Fun and sunshine, there’s enough for everyone: Space NK champions true inclusion in Mykonos

It fills my heart with joy to write about an excellent activation from the Space NK PR team. Already renowned for their trips with beauty journalists and content creators, The Summer Society's brand trip to Mykonos has created a lot of positive noise for a very different reason to usual: inclusion. 

Trip attendees included two Muslim content creators: Yasmin Artistry (@yasminartistry) and May Akhtar (@maytahmi), who each have around half a million followers and both created TikTok videos praising the brand for its commitment to inclusion:

“If you ever want to know what true inclusivity looks like: I’m on a brand trip with Space NK in Mykonos and they’ve got the two Muslim girls a separate villa so that we can sunbathe, catch a tan like everyone else but not be worried about men in the villa, if there are phones and cameras around. How insane that is that they’ve literally booked us a whole villa.

“It’s authentic and so genuine when you don’t have to ask for these things. I have no words…. It’s a dream come true”, said May in a 49s video posted on 28 May.

Yasmin’s video, which has garnered 888K likes, 2692 comments, and 13.3K saves in just over a week, is packed full of positive comments - and not just from people in Muslim communities - with many demonstrating the power of inclusion when it comes to purchase decisions:

I reached out to my former colleague - now Head of PR for Space NK, Jini Sanassy-  to better understand the thinking behind the activation: “Inclusion isn’t a strategy, it’s a responsibility and things that help include having representation in teams”. 

On LinkedIn, she said, “when we create our Space NK brand experiences, our objective is to make every guest feel comfortable…. A private women-only villa, modest swimwear, and sourcing halal meat were just a few of the aspects we wanted to ensure... The girls’ natural reaction to this honestly is something that we will never forget, and I am glad our industry is seeing that the bar should be set high.”

I look forward to seeing what else the Space NK team has got planned next (Jini, I’m here for a Diwali trip to Mumbai - just saying). I’m also anticipating they’ll be following up the success with something related to Eid, now that they’ve definitely earned the right to engage with beauty aficionados from Muslim communities. As referenced in our Inside Out Impact model, creating a right to engage with specific communities is imperative for brand reputation, particularly to avoid the cultural appropriation we see so often (ref: Oh Polly). Today’s brands can’t just buy attention, they have to earn it in authentic, relevant and credible ways.

Bravo Space NK!