How a 9-Person Team Competes With Lancôme & Maybelline

In this episode of The Future of Marketing, host Andres Figueira interviews Lin Sällström, Head of Sales & Marketing at Hickap, a 9-year-old Scandinavian vegan beauty brand. Hickap is carving out space in the highly competitive beauty market by building an inclusive community-first brand that treats customers like friends rather than transactions. Operating with a lean team of just nine people, Hickap has become one of the fastest-growing vegan beauty brands in Scandinavia through a marketing approach centered on consistency, authenticity, and deep customer relationships. Their strategy demonstrates how smaller brands can compete against legacy players like Max Factor, Lancôme, and Maybelline by leveraging proximity to customers and cultural relevance. Topics Discussed: Building an inclusive, warm beauty brand for Gen Z and Gen Alpha first-time beauty users Operating a lean, high-performing marketing team in a competitive category Leveraging consistency as a competitive advantage and growth accelerator Creating community through customer-influencer integration at events and campaigns Using customer feedback to drive product development and category expansion Launching culturally-relevant seasonal campaigns in Nordic markets Expanding from makeup brushes into skincare, makeup, and hair care categories Competing against legacy beauty brands with significantly larger marketing budgets