Lisa Stratton on Building a Comms Function From Scratch

Mixing Board Studio Session

Lisa Stratton is a seasoned brand builder and storyteller with 20+ years of experience across product, consumer, brand and corporate communications. Currently, Lisa is SVP and head of global comms for Benefit Cosmetics, responsible for external, internal and corporate communications. Prior, Lisa was VP of Communications at Tinder across the Americas, Head of Global Brand & Company Product Communications at Meta, an SVP at Edelman, and a Director at Weber Shandwick.

In this Studio Session, Lisa and Mixing Board Founder, Sean Garrett, talk about her experience overseeing the Facebook/Meta rebrand, the importance of integration, staying connected to outside trends and maintaining objectivity once you’re deep inside an organization, resilience through life’s heavy moments, and staying aware of what motivates you. 

SG: Tell us about your new role at Benefit and how you found yourself there. 

LS: I lead Global Communications at Benefit, a newly created role. Until now, Benefit’s communications efforts had been nestled within global marketing and our in-country teams. So now we’re taking a look at what the role of communications should be at Benefit – how can the function best serve the business. We’re setting up the team, processes and strategies for external communications, internal communications and employer branding. I also oversee an employee advocacy program made up of dozens of National Brow and Beauty Authorities who serve as our in-house experts and content creators. I’m currently getting under all of these workstreams, working with the team to elevate our approaches and developing new points of collaboration with our cross functional partners. 

I was thrilled when I heard about the opportunity to join Benefit because not only does it hit in a space that I really love personally, beauty and lifestyle, but it's an iconic and fun brand. It was the perfect role at the perfect time in my career, as they were interested in all of my experience – my 15 years of agency experience plus my recent consumer tech experience. They were consciously hiring somebody that wasn't straight from the beauty industry and could bring a fresh take to the business. 

SG: How long has Benefit been around for?

LS: Benefit was founded in 1976 in San Francisco by the Ford sisters. Their first store was in the Mission, and it was called The Face Place. They were true trailblazers in their time, creating the bestselling formula for Benetint, the first product they ever made, and also being the first to wax brows right in the window of their boutique. It's true product innovation, and that's what Benefit is all about - creating great products that work really well in the prestige beauty space. This is why over 40 years later, Benefit is sold in more than 60 countries around the world.

SG: Why did they decide after all those years to go find a proper comms person?

LS: Our leadership really believes in the power of communications and, when wielded well, can have a true impact on the business. Historically, comms has been part of the marketing department and was largely defined as media relations, events, and supporting social influencer and creator work. I think our CEO recognizes that communications can be so much more than this, which is why we were popped out as a separate function. Additionally, I believe there was also a recognized need for communicating to employees, bringing elevated creative approaches to external communications, driving reputation and brand management, and supporting the communications needs across other departments. Since I’ve been a part of the team, nothing has been clearer than other leaders expressing their excitement for this kind of support. 

SG: What is it like for you to be standing up this function from scratch?

LS: I’m excited about the opportunity to build and create something, which pulls on all of the experience I've had over the last 20 plus years. But can also be intimidating, as Benefit is a billion dollar plus brand. We have three axes of business, we're in makeup, we're in services, and we're in skincare, and we have four big categories of focus, brows, pores, lashes and face color. So it's a big job to learn the details for each priority and what will drive growth, but it's also very exciting to have the opportunity and be able to build holistic comms support from scratch.

SG: Obviously it's a very successful company, they've been doing this for a long time. And they're looking to add onto the success here. How do you go about explaining your role, what you hope to do, and how it's different from things that have happened in the past?

LS: When I got into the job, my first priority was to listen and learn. I met with as many people as I could from different parts of the business. It's been a while since I worked with an organization that has a retail side of the business, so it’s been a bit of a re-education for me on that side. It’s also so important to get to know the talent on my direct team. Many have been at Benefit for a long time and I'm lucky that there's a lot of institutional knowledge to pull from.

Then, with a fresh and objective point of view, I spent time assessing what was already in place, what was working and things we wanted to keep in place, and at the same time saw opportunities to create new operations, new ways of thinking, and new strategies. It’s about bringing these things together and designing the team and the department in a way that's going to bring out the best of communications and work harder for our upcoming priorities.

I’ve also spent a lot of time thinking about our overall business goals, the superpowers of comms, and what our role is. Everything from brand storytelling to product storytelling, and where we can make the most impact. But I’m also looking at the consumer journey. Where are the best places for communications to be focused in the first year of standing up a new department? Where I landed is really at the front end of that journey – driving awareness, brand reputation, excitement and purchase consideration. There's other things we can do down that funnel, but as we build we’ve got to start somewhere. I’m just trying to carve out the areas that we’ll focus on first, and we'll see where we go and how things will evolve.

SG: The challenge that I know a lot of people have when they start out in roles like this is that you come into an organization with this outside perspective, but then as you get assimilated at the org, that objectivity that you mentioned before, it naturally wanes a bit. But obviously it's so critical to connect to that objectivity, because that's your role, to see both the outside view and the inside view. What's your approach for retaining that as best as possible?

LS: First and foremost, it's about staying connected to my team and colleagues, because they've all been here for a long time. Having the perspective that they have and having a much longer memory than I do is helpful to stay grounded in Benefit’s long and successful journey. At the same time and as communicators, it is our job to understand what's happening out there in the world when it comes to trends, how people are talking about and engaging with our brand and products. It’s important to stay immersed in that, always trying to challenge ourselves to think creatively, and bring out of the box ideas into the company and into the work that we do. This is a unique part of the opportunity we have as communicators. It’s part of the job and the unique value our department can bring into the company. 

SG: Before this job, you worked at a couple of places that people have heard of, Tinder and Meta/Facebook. Tell us about that journey into Facebook – you did a lot of brand communication work there. How would you describe the role of brand communications at Meta? Because it's a term that people use somewhat differently in different places. How would you articulate it?

LS: I got a unique look at what brand communications was right off the bat in my career journey. In my first job at Edelman New York, my very first project was supporting the launch of the Adidas “Impossible is Nothing” marketing campaign. We shut down 125th Street, Muhammad Ali and his daughter were our spokespeople, and while my job was to hold the clipboard and check press into the press pen, I saw the power of a great communications launch. My second project was on the Dove “Real Beauty” campaign where we were launching a new haircare line. Again, while my comms newbie role was to stand outside of the Today Show in a terry cloth robe and hold a Dove weightless moisturizer sign, through these experiences I was able to develop an understanding how communications works with marketing and gets integrated in all sorts of different ways. This early exposure gave me a great foundation to build on over 15 years on the agency side where I had the privilege of working with many consumer brands and sectors, doing that integrated work. 

When I joined Facebook, now Meta, it was an interesting flip on this experience. I'd spent so many years with brands that were focused on the consumer, coming up with a disruptive creative idea, understanding the core audience, their media consumption habits and how to effectively meet them where they were. Coming into tech, the focus of communications was very much on what was happening inside of the company, things like product innovation and executive/thought leadership. And of course the speed at which tech moves versus some of these other consumer sectors was just a big change. It was an exciting change, because it's a new way of working, a new way of thinking. 

I was hired initially to do product communications, focused on cultural moments and the product experiences that were really about driving brand love, such as memories and birthdays. In those early days it was an easy time to talk about the brand and new features, such as Valentine's Day and Mother’s Day. But after the 2016 election things notably changed with more criticism of the company around privacy, security and other policy issues. It was at this time that I believe leadership recognized the importance of being able to communicate to people in multiple ways. Not just through executives and not just through pushing product or policy updates in the press. 

They hired a new CMO and he brought in a different approach to marketing at the company, yet one that I was very familiar with. Working with him was like a light bulb for me in the opportunity for brand communications. They were going to invest in multi-channel, scaled communications and this is what I had spent more than 15 years of my career doing. So, with the support of my manager, I pitched and created the brand communications function. You’re right in that people think about this discipline in a lot of different ways. I think some assume that we're doing comms for marketing, but that is not how I would define it.

My definition and the ambition was really about driving brand reputation and telling broader stories that aren't necessarily always focused on product innovation. For example, it’s not just this cool feature or a fix on that feature, but what does Facebook actually stand for and why does it bring value to a consumer? Articulating a higher level story that helps to develop a positive brand reputation is a big part of what the function can do.   

The other skill set that true brand communicators bring to the table and is unique from other disciplines, is that we really appreciate the power of integration. Brand communications experts understand the importance of reaching an audience where they are getting information and how to work cross functionally to develop a channel strategy. These were all things that I tried to showcase the value in and build on over time. Eventually and over the course of my tenure, we were supporting a wide variety of projects and campaigns across the entire Meta brand portfolio. 

SG: You've worked for companies where they didn't have a communications function, but they had a strong marketing function for a long time. Facebook was obviously a place that had a very strong communications function, but lacked a robust brand marketing function for a long time.

LS: Very true. It was one of the things I loved about joining Meta. It felt freeing that comms was no longer at the kids table, where you're like, "Okay, I'm over here. Can I share an opinion?" In tech, comms is king. I got to go deep into the function and into media relations in a way that I hadn’t been focused on in previous years. It really helped to sharpen my skills on this front. 

SG: Because you were a translator between the comms team and the marketing team, how did that adjustment go? I'm just curious about the front row seat to that.

LS: Though I no longer work at Meta and cannot speak to how things are now, at the time I found it to be an education on all fronts. It depends on where each person was coming from and whether they had been exposed to this kind of work during their careers or not. I'll admit, sometimes people were just like, "That's not a priority, you shouldn't be worrying about that,” but as someone who is passionate and knowledgeable, I challenged these views and said, "Well, here's why you should care."

I chipped away at it, from educating marketers on why comms needed to be at the table or why comms should prioritize integrating into a big campaign. There were some early wins – the very first scale campaign I worked on was the Facebook “More Together” campaign, focused on elevating the brand and leveraging Groups as a product proof point. We had an opportunity to develop a thoughtful press strategy and tap into a partnership with Miley Cyrus. And while more focused in scope, it was the first thing out of the gates and I believe that people started to see the potential for why comms should support a marketing campaign. It's not just about pitching AdAge and Adweek to gain industry clout, rather it's also about a brand partnership, getting into consumer and entertainment press, inspiring people, inserting Facebook into culture and making it cool.

One of the last big projects I worked on - the rebrand from Facebook to Meta - was a really great demonstration of where the Brand Communications team had evolved to. My team and I were at the nexus of that project and in support of a small army across a variety of cross functional teams. Our role was to connect comms and marketing points of integration – from helping to build out a press and messaging strategy across multiple audiences, to evaluating ways we could disseminate the announcement across earned, owned and paid channels. Some questions I asked myself were: could we elevate the content strategy and cut the keynote videos down into pieces and put it on our social channels? Do we put paid media behind the content to drive more awareness? How can we partner with the social response team and collaborate on tweets as things get memed?

It took being in the weeds with the team, but in seeing it come to life, it was one of the most positive, proactive news cycles and launches I had been witness to in years. It was a tough environment then too, but it just showcased the power of true integration and brand communications at its best.

SG: That will go down as one of the biggest rebrand/renames of all time. What was something that you took out of that experience? What advice would you give to other organizations trying to do something like this?

LS: It goes back to brand building, staying true to the values of your brand, and leaning into the positive equity that exists – because you don't want to lose that. There's been a lot of talk lately about X and the Twitter rebrand, and how the new leadership completely walked away from the equity that had been built over time, from the brand ethos and policy stances, to the icon and internal culture, everything. I believe it’s about figuring out how you own your past and evolve in a way that's going to bring people along with you, yet lean into the future that you want the brand to be focused on.

SG: As a former head of comms at Twitter, the one thing I'm happy that Elon Musk did was change the name, because he didn't take any of the good things from Twitter. He can completely own all the terrible things that he's doing under his own brand, so it's actually a real gift. 

From there you went to Tinder – what was that like?

LS: It was an interesting shift because Tinder is a one product and one brand company, versus being at a portfolio with lots of different products and brands. Tinder is also so laser focused. We were talking before about consumer brands really understanding their audience, and Tinder knows Gen Z, this is what they're all about. They really did the homework to understand who they're communicating to about online dating today.

So in this role, I had an opportunity to dig back into all of the leadership skills and consumer brand strategy work that I was doing in my agency days, which made the job seamless to enter into, start building from and actually became a good foundation for where I'm at now.

SG: For a lot of people, it’s been a weird few years to do comms in general. A lot of stuff has happened. You’ve had some serious health issues, too. How do you hold all these things at once while you're putting all this energy into this output and this work and other humans. How do you contextualize trying to do really smart, creative, thoughtful work while also managing real shit?

LS: It has been a tough few years for most people. Between COVID, all of the job market volatility, and everyone has their own stuff going on. My mom gave me the best advice when I was a young kid, she said, "Everything is a choice, Lisa." That advice has just stuck with me over the years, becoming a touchstone for when there's something tough happening. Just remember that there's a lot of stuff out of your control, so focus on what you can control and then make choices based on that. I've always anchored to that. 

I was diagnosed with breast cancer in late 2019, something that nobody wants to hear. I quickly went into problem solving mode mode, tried to understand what's happening, what does this mean for me and and what choices I had in my treatment. That helped me feel empowered a little bit. Of course you have to listen to what the doctors say, they're the experts for a reason. But you do have some control. You can make some choices. That helped me through.

Luckily, I made it out on the other end in a healthy place. And I kept that same choice-oriented mindset through my career journey. Job transitions are never easy, especially in this market, but I tried to stay focused on what I can control in the situation and what is going to help move me forward. Step by step. 

SG: I don't want to be trite, but when you have real heavy stuff in your life, it resets your priorities. As someone who does this job, did something change in your brain at all? Have you approached things differently? Or have you been able to keep your job as a sanctuary and you exist in that in a separate way?

LS: Stuff like that really gives you perspective, and it’s been iterative for me. I think I gained resilience every time I went through something crappy. What changes over time is just having a stronger sense of perspective on what really matters. And what really matters is people, how you treat one another, the relationships you have with one another, being able to have honest, transparent, respectful conversations with people, and to have fun at work to the extent that you can. I know tough things happen, especially in communications. We deal with crises all the time, and sometimes they're really serious issues. But banding together with that group of people around you, getting through that problem as quickly as possible, and then getting back to the fun stuff that you had planned. That's always the goal.

When tough situations come up at work, I've always had a really strong sense of fairness. I’m always willing to have a tough conversation. Let's be honest about what a project outcome is. Push back on that crappy feedback. Call out that sexist remark that you heard. Those are the things that feel less daunting to deal with when you have been through some really challenging personal situations. You have to stand up for yourself and those around you, be principled and intentional when they do happen. But at the same time, always focus on the people and on having a good time at work. Because we are at work many hours a day, and the goal is to enjoy it, be motivated by it, but then log off and live your life.

SG: If someone was entering into comms now, they’re young in their career and they're like, wow, the coolest thing in the world would be to go work for Benefit. How would you coach that person? How would you help them get to where they want to get to?

LS: My advice is to be intentional on three fronts. First, be aware of what motivates you, what you like doing, and what you like spending time on. I've always enjoyed working with lifestyle brands, and Benefit is a company that mirrors my values. Working at a place where you enjoy work and showing up every day will go a long way for keeping you happy on the job. 

Next, be intentional about what you're good at. What are your strengths? I developed a strong skill set in consumer and brand storytelling, which I leaned on throughout my career journey. If you're playing to your strengths, you're going to be able to deliver strong results and feel rewarded for your contributions. 

Last, be thoughtful about what you’re not good at or perhaps the skills you need to learn. Every career move I made opened up doors for learning new things and closing skill gaps I’d need for the next opportunity. Learning will not only keep you motivated, but it will help you learn new skills to grow and move your career journey along. 

If you combine those three things – the strengths, the skills you need to learn, and what motivates you, you will end up in a good place.

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