A Quick Note on How to Be a ‘Guerrilla’ of the PR World

“We all think of ourselves as unique, unlike any other person past or present. Indeed, what gives human life its divine spark is the distinct quality of every individual. Yet, in many ways we are all the same. The task of market analysts, pollsters, and demographers is to identify those characteristics we share and to group us accordingly…”

Nylon Magazine Reviews The Maybelline Story

In its most recent edition, Nylon Magazine reviewed The Maybelline Story (Bettie Youngs Books) written by Sharrie Williams.

In 1915 a budding chemist named Tom Lyle Williams saw his sister Maybel coloring her accidentally singed  brows and eyelashes with a mixture of burnt cork and petroleum jelly. Maybel called it “a secret from the harem” and it inspired the 19-year-old Tom to create a cake mascara which he named Maybelline, for his sister. The Maybelline Story authored by his grand-niece Sharrie Williams, follows the saga of America’s most iconic makeup brand through four generations. In the 20’s, eye makeup was considered to be the province of fast women nothing any proper lady would wear. Maybelline changed all that with clever advertising an a superior, inexpensive product. In fact, it was the first brand to make use of the now ubiquitous before-and-after photos, at the time a revolution in advertising.