[Beauty] How New Brands Are Building a Loyal Fan Base

Why do so many brands send out newsletters, open pop-up stores, and share behind-the-scenes videos? It’s all to build a base of “true fans” who will drive brand growth. From small brands to household names, everyone recognizes the influence of these true fans. Even a startup brand that’s just taking its first steps can build this kind of dedicated fanbase . Take a look at the growth journey of Minuta Minu, a beauty brand on wadiz that demonstrated the power of selective focus.

Moving forward into tomorrow with the power of the moment
This is the beauty brand Minute A Minute

Hello. We’re Nam Ho-jin and Nam Woo-hyun, the founders of Minute A Minute. First, “Minute A Minute” means “every moment, continuously” in French. True to that meaning,we’re a brand that introduces bathroom products under the motto “Pleasant moments, a happier tomorrow.” 

When we first planned to launch a beauty brand, the question that weighed most heavily on our minds was, “What kind of value can we offer people through cosmetics?” Among the cosmetics I use in my daily life, I’m particularly fond of the products I use in the shower. When I shower, my favorite scent fills the bathroom, right? I came to love bathroom products because I feel that those moments—even if just for a brief moment—allow me to escape my daily routine and enjoy some time to myself. And because I wanted to share those moments with as many people as possible, I decided to launch the Minute A Minute brand.

To create a hair loss shampoo I could be satisfied with,
I dove right into product development myself

I felt it would be meaningful to start the brand with the product I needed most, so I decided on an anti-hair loss shampoo. I’d tried anti-hair loss shampoos from various brands for about four years, but I couldn’t find one that worked for me. I was, quite literally, a nomad when it came to anti-hair loss shampoos. It was hard to find a product that met my needs—some made my hair too stiff and actually made the problem worse, while others were too harsh and dried out my scalp.

It might be because I have sensitive skin, but I thought that if I could create a hair loss shampoo that satisfied someone like me, other consumers facing the same concerns would appreciate it too. I made dozens of samples and repeatedly washed and dried my hair, striving not only to ensure it was effective against hair loss but also to make sure my hair felt soft even after just using the shampoo. Fortunately, our supporters have been very satisfied with this aspect, which makes me feel a great sense of fulfillment.

As for its functionality as a hair loss shampoo, it contains 100,000 ppm of brewer’s yeast extract.After first learning about brewer’s yeast through a TV show, Idid some further research. I discovered that the structure of brewer’s yeast is very similar to that of hair, which offers the major advantage that the proteins in the yeast are effectively absorbed by the hair. Not only that, but it also contains significantly higher levels of other ingredients that help maintain hair health compared to plant extracts.

So, I thought that if we effectively increased the concentration of brewer’s yeast extract to boost the amount absorbed by the hair, we could achieve even better results. There are many shampoos on the market that use German brewer’s yeast. However,I found that using domestically sourced ingredients was more trustworthy in terms of an honest production process, freshness, and safe storage. Wemake our products by extracting brewer’s yeast from domestically grown barley cultivated in the pristine environment of Mungyeong, North Gyeongsang Province.

I also focused on “scent,” which has always brought me moments of joy . I selected the formulation and designed the bottle to allow users to fully experience the shampoo’s scent.Our firstproduct, “Journey Memory,” features a dark brown formulation to evoke memories of past travels, while our second, “Citrus Morning,” has a bright yellow formulation to help you start your day feeling refreshed.

Wealso highlightedthe fragrance names on the front of the bottles so that every time you see our shampoo, you’ll be reminded of the meaning behind the scent. Manypeople left positive reviews about the scent—even though it’s a hair loss shampoo—which inspired me to continue launching new products with even more meaningful fragrances.

Trusting our wadiz supporters,
we’ve infused it with our own message

We chose to run funding on wadiz because we believed wadiz supporters would truly embrace our value of “delivering pleasant moments through shampoo.” We believe that showertime isn’t just about washing your body—it’s a time to transform your life in a more positive way— sowe incorporated this value into both our Story and our product. Just as we’d hoped, many people told us that using our shampoo brought them comfort and made for a happy experience. Seeing those comments convinced us that we should launch our next product on wadiz as well.

▶ Curious about Minuta Minu’s funding campaign as a maker??

By focusing on the wadiz Store,
We built a community of true brand fans

After the funding campaign, we needed a distribution channel where we could sell our products consistently.Sinceour own online storewas still under construction, we immediately applied to join the wadiz Store as soon as we heard it was launching.

The wadiz Store has the advantage of allowing us to sell products immediately to supporters who either couldn’t participate in the funding campaign or backed it with only a small amount.Afterwefinished our first funding campaign, it took a long time to prepare for the second one, and during that time, we received a huge number of inquiries about purchasing the product. If it weren’t for the wadiz Store, our supporters would have had to wait several more months, but we were able to minimize that wait.

Also, since we offer “wadiz-only”. We did this because we wanted to focus our sales channel in one place to build a strong base of die-hard brand fans.Rather than listing our products in multipleplaces for immediate profit ,we decided it was more important to continuously build up reviews and ratings on the wadiz Store to strengthen our product’s standing.

Seeing the high number of reviews and satisfaction levels now, I’ve come to believe it was a good decision. (Laughs) So, I confidently recommend joining the wadiz Store to makers who, like us, don’t have their own online store set up yet or who want to build a community of die-hard fans. 

With a subtle vitality,
A brand that brings a new sense of daily life 

We’ve talked about fragrance before. I believe scents can be divided into two categories. The first is “a scent that expresses your individuality to others,” and the second is “a scent intendedsolelyto shift your own mood.” 

The type of scent Minuta Minu strives for falls under the second definition. When our bodies and minds relax through scent, we’re able to take a step back from the problems that have been weighing on us. In fact, it’s often while showering that we gain the inspiration to solve our worries. In that sense, I believe scent is not just a pleasant smell, but a medium that calms our minds and leads us to new perspectives.

Minuta Minu’s fragrances are fundamentally designed to be subtle yet soothing. We hope that our brand’s scents will provide many people with the motivation to keep moving forward in life. With this goal in mind, we plan to grow into a brand that delivers moments of happiness and fresh inspiration in the bathroom.

Written by Han Ji-hye

▶ This content was first featured on the wadiz blog. If you’re curious about more stories on the blog, click!