Mario Badescu Brand Experience Analysis
01 — Project details
A conceptual brand experience analysis of Mario Badescu, focused on its website and event presence. The project evaluated how the brand currently presents itself across digital and physical environments, explored potential factors contributing to declining engagement and sales, and identified strategic opportunities to modernise its positioning. Recommendations centred on improving consistency, strengthening brand clarity and enhancing both the online journey and experiential touchpoints to create a more cohesive and engaging customer experience.
02 — Approach
I began by analysing the homepage from the perspective of a first-time visitor, evaluating the clarity of the brand’s messaging, promotional hierarchy and overall purchase journey. I then mapped the wider customer experience to assess how each stage influenced user flow and identify friction points that may be impacting engagement and sales performance. My findings were structured into clearly defined ‘problems’ and corresponding ‘recommendations’ to demonstrate how the overall brand experience could be strategically optimised.
03 — Problems
Homepage
Homepage leads with heavy discount messaging, which makes the brand feel like it’s clearing stock instead of building a long‑term relationship with customers.
Engagement
Social media engagement is very low compared to audience size (e.g. 100 likes on Instagram posts for an account with over 700k followers).
404 Errors
The homepage promotes a “new” Peptide Jelly Cream; however, clicking through leads to a “page not found” error. This creates a disjointed user experience, undermines brand credibility and may negatively impact customer trust and purchase intent.
Sales Decline
Previous controversies and declining sales performance do not appear to have been followed by a clear repositioning strategy or significant product innovation, resulting in a perception that the brand has stagnated.
Online conversation has noticeably diminished, with formerly high-profile products generating limited organic engagement or cultural relevance compared to prior periods of heightened visibility.
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04 — Recommendations
Strategic Realignment
Refocus the homepage on the brand story and hero routines first, with offers supporting rather than leading the experience.
Engagement Rebuild
Run a 4–6 week content reset on social, centred on real routines, ingredient education and long‑time user stories, and track saves, comments and profile visits.
Technical Optimisation
Replace broken links (like the peptide jelly cream) and prioritise a clean, trustworthy shopping journey before pushing ‘new’ claims.”
Community Building
Strengthen the event strategy by moving from one‑off pop‑ups to relationship‑building. I’d recommend creating a small group of recurring partners: micro influencers who receive regular PR and are invited behind the scenes, plus collaborations with aligned wellness brands. This would turn pop‑ups into part of an ongoing story, not isolated activities.