21 hours ago
‘Crazy': $100,000 investment that turned into a multi-million dollar empire
A speedy response to an influencer getting her make-up bag confiscated at the airport reveals how much you need to hustle to connect with Gen Z these days.
Michael Porter, 34, is a millennial to the core, but as the founder of the skincare brand Skin Control, he makes it his job to understand how to engage with Gen Z.
The skincare brand was founded in 2018 and required over a $100,000 investment to get off the ground.
It is now stocked in major retailers like Priceline and Chemist Warehouse. According to Mr Porter, a Skin Control product sells every five seconds.
Despite the brand's success, Mr Porter is always looking for ways to connect with Gen Z, and they don't want to feel marketed to.
They crave authenticity and content, so when former Love Island contestant Phoebe Spiller, 22, amassed hundreds of thousands of views on social media for sharing the chaos that ensured from planning a last-minute trip to Vegas, Mr Porter's interest was piqued.
The influencer shared all her dramas, from not being able to find her passport to securing one last minute and getting ready to board her flight. Then, amongst the chaos, she admitted her cosmetics bag got confiscated.
'Umm, all my skincare was confiscated,' she shared on social media.
Ms Spiller has over 170,000 followers on Instagram and has millions of likes on TikTok.
When Mr Porter and his team saw that she had lost all her skincare at the airport, they decided to pounce.
'We basically saw Phoebe's story about her toiletries being confiscated, and then within 15 minutes, we had someone from our team in an Uber,' he told
'Being a small brand means we can jump on these moments, and we need to move quickly, so we're constantly on the look for viral moments that we can hijack in real time.'
It paid off. Ms Spiller posted herself squealing in delight as someone from the Skin Control team arrived with a new cosmetics bag full of the brand's skincare.
Mr Porter said that if you're a skincare brand in today's saturated market, you need to 'move quickly' and look beyond a trend.
When it comes to Gen Z and Gen Alpha, Mr Porter said they are a 'tough' crowd to please because they don't fit traditional marketing targets.
'They don't want to be marketed towards they want to be part of a community,' he said.
'When we saw Phoebe telling her story, she was getting loads of views and bringing her followers on a journey with her and we want to be part of that conversation.'
Mr Porter said at the end of the day that doing that stunt was less about making more sales and more about brand awareness.
'We saw a spike in sales and an influx in followers but it is about creating long-term brand awareness,' he said.
The business owner explained that skin control sells really well, but they are focusing on creating a brand that people recognise.
The brand is thriving and is now a multimillion-dollar business. Mr Porter said the growth and success have been 'crazy'.
What he wants now is to build recognisability, and if that means getting someone in an Uber to save the nearest influencer, he'll do it!
