Bath And Body Care Brand Rocky Robinson Is On A Mission To Inspire Black Girls To Dream Big

Leading marketing strategy for Target’s community relations efforts 11 years ago, Audra Robinson would often find herself being the only Black person in the room. She started thinking about whether a brand could inspire Black girls to change the future so they’d enter and command companies with greater diversity.

“I sent an email to myself about the idea. It was just me brainstorming around the need to solve the problem of lack of representation in corporate environments,” says Robinson, who envisioned introducing a version of Shea Moisture or Carol’s Daughter for younger consumers. “I wanted to help kids that look like me understand it was possible to work in advertising and marketing.”

In 2014, she began shaping her idea into a brand called Rocky Robinson and held a launch party for it, but the demands of her job—at that time she was senior shopper marketing manager at Pfizer—prevented her from focusing on it. After Pfizer’s merger with GlaxoSmithKline last year, Robinson’s position was eliminated and that freed her up to turn her attention to the brand, which officially premiered in March this year in the bath and body care category with $8 lotion, $8 shower gel and $5 lip balm.

“Rocky Robinson is a self-care brand created to encourage Black girls to love the skin they are in,” says Robinson, adding, “We set out to empower girls to shine bright and own their excellence, and we put Black girls at the center of everything we do celebrating their brilliance, beauty and magic.”

Rocky Robinson, an animated character used in packaging and messaging, is at the heart of the brand. Depicted as a smiling, active girl with bright fashion choices and a range of different hairstyles, she exudes confidence and fun. She’s even the star of a digital game enabling players to swap out hairstyles and hair accessories.

On the brand’s website, it pronounces Rocky Robinson’s personal motto is “I will!” It continues, “Rocky is a girl like your daughter, your sister, your niece, your cousin, your granddaughter and your friend. Rocky is every Black girl. And Rocky is for every girl.” More specifically, she’s designed to appeal to 4- to 12-year-old girls and their parents. Robinson says, “The reaction I consistently get from girls is, ‘That’s me.’ Although it’s an animated character, they see themselves in Rocky.”

Her brand’s core audience consists of Black mothers that act as the CEOs of their households and handle their families’ product purchases. When it comes to products, they can be heavily swayed by their daughters’ preferences. “These girls are so savvy and smart, and they are really pulling the purse strings of their parents,” says Robinson.

To reach girls, she’s connecting with influencers that appeal to them. In a YouTube video posted last month, Kyra Milan, an 8-year-old influencer with over 50,000 followers on YouTube and Instagram, raves about Rocky Robinson’s lip balm, “I really love the scent. It’s just super simple and plain, but it’s still really cool and really good. It fits right in my bag, super easy to find.” The enthusiastic review led to a lift in Rocky Robinson’s sales and engagement.

“Rocky Robinson is a self-care brand created to encourage Black girls to love the skin they are in.”

As soon as in-person events are feasible again, they will be another important pillar in Rocky Robinson’s marketing strategy. Before the pandemic hit the United States hard in March, the brand took part in a father-daughter dance in February and registered strong sales at it, convincing Robinson of the power of events to drive her brand. She says, “The girls wanted to touch it, smell it and meet me, and the dads were so curious about it, too.”

Robinson describes Rocky Robinson’s formulas as lightly scented and super fresh. The products are sold in sugary Unicorn Dreams, citrusy jasmine Summer Joy, Bubble Gum, Cupcake and unscented varieties. Robinson decided to debut Rocky Robinson with bath and body care merchandise rather than haircare because she believes it’s a comparably less crowded, but expanding niche. She suggests Target’s line More Than Magic, Justice’s line Beautiful You and Bath & Body Works are among the brand’s competitors.

Robinson has fond memories of bath and body products from childhood. Growing up, her mother would give her and her sister pajamas, a book, bubble bath and lotion on Christmas Eve. “Her goal was to get us to bed to wrap our gifts,” says Robinson. “It was her way of getting us prepared for bed, but it also helped to establish a routine, and it was ours. There was something really special about having my own bubble bath and lotion. That meant a lot to me.”

Haircare remains on Rocky Robinson’s agenda. Shampoos and conditioners are in the pipeline for next year as are aromatherapy products. Rocky Robinson recently secured a third-party manufacturer to ramp up its production volume. Beyond the beauty and personal care sector, Robinson foresees her brand evolving into a girl’s lifestyle company stretching across several areas. An app and bedding are possibilities. To date, its $25 gift bundle with a lotion, shower gel, lip balm and princess headband is the bestseller. Rocky Robinson added $6.50 hand sanitizer to its early assortment to address coronavirus-era personal hygiene practices.

Robinson, a member of accelerator Lunar Startups’ 2020 cohort, aims to eventually have Rocky Robinson on shelves at big-box chains. Beauty supply stores are expected to be in the retail mix as well. Robinson’s sister Rosalin Robinson-Coleman is the founder and CEO of VIP House of Hair & Beauty Supply in Los Angeles, and Robinson is interested in placing Rocky Robinson at the store and branching out in the beauty supply realm from there. For now, however, she’s mostly concentrating on the direct-to-consumer model.

In its first year in business, Robinson’s objective for Rocky Robinson is relatively modest. She’s striving to prove viability and kick off social impact initiatives. The brand has established a donation program allowing customers to donate products to youth affected by the Black Lives Matter protests demanding police reform and justice for the killing of George Floyd. Once Rocky Robinson becomes profitable, a portion of its proceeds will be dedicated to organizations supporting Black girls, including those aiding them with college. The dream that compelled Robinson to develop Rocky Robinson of Black girls maturing into Black women who regularly ascend to powerful corporate roles may yet be realized.

“Rocky in a way is an expression of who I am, who I was as a girl, and she’s what I want every young girl to feel,” she says. “Rocky is my way of sharing what I’ve wanted to say to every girl and to the world, that Black girls matter, that Black girls are beautiful and smart and deserve to be seen and heard.”