We help brands create deep connections with women consumers.
Women are not a monolith. But marketing that targets women often looks and sounds the same. Synthesized, girly, empowered and vaguely uplifting. There is a disconnect with the vast and varied reality of women’s daily lives. In today’s hyper-speed world, it’s easy to lose touch.
At Bistro Brand Advisory, we help brands stay close to the real women who power their business. Our passion and expertise lie in peeling back assumptions that hold brands back and igniting growth through real, rich relationships with women consumers. We cut through the vortex of social media and AI to help brands embrace how women experience their lives – both online and off – to fuel resilient growth. Our work weaves together a proven playbook of real-world expertise with recent academic insights into consumer culture, helping brands resonate with how women understand themselves today.
Founder, Annie Bystryn
Why do we buy what we buy? It’s the question that has fueled my career. We create meaning from what we consume. And those stories quietly but powerfully shape who we are, often without us even realizing it. In today’s world, those stories are increasingly molded by social media and AI – often in ways that consumers and brands can’t fully see.
I founded Bistro Brand Advisory to help brands cut through this algorithmic haze and connect meaningfully with the real lives of women. My brand expertise and academic scholarship come together to offer a distinctive approach that helps brands resonate with how women understand themselves today. Our proven playbook of real-world experience and research helps brands ignite growth through rich and resilient connections with women consumers.
The business is built around hands-on experience from the beauty industry – an early leader in social media – and 15 years of working with highly-engaged female consumers. That practical expertise is enriched by my recent academic work into how social media and AI are reshaping the experience of women and consumer culture.
With two master’s degrees (an MBA from Wharton and an MA in Media, Culture, and Communication from NYU), I’m at home geeking out over research. If you’d like me to, I can chew your ear off talking about the dynamics between gender and social media — and how they shape our daily lives. But most of the time, I talk shop like someone who has owned a brand P&L… because I have.
I’ve overseen the rise and $250M acquisition of BECCA, an inclusive makeup brand, by Estée Lauder; led marketing for brands like KORRES Natural Beauty, Laura Geller Beauty, and Clean Beauty; and spearheaded $100M influencer and celebrity campaigns.
Through all of it, my focus has never wavered: understanding the wonderful, poignant, busy, messy realities of women’s lives– and helping brands to resonate and engage with that reality.
Why is the business named Bistro?
Funnily enough, the French word “bistro” actually comes from the Russian word “bystry” – which means swift or rapid. The story goes that in 1814, when Russian soldiers were camped in Paris, they often shouted “bystry” to café owners – calling out for swift refills of wine. The French co-opted the word and made it their own. Today, bistros are a beloved type of restaurant known for being warm, low-key and quick on their feet. We are dedicated to creating advisory relationships that share the same spirit, down-to-earth warmth and nimble thinking. And since Annie’s last name is Bystryn - violà!