Linda Sawyer on Disrupting Overdue Product Categories
Linda is the co-founder and CEO of Skura Style. She leads the company’s mission to disrupt the household sponge and cleaning category with a line of innovative, award-winning products that are beloved by consumers and the press. Before launching her company, Linda spent over 30 years in the advertising industry. As North American CEO and Chairman, she was instrumental in transforming Deutsch into one of the premiere agencies in the industry. Frequently recognized for her contributions to the advertising industry, she was named one of the ten most powerful women in advertising by Ad Age. She is also a recipient of the NY Women in Communications Matrix Award.
The Continuum talked to Linda about her second act as an entrepreneur and why sponges turned out to be a product category that was overdue for disruption.
You had a long career in advertising before becoming an entrepreneur and running your own company. Can you tell us how you made that jump?
I spent a little over 30 years in the industry. My early years were mostly at big agencies, and then I moved to Deutsch, which had just 40 people at the time. It was a big change for me, but I was attracted by the potential, and really loved the idea of doing more than just running accounts. I was part of building the agency's brand and evolving its offering. It was an incredibly rewarding experience, and we grew into one of the leading agencies. As the agency continued to grow, my role continued to evolve, and I spent my last ten years there as the North American CEO, and for the last two, I was also Chairman.
It was a fantastic run in which I had an opportunity to help build a world-class agency and work with clients in all sorts of categories and industries, but I’d always imagined that I would have another chapter. I have a very entrepreneurial side to me and wanted to build something from the ground up. My co-founder and best friend since second grade, Alison Matz, had a similar story. She also had a big career as the publisher of many high-profile consumer magazines and wanted a second, more entrepreneurial act. We always talked about how it would be exciting to do something together one day, and we brainstormed a lot until we eventually came up with the idea for Skura.
So, we have to ask, why sponges?
As I mentioned, we brainstormed a lot. I am a home design enthusiast and a total cleaning fanatic. I’m obsessed with cleaning and organization. When I was at Deutsch, my office was so clean and organized people sometimes asked if anyone actually worked in it.
I was musing with Alison about how the kitchen—which is the heart of the home where people spend so much time—has changed so much over time. There has been great innovation in the way everything performs and how it all looks. Even the most benign products like paper towel holders and garbage cans are now beautiful and perform better than they once did. Given this, I wondered how it was possible that the kitchen sponge – something we all use – had not evolved at all. Sponges were dirty and smelly and trapped in the 1940s.
As a pet project, we started researching sponges. The first thing we learned is that there is basically a monopoly on sponges, with 3M owning most of the U.S. market. And their product has remained unchanged – yellow and green or blue and blue with a scrubby side. We also found out that the traditional sponge material – cellulose, is literally a breeding machine for bacteria. From the second you start using it, millions of bacteria start reproducing. That’s why they smell so quickly, but it means that you're actually cleaning with a dirty tool.
While we were doing our research, all of these disruptive brands began emerging, like Dollar Shave and Casper. They were having success challenging categories that hadn’t innovated in a long time. We knew the sponge category was also sleepy and neglected. When we dug a little deeper, we learned that the majority of consumers had a universal hate affair with the current offerings, which meant that this category was ready to be disrupted.
How do you start if you’re going up against a company like 3M that has its products in every supermarket across the country?
At first, we just set out to make beautiful sponges but found out that the beautiful designs we had envisioned couldn't be reproduced with traditional materials. Then we had an aha moment and thought, “Why would we want to try to make something that is inherently disgusting and beautiful?”
Instead, we started trying to make a better product. We identified materials that weren't totally unique to the market but weren't being widely used. And the sponge we developed really is superior to anything on the market. They’re as absorbent as cellulose but are treated with an antimicrobial agent, so they never smell. The scouring surface does not trap food particles, so you can make a cheesy omelet and wash the pan and the sponge rinses clean. They also retain their shape. Probably the most unique technology is that there's a monogram on each sponge that fades within one to two weeks of use as a visual indicator of when you should throw it out and replace it with a new one.
“When we dug a little deeper, we learned that the majority of consumers had a universal hate affair with the current offerings, which meant that this category was ready to be disrupted.”
Wait, you’re supposed to throw out your sponge every one to two weeks?
Yes, that’s based on leading microbiologists’ recommendations, and there is real science behind it. One of the things we learned was that consumers readily admit to their complacency about sponge replacement, and they would do so with an apology and a kind of embarrassment. So, we leaned right into both of those things, and we initially launched a direct-to-consumer model with a subscription service. The idea was to bypass the retail challenges and, at the same time, make it foolproof and easy for consumers to replace their sponges on a schedule.
We’ve expanded into new channels since then. Amazon is a big channel for us now; we’re on Target.com and Walmart.com, and we’re also in Sur La Table stores nationally as well as on their site. We’re also in very advanced conversations for in-store placement with some of the largest big box stores and specialty chains for the coming year. While we started as direct-to-consumer, the objective was always to be where consumers want us, when they want us, and how they want us. We want to give people access in the way that they prefer to shop.
Can we ask how you came up with the name?
Skura is actually a Swedish word that means to scour and scrub. The inspiration for the name came from our designer, who is Swedish. He formerly worked as a product designer for IKEA, a longtime Deutsch client. We were introduced through mutual IKEA contacts. In addition, we love Scandinavian design, which is clean, modern, and happy and reflects the sensibility of our brand. In many ways, our designer has served as a brand muse, and one day, I asked him about Swedish words for cleaning, and Skura just sounded so right.
How do you test and learn when it comes to figuring out how to track the sales of your sponges?
We are diligent and disciplined about monitoring all the key metrics almost on a daily basis. We are measuring our conversion and retention, the cadence of reordering, and subscriptions. Obviously, we also look at sales by channel. Monitoring it all so closely lets us pivot in real-time. We may pivot on the media channel, or it could be changing the message. We also do A/B testing to see where we are creating bigger, more compelling messages that get people to take action. I think we’re very good at looking at the overall blended effect because everything has such different roles.
The actress Eva Mendes is now your business partner. Can you tell us how that happened?
It’s a great story actually. I mean, Eva Mendez is a global style icon and a fantastic actress. She’s also an entrepreneur and a cleaning aficionado. Not only does she have a passion for cleaning, but, like us, she says a clean space gives her a feeling of well-being and helps clear her mind. During the pandemic, she tried a lot of products and discovered Skura, and she loved them. She said she was absolutely blown away by the technology aspect of it and then she read our backstory and that the company was founded by two women. She’s a big advocate for women in business, and so she facilitated a meeting.
We just started talking and had such similar ways of thinking about cleaning and how it can improve your everyday life. We joked that we’d found our cleaning soulmate. After a lot of conversation, she went from an obsessed customer to a co-owner, and she's been an amazing partner to our business. She has incredible creativity and an entrepreneurial background already, and she adds a great lens and perspective. Obviously, her social platforms have been unbelievable for us. It serves as an extension of our brand, and having that additional level of celebrity has been terrific for our business.
“What I think is most important when working with influencers is authenticity.”
Speaking of celebrity, her husband Ryan Gosling mentioned Skura in a press interview for the Barbie movie or, should we say, the Barbie phenomenon. How did that happen?
It was very organic, actually. An interviewer asked Ryan Gosling and Margot Robbie if they’d ever had jobs that they hated, and Margot said that she’d really hated her days as a dishwasher. The two stars started joking around, and the conversation kind of naturally came around to our sponges. Ryan was so funny and genuine, and both Margot and the interviewer were impressed that the sponges tell you when it’s time to replace them. Of course, that was terrific for us. The engagement on social media and the sharing was amazing, and we saw a huge spike in business.
Most brands are probably not going to have one of the biggest movies of the year happen to talk about their product during a press tour. So, for them, how do you think brands should play best with influencers?
Look, influencers are so critical; I mean, that’s not new at this point. Influencers today are like what word of mouth used to be, but on steroids. They have a profound impact on a brand, whether they're a major influencer or a micro-influencer who may not have a huge following but has a very engaged audience. What I think is most important when working with influencers is authenticity. When you hear Eva Mendes talk about her passion for cleaning and the whole wellness aspect, it’s genuine and authentic. I think a lot of brands just look to hire someone with a big following but no connection to the brand. It ends up not being credible or believable and can be worse than having nothing.
What’s the most important thing for someone who has an entrepreneurial idea and wants to shake up a sleepy category like sponges to keep in mind?
I think it’s simple and boils down to this: Do you have a product or service that really is doing a better job than anything else out there? Can the business model grow, scale, and sustain? The real litmus test is simple: is it enduring, and does it make people’s lives a little bit better? It can be big or small, a little better or a lot better. If it passes that test, you can be successful.
What’s next for Skura Style?
Our mission is to own the real estate around the kitchen sink. We have a robust new product pipeline; we’ll be coming out with sponge caddies, dish-drying mats, soap dispensers, handled scrubbing tools, and rubber gloves. We’re also expanding our distribution points. As I said earlier, we have a big focus on brick-and-mortar presence. Other than that, we are continuing to get our message out there and raise awareness. We have received tons of press, and obviously now, with Eva Mendes as our partner, there are lots of opportunities. Still, it’s a cluttered environment out there, and we just have to make sure everyone is exposed to our product because once they learn about us and when they try Skura, there’s no going back.
October 17, 2023
