3 ways to build a brand that actually sticks in 2025

At the Fast Company Innovation Festival, the founders of Poppi, Phlur, Olive & June, and Nutrafol discussed how small brands can go up against incumbents and win.

When the indie fragrance brand Phlur first launched in 2022, it was only available online—meaning customers had to buy its perfumes without ever smelling them. At the time, creative director Chriselle Lim wasn’t sure whether anyone would actually want to take that risk. But after she posted on TikTok that the signature fragrance “Missing Person” was inspired by her own experience with “the smell of a heartbreak,” the orders started flooding in.