The Interview: How Zach Charalambous of Discovered Brands helps beauty brands bring their visions to life
Discovered Brands helps like-minded beauty brands bring their visions to life and secure roots in the UK and EU markets. It connects brands to a complete network of retailers, handling marketing and PR and detangling legislation and logistics to help them emerge as a strong force in a new market. Its clients include OUAI, Briogeo and Hanz De Fuko.
The company was founded in 2009 by Zach Charalambous. Charalambous always had an entrepreneurial desire to start his own business. Despite the time and devotion he put into his previous career in finance, it didn’t fulfil him and he longed for something more satisfying. After noticing a significant gap in the consumer beauty market and the UK and European markets, he launched Discovered Brands. “I navigated the first four years of Discovered Brands while still working in finance. By the end of 2013, I realised that the company needed much more of my attention, so I opted to focus on it solely and the rest is history,” he says.
Discovered Brands was born out of a need to help brands discover and establish themselves in the UK and European beauty market in the right way, at the right place, at the right time and for the right reasons. For Charalambous, being part of this journey and making a difference in the beauty industry was a breeze because he always treated brands like they were his own. With mutual trust, he became an extension of each brand’s internal team in order to understand their long-term strategy, constraints, obstacles and successes. “Once this has been established, a system is put in place to help the brand flourish in a new market so they can focus on their targets outside of the UK and Europe. This was the inspiration and DNA for Discovered Brands and still remains true today,” Charalambous says.
Once the company’s fundamentals were covered, Charalambous focused on matching passion and work ethic with knowledge, experience, network, infrastructure and strategy – a formula that would guarantee success. When Discovered Brands launched, Charalambous was targeting contacts within the beauty industry that his brands may have needed to help their evolution and journey. Today, the company represents brands within 27 countries across more than 450 retailers and thousands of doors – with the perfect omni-channel mix. “Over the years, we’ve often been referred to by brands and retailers alike as the 'partner of choice'. They know we bring a blend of expertise, reliability and business acumen and do not miss the finer details, which is something we strive for with every single brand we partner with,” Charalambous says. OUAI and Briogeo are two of the biggest brands the company has helped to successfully launch into the UK and Europe. Other brands it has worked with include Hanz De Fuko, Anthony, Recipe For Men, Corpus, Nature of Things, Doers of London and Baxter of California.
Briogeo: Discovered Brands helped to successfully launch it into the UK and Europe
Discovered Brands will turn 15 in 2024 and for Charalambous, maintaining the long-standing relationships the company has with brands, retailers and its wider network has given him a great sense of pride. “We are on a journey with our brands and the continual success stories and growth we create for them are also our achievements,” he says. Charalambous is also hugely proud of the like-minded team he has curated as a business and how the DNA and energy of Discovered Brands is running through all of them today. “They are ready to win and fully focused to help our brands succeed in the UK and Europe,” he adds.
Passion is important to Discovered Brands and because of this, it doesn't shy away from having hard conversations or from pushing to get the best out of everything and everyone. It is selective about who it works with because once a brand becomes a partner, the company becomes an extension of its team and vice versa. “The strong rapport we have with our extensive network helps us create success for brands, yet we believe connection goes further than that. It’s about connecting the right people to the right place or the right brand to the right strategy,” Charalambous says. Discovered Brands always put its brands equity ahead of any opportunity to earn fast money. It informs its partners’ decisions through industry trends and data as well as its own expertise and instincts, developed over many years. “We use this approach time and again with the brands we love and partner with,” Charalambous says.
The company is all about making things happen. Its mission is to ensure its brands are able to enter the UK and European market with ease. Its dedicated team will care for its brands' day-to-day sales, education, merchandising and marketing to ensure they achieve solid and reliable growth. “We know the right people in the beauty industry, but more importantly, we know the right people for each of our brands. With a foothold in 27 countries across the UK and Europe, we’re posed to help our brands become an international force,” Charalambous says.
Anthony: One of Discovered Brands' success stories
Helping some of the biggest beauty brands emerge as a force in a new market isn’t an easy process. For brands that want to successfully expand into different markets, Charalambous believes authenticity, quality and trust and continually developing a robust distribution and marketing strategy are key. “Authenticity is important - it’s a reason to believe. This can be in the form of a mission, image, products, formulations, branding, packaging and communication. Quality and trust is also important. Not only do brands have to create products that work, they also need to consider packaging and branding and how this will resonate with consumers (sustainability, transparency etc.) and make people feel good about themselves,” he says.
While the global beauty industry has been resilient in the face of unprecedented circumstances, emerging brands will still need to think outside the box to have a lasting impact on consumers online and offline. Charalambous predicts that transparency will remain at the forefront of the beauty industry in terms of products, progress and giving audiences the tools to express themselves across all platforms. His advice to anyone who wants to get into the beauty industry is to get started, be humble and be open to learning. “Establish and nurture a network and do not underestimate the power of people and relationships. Being able to accept knockbacks and feedback is also important. As cliché as it may sound, dream big, work hard, take calculated risks and treat every day as an opportunity to learn.”
As for what’s next for Discovered Brands, the company is continuously working with existing brands and new brands on their evolution and growth, generating existing exposure and visibility in the UK and Europe markets. They also have some exciting new brands in the pipeline that they will be working with later this year.
