How Good Weird, a new genderless beauty brand, is courting Gen Zers

Earlier this year, Good Weird became the latest brand to join the crowded beauty space.

Co-founded by Jon Wormser, the genderless brand sells products that mix skincare and beauty: One of its items is a bronzer that doubles as a moisturizer.

According to Wormser, who held marketing roles at companies like M&C Saatchi and The Fader before starting the company, the idea for Good Weird stemmed from a breakout. “I’d say about two-and-a-half years ago, I had a bad breakout,” Wormser told us. “I was looking for a beauty solution and went to a beauty store looking for options and found that there [were] endless products and brands, but didn’t feel like they were made with me or my community and other communities in mind.”

Together with fellow co-founder Stephen Yaseen, the two set out to create a “hybridized approach that’s truly genderless for beauty” targeted toward Gen Z. Wormser and Yaseen named the brand “Good Weird” in an effort to destigmatize the word “weird” and emphasize the brand’s genderless and inclusive approach to beauty.

“There’s a negative connotation with being weird,” Wormser said, explaining that stigmas also exist within beauty regarding who can and can’t use certain products. That’s why they wanted to “flip the narrative” by calling it Good Weird, hoping to make it a word that people are “excited to embrace.”

In its efforts to appeal to Gen Z, Good Weird has implemented a marketing strategy that includes advertising across social channels, a broad influencer program, brand partnerships, and out-of-home advertising across its New York City home base.

Get ready with me

The brand does a “mix of both organic and paid” advertising, Wormser told us. On social media specifically, he said TikTok and Instagram are “the two places [where] we really want our brand to show up in-feed consistently.”

On TikTok, the brand focuses on “get ready with me” and “a day in the life”-style content, while its Instagram focuses on a mix of different posts, including product-specific ones.

As part of its social strategy, the brand has partnered with a broad range of influencers. Influencers it’s worked with or featured on its accounts include River Hubbell, Shuang Bright, and Talia Hubble.

“Some are fashion creators. Some are skaters, some are emerging musicians, some are lifestyle influencers, some just happen to have a social presence. Some are more comedy-focused. Some are surfers,” Wormser said. “It’s a mix of both paid and unpaid. There are some people that are genuinely excited about the brand and posting about it. The way that we choose our paid influencer talent is really [by finding] people that embody what it is to be Good Weird. ”

In addition to working with influencers, Good Weird brought on Gossip Girl actor Evan Mock as creative director, and the brand has leveraged his social presence as well.

“Having him as a part of our team has been a huge help in visibility. I think it helped catch the attention around Good Weird when we first launched,” Wormser said. “You’ve seen him post a decent amount around Good Weird, but you’ll see a lot more as creative director. He is going to be an integral part of future campaigns, future product drops, and overall how we think about our brand showing up creatively in the future.”

NYC love affair

Besides fostering a strong social media presence, the brand is focused on creating partnerships within New York City, where it began.

Recently, it partnered with coffee chain Blank Street Coffee to promote Good Weird’s Cold Brew Undereye Serum. Good Weird also plans to showcase its products in Pop Up Grocer and Showfields this summer. “Those are a bunch of places where traditional beauty buyers and brands exist today,” Yaseen said.

It’s currently investing in out-of-home advertising, plastering posters featuring Good Weird products in downtown Manhattan and across Brooklyn. “For the most part, those were our focuses: Thinking about where Gen Z and millennials spend time,” Wormser said.

In the future, aside from debuting in brick-and-mortar stores, the brand is also considering expanding into live shopping through the platform SuperGreat.

“You’ll see as we continue to build on our social strategy that things will get a little bit more pointed, and more creatively inclined, but I think out of the gate, the intention was awareness and education,” Wormser said.