Purple Lab’s Karen Robinovitz dishes about the blogosphere and social media

As many of you know, since the FTC ruling regarding PR/Companies relationship with bloggers, we have started “Blogging Behind the Scenes,” a in-depth look at the world of blogging. So we had a nice chat with Karen Robinovitz, the creative force behind Purple Lab and its ingenious Huge Lips Skinny Lips. Karen knows a thing or two about beauty and about how to start a buzz. Co-author of How to Become Famous in Two Weeks or Less, The Fashionista Files: Adventures in Four-Inch Heels and Faux Pas, and Fete Accompli! The Ultimate Guide to Creative Entertaining, Karen has also been a Contributing Editor at both Marie Claire Magazine and Elle Magazine. Her work has also been featured in Harper’s Bazaar, The New York Times, The New York Post, Glamour, In Style, Details, New York Magazine, TimeOut New York, Gotham, and Hamptons, amongst others, as well as a fixture on MTV’s Made, E!, Style, The Tyra Banks Show, CNN, Entertainment Tonight, and morning shows across the country.

Q. How did you start Purple Lab? 

Karen: I was at a cocktail party with my husband and ate so much that 20 minutes later, I was too full and uncomfortable to stay. He looked a little disappointed when I wanted to go home and I’m not sure what made me think this, but I said “If my lip gloss could plump my lips and not my hips, I wouldn’t be in this mess.” And than it hit me! Huge Lips Skinny Hips, a lip plumping gloss with Hoodia. My dream product. Todd (my husband) encouraged me to make it. I had no idea what I was doing but two years later, I launched Purple Lab, which I now run with Todd. The gloss was our debut product. And there are five more coming out in February, all of which are serious and sophisticated in formulation but cheeky, fun, and glamorous at once.

Q. Can you describe the most important aspect of launching a new brand?

Karen: I think it all boils down to one main question – what is the brand about, what is its core message and how does it cut through the clutter. Once you know exactly what the brand positioning, imaging, equity is, it’s all about going all in and just doing it. Without confidence, nothing can happen.

Q. What is the most difficult part of your job?

Karen: Every day has its challenges. It’s a constant balance of front end and back end. I love the marketing, PR, and branding side, the creativity that comes with product ideas, naming them, color. But the back end – manufacturing, production, legal, testing, having no control over when samples arrive, shipping. It is a lot to manage – and I have a day job! But I wouldn’t change any of it.

Q. Purple Lab is a model for effective ways of using social media. How do you choose the bloggers to whom you pitch your products? In other words, what qualities do you look for in a blog/blogger?

Karen: It’s really about working with people who are on the same page as you – whose mindset you share. The bloggers I gravitate towards and the ones gravitate towards Purple Lab tend to embody the spirit of the brand’s DNA – smart, fun, cheeky, playful, glamorous (even if it’s the kind of glamour you have in your mind, not in your real life).

Q. What are the benefits of working with bloggers as opposed to other media outlets? Do you expect different things from bloggers than from magazine editors?

Karen: What’s interesting about the blogosphere is that, for the most part, there is no red tape. In the traditional media world, editors consider what advertisers will think of content before anything is published. Some of this may start to ring more true online as traditional media advertising dollars continue to move to new media realms.

Online and offline media have different schools of thought for the most part and I appreciate each of them for what they are.

Q. What happens when a blogger gives Purple Lab a negative review? Does this affect your relationship with the blogger?

Karen: I have to think of it like this – I don’t eat meat. My husband loves meat. No matter how good he tells me something is, I just do not want to eat it, but I can appreciate that he enjoys it.

I can’t look at it any other way or I’d get upset – to be honest. No one likes to hear someone say something negative about their children (and Purple Lab products are my babies). But I welcome any and all opinions because it’s not realistic to think that everything is for everyone.

When I read something negative, I reply to it but not in a defensive way… in a way that is authentic. Someone may have the wrong idea about what a product means and I will want to share what the true inspiration is and what it’s really about.

From there, someone can (ideally) see something differently or choose not to.

 Q. According to the new FTC ruling, bloggers must disclose whether the company whose products they are reviewing has compensated them in any way. Do you anticipate that this ruling will affect the way you work with new media?

Karen: Not at all. I have never and would never pay someone to write about Purple Lab. However, I have sent samples to bloggers and online influencers and will continue to – I do not think it is any different that what happens in traditional media or marketing. Beauty editors receive products – thousands of products – every week. Same with celebrities. 

It’s just that in today’s world, consumers ARE the media, whether they’re seasoned writers with a journalism degree, a stay-at-home mom of three or a sixteen year-old girl in Atlanta.

But with the FTC, bloggers and content generators will have to disclose if a product was given to them. As long as the voice of the blogger is authentic, I think that is all that matters.

Stay tuned for more interviews – and as always, feel free to send your questions to productpasha@gmail.com.