Why Kinship is no longer marketing to Gen Z

Four-year-old skin-care brand Kinship is moving away from its Gen-Z focus to broaden its messaging to sensitive skin customers of all ages.

Starting Thursday with the launch of its latest product, the Dreamwave 2% Bio-Retinoid Complex serum, Kinship will roll out new primary and secondary packaging and messaging, as well as a fresh logo and an updated tagline — ultimately, a new focus. Historically, the brand has focused on a broad narrative around sustainability, clean beauty, Gen-Z skin concerns and sensitive skin. Now, the narrative is firmly square on skin sensitivity. Darin Barnell, gm of Kinship, said the team is “confident” that the repositioning and repackaging will help double the brand’s sales this year. Kinship is sold via DTC e-commerce, Credo Beauty and Ulta Beauty.

Since the beginning, Kinship’s hero ingredient has been a proprietary microbiome technology called “Kinbiome” which functions as a plant-based pre-biotic. However, the Kinship team found that Kinbiome was not receiving as much brand attention as other talking points. The refocus on skin sensitivity was born from a quarterly analysis of product reviews in early 2023. Kinship customers overwhelmingly remarked on how the brand’s product helped reduce redness and sensitivity, which was affirmed by a survey of 500 customers. It found that 50% of the brand’s customers experience sensitivity and another 70% wish it were easier to shop for sensitive skin products online and in-store. Additionally, sentiment around the new positioning scored four times better than its current positioning, while the new packaging scored three times better.

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