and Target — has been to “create a safe space for people to express themselves authentically, to feel empowered through creativity and through products that make us feel our most beautiful and alive,” she went on. “Not to conform to any sort of standards or follow trends, but to make our audience feel celebrated in their own unique skin, accentuating what’s already there, but also to bring more creativity, joy and self-expression to our everyday lives.”
Since launch, “it’s been a constant evolution, and we have learned so much along the way from our incredible community. Taking the time to hear what’s important to them and to learn from their feedback has been a very important part of the growth process for me and my R.e.m. Beauty team,” said Grande.
What R.e.m. Beauty products are always in her bag?
“Besides glossy balm, I love and am forever addicted to our plumping lip glosses, and we might have an exciting announcement related to those coming soon,” added Grande. “I also wear our Sweetener Foundation and Concealer daily. They’re hydrating and packed with skin care actives. And our lip marker is my favorite thing in the world, for long days with no time to touch up, if I still want to have lips on my face.”
Looking ahead, Grande hinted at what’s to come: “Well, we have quite a few things that I’m very excited about. We may or may not have a part two to a recently sold-out collection. Also, we are working on bringing a certain favorite powder eye shadow palette from that recently sold-out collection into our core collection in a really exciting and new way.”
