What Makes A Hero

Sorry – I doubt anyone wants a reminder of Prince Harry recalling how he used Elizabeth Arden’s Eight Hour Cream on his frostbitten bits. (I refuse to use his terminology.) But please allow me to exploit the anecdote to our advantage.

When cringing at the audio clip in the office, I realised the skincare product in question was the ultimate subject for a franchise we have on the Harper’s Bazaar website titled ‘History of the Hero’.

In the series we take a deep dive into an item (for fashion) or a product (for beauty), explaining why it’s considered iconic or cult. Examples of previous products include the famed MAC Ruby Woo lipstick (iconic), and the TikTok sensation Maison Francis Kurkdjian Baccarat Rouge 540 (cult).

Eight Hour Cream – in the iconic camp – works so well for a feature like this given its unchanged 93-year-old (!) formula is genuinely versatile and truly performs. It also has a legion of famous fans and, yes, Harry coming out as one of them means a spike in Google searches for it – which correlates to SEO appeal for us.

I’m often pitched products by PRs for ‘History of the Hero’ and I’ve been considering what else about an item makes the cut. Few launches can claim the longevity of Eight Hour cream, or the TikTok virality of Baccarat Rouge 540, but perhaps it’s a differentiator in the market for other reasons. Has it sold insane numbers over a significant amount of time? Does it boast innovation that really changed the game? Is it’s rich legacy little known? Let me know!