Empowering brands to take steps towards greater transparency, Provenance (www.provenance.org) cuts through the ‘noise’ to establish the facts and in turn, help consumers to find the right products for them. With their coveted Proof Points — a series of benchmarks that prove a brand’s claims — this ground-breaking platform is changing the industry landscape; joining the dots and then checking the boxes to ensure that YOU are equipped with the info you care about. The ultimate fit for Cult Beauty (honesty is at the heart of our philosophy) we caught up with Provenance’s founder, Jessi Baker, about transparency, sustainability and the future of the beauty space…
{Cult Beauty} What prompted you to launch Provenance?
{Jessi Baker} Provenance was borne out of personal frustration about the lack of information available about the things we buy. I want to buy products from brands that match my values, those making robust efforts to better the environment and society. It started as an evening and weekend project alongside my Ph.D. in Computer Science at UCL and then in 2016, I decided to work on Provenance full-time.
Our approach is to enable brands and retailers to bring transparency with integrity to the point of sale, similar to what Trustpilot has done for consumer reviews, we aspire to enable you to easily understand and trust key product information wherever you shop.
{CB} What are the main challenges for beauty brands around transparency?
{JB} Transparency on the efficacy, quality, sourcing and impact behind products is being demanded more and more by shoppers — in a format they can trust. This poses a brand new challenge for brands looking to meet this demand, and grow in their approach to integrity.
Many of their challenges with becoming transparent are the same that we see across food, drink and fashion, where Provenance has built a huge bank of knowledge working with brands. Many things to prove require information from the supply chain behind your products. Supply chains are complicated – and even as a maker of a product, you’re often removed from the exact origin and impact behind the ingredients you source.
However, transparency is a journey. Much of it is about internal understanding and then being ahead and ready to prove things publically as demand ramps.
There’s also already a lot of dubious claims that have given the beauty industry a bad rep. Which means opening up with integrity gives you an instant differentiator. Even for brands who could be scared to open up as they’ll risk losing credibility, it’s important to start the process internally to be ready for increasing requirements from customers, regulators and shareholders.
{CB} It’s been three years since Cult Beauty and Provenance first joined forces to create Cult Conscious and within that time, a lot has changed. How have you seen shopping habits evolve, and what’s important to beauty consumers in our ‘post-pandemic’ world?
{JB} Sustainability is more important than ever! The reality is that efficacy and value are no longer enough to win over shoppers. Our research found that 9/10 shoppers believe sustainability and other ethics-related considerations are important, and that trend isn’t going anywhere.
The demand for sustainability means brand marketing tactics can accidentally lead to greenwashing — an issue that shoppers are aware of. Almost 80% of beauty shoppers have doubts about whether to trust the industry’s sustainability claims and less than 25% strongly agree that brands are transparent about the environmental and social impact of their products.
{CB} We’ve also seen a long-overdue awakening when it comes to diversity, equity and inclusion, with more people looking to support brands that represent themselves, their community or their ethics. Can you talk us through the new Diversity Founded Proof Points?
{JB} We released a new ‘LGBTQIA+ Led Business’ Proof Point with the goal of helping shoppers identify and support more diverse brands. This is part of our ongoing work to highlight businesses with leadership in minority groups, such as Female, Black or Persons of Colour.
The significant barriers LGBTQIA+ people continue to face in public life, including in work are well documented. In the UK, Stonewall’s 2018 ‘LGBT in Britain – Work Report’ found more than a third of the LGBT workers surveyed had hidden that they are LGBT at work for fear of discrimination. In light of this, we wanted to create a Proof Point in our framework that champions LGBTQIA+ brands and encourages shoppers to support the companies that align with their values. Visibility is essential for overcoming discrimination.