The Rice Was Dropped—With the Korean Glass Skin Almost Lost

CASE STUDY: PRODUCT BRAND OF A SKINCARE LINE

FOCUS: BRAND RELEVANCE LOSS | AUDIENCE: STEWARDS OF PLATEAUED BRANDS

I helped a skincare brand who dropped their signature rice-based formulation reclaim the Korean glass skin trend.

The Brand Challenge

This was a heritage skincare line that had always prided itself on gentle, botanical-based formulations. For years, their rice extract moisturiser was a quiet bestseller—loved for its softening effect and natural glow. But as the clean beauty boom shifted focus to “science-backed” actives and performance-driven claims, the team felt rice was too “old-school.” They reformulated their hero line—removing rice and replacing it with peptides, ceramides, and vitamin complexes.

The change came just as Korean beauty culture began exploding globally. At the centre of this movement? Glassy skin—achieved through lightweight layering and traditional ingredients like fermented rice water. The very aesthetic that was dominating the beauty world was the one this brand had just walked away from. Suddenly, their product felt not modern—but confused. Neither heritage, nor trend-led. Sales began to dip. Their relevance felt unclear.

The Brand Insight

Their loss of relevance wasn’t due to having the wrong formula—it was in letting go of what the world was finally ready to celebrate. The ingredient they removed was now being featured in international K-beauty routines, tutorial reels, derm-backed guides, and minimalist shelfies. Rice was no longer a humble grain—it was a symbol of clarity, hydration, and clean tradition.

Consumers didn’t just want brightening—they wanted translucency, a ritual, and a soft-lit effect that came from ingredients they could trust. The brand had authenticity in its favour—but its new messaging felt clinical and detached. There was nothing wrong with peptides—but they had no story. And stories are what today’s skincare lovers buy into.

The Big Brand Idea

I helped the brand realise that they didn’t need to invent a trend—they simply needed to reclaim the one they had accidentally abandoned. Our breakthrough idea was to relaunch the rice line, not as a comeback, but as a rediscovery. We called it: “What Was Always There.”

This wasn’t about apologising for the reformulation—it was about honouring the ingredient that built trust in the first place. We reframed rice not just as nostalgic, but as a quietly enduring answer in a noisy skincare world. The brand didn’t have to compete with Korean glass-skin leaders. It only had to remind its audience that it had been part of the conversation long before it became a hashtag.

The Brand New Strategy

Rather than announce a loud comeback, I recommended a soft but intentional re-entry—one that leaned into reverence rather than reinvention. The rice extract wasn’t just brought back; it was thoughtfully repositioned as a quietly powerful answer the brand had once pioneered but forgotten. Packaging was redesigned to feature the specific rice strain, its origin story, and the traditional fermentation process. The tone across touchpoints became gentler, more narrative-driven, and less obsessed with actives and claims.

I chose measured storytelling over trend-chasing. Instead of aligning overtly with K-beauty, we allowed the brand’s own heritage to do the work. Campaign content featured generational use—mothers and daughters rediscovering the glow they remembered from years ago. Influencer partnerships focused on ritual-led minimalists, not glam accounts. The visuals favoured dewy faces in morning light, rituals at bathroom mirrors, and the quiet confidence of women who knew what worked for their skin.

10 New Content Directions

Here are 10 strategic ideas developed (and several executed) to support the new brand direction:

Legacy Formula Diaries – Instagram carousel series showing side-by-side shots of the old rice packaging and the revived one, annotated with founder notes.
Rice Rituals: Then & Now – Video shorts showing how the rice moisturiser fits into modern glass skin routines.
Skincare With a Story – A blog series hosted on the microsite exploring heritage ingredients like rice through customer testimonials and ingredient history.
The Ingredient You Missed – Email campaign spotlighting rice water’s resurgence and the brand’s unique sourcing.
What Was Always There – A soft launch video campaign with long-time users revisiting the old formula and narrating why it mattered.
Fermented Facts – Interactive pop-ups on product pages showing the process of rice fermentation and its glow-giving benefits.
Glass Skin, Gentle Roots – Google Display ads targeting K-beauty searchers with CTAs to “Try the Original Rice Glow.”
Ask the Archivist – Stories from inside the company’s lab on why rice was originally chosen and what brought it back.
The Glow You Grew Up With – A UGC campaign inviting users to post photos using the product with their mothers or daughters.
Skin Food Stories – Pinterest pins and infographics about traditional Asian ingredients like rice, barley, and ginseng, positioned as part of a broader skin nutrition theme.

Results Within 6 Months

Sales of the revived rice moisturiser exceeded launch expectations by 48%.
61% of returning customers were inactive for over a year.
Email open rates for the “What Was Always There” campaign were 2.2x higher than previous launches.
The brand was featured in two major “K-Beauty, Reimagined” editorial roundups without paid placement.

CONFIDENTIALITY CAVEAT: This case study represents a confidential engagement. For privacy, specific brand identifiers, campaign names, and project phases have been withheld. It has been shared with permission while preserving client discretion.

Extra Tip for Broader Perspective

If you’re an investor seeking momentum for your portfolio brands, here is one of my case studies that could interest you: “They Spent on Tech—And Silenced the Voice That Sold the Iron.“

And if you’re a solo expert looking to sharpen traction, this case study I worked on may resonate: “He Could Align a Spine—But Not His Instagram Brand Online.“

Take your brand from stuck to full throttle − with one bold strategic shift

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Shobha Ponnappa

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