Page 13 - Money - November 2018

into skin care makes Moon Juice
into
more accessible—Bacon’s dusts are
mor
covetable, but they’re a bit of a hard
cove
sell
sell for the average customer.
Exfo
Exfoliants and serums aren’t foreign
to S
to Sephora shoppers. Even Super-
You, the $49.99 daily supplement, is a
You
prod
product most people can get behind.
“ “Everyone knows how to take a
mul
multivitamin,” Bacon says. “This is
how
how to reach masses of women.”
S
Sephora already carries some
supplements online, but starting this
supp
fall,
fall, the retailer will bring more
inge
ingestible beauty in-store, a decision
prompted in part by how deeply
But Bacon’s company didn’t stem Whether she’s on a conference panel Moon Juice products have resonated
from an ayahuasca trip or a weekend or meeting one-on-one with an with shoppers, says Priya Venkatesh,
at Coachella. She’s put in years of investor, Bacon speaks slowly and senior VP of merchandising. Even
painstaking legwork: traveling back deliberately, pausing to reflect on the more esoteric products, like
and forth to India to source and a question instead of rushing into a a plumping serum with “silver ear
study plants, working with herbalists talking point. When she discusses mushroom,” is selling well, according
and Ayurvedic doctors to determine building her leadership team, it’s not to Venkatesh.
dosage levels, and using herself as a about “ROI” or “market penetra- “It’s more than just popping a
guinea pig for everything from taste tion.” It’s “finding the souls to fill pill,” she says. “People are getting
to potency. these positions.” into the ritual of these things.”
Today, Bacon’s DIY approach has I met with her and Gruber at When customers buy a Moon
earned the confidence—and seed a vegan café in Manhattan this Juice product, they’re buying into a
money—of investors like Greg summer—they had joined up to lifestyle, Venkatesh explains. They’re
Renker, cofounder of the marketing discuss the ongoing Sephora rollout, making a commitment: to sprinkle
company behind Proactiv, and among other things. They made an something onto their breakfast
Desiree Gruber, CEO of the media odd couple—Gruber in high heels smoothie every day but also to have
agency Full Picture. and Gucci, Bacon in a peasant top, that smoothie in the first place.
“She’s an alchemist,” Gruber Sex Dust at arm’s length for inter- Of all the things working in
tells me a few weeks after my first mittent “dusting”—but they fell into Bacon’s favor, this might be the most
meeting with Bacon. “And wellness the natural rapport of two friends critical. After all, the CEO’s public
with health is going to get bigger. with a juicy secret: that Moon Juice persona started with a thorough,
Customers are so educated these is still an insider’s obsession, but it’s virtual tongue lashing for subscrib-
days, they want to know what’s in about to blow up. ing to a particular lifestyle a little too
JUICE their products.” the wellness market Moon Juice vehemently. Now, that very lifestyle
“Ingestible beauty,” the slice of
Bacon is an unlikely corporate
is endorsed by one of the most
ALL PRODUCTS: COURTESY OF MOON interact with the business elite is a the end of 2017, U.S. sales of ashwa- candidate,” Bacon told me the first
belongs to, is heating up fast. At
powerful beauty brands around.
thought leader, and watching her
“I’m sort of like the least likely
gandha, one of the medicinal herbs
small marvel. She’s no stranger to
time we met. “I don’t have a college
startup culture—the first Moon
in SuperYou, were up 200% from the
Juice was built just four blocks from
year before, according to Nielsen.
degree. I certainly haven’t been to
business school. But I’m also a
Bacon’s big push centers on
Google’s L.A. campus—but her
“adaptogens,” those plants she
hungry businessperson who stum-
frame of reference rarely dips into
discovered 12 years ago while working
bled upon this culty idea. And I want
the tech-bro workbook, or any of the
in fine-dining kitchens. Branching
to take it beyond cult status.”
buzzwords beloved by Wall Street.

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