Brilliant. There’s an art and a science to luring consumers to spend on something new — especially in the wake of an election that revealed how truly afraid many Americans are for their personal and economic security. It’s all in the mission, the language. That’s why I’m so excited about the prospects for Brandless, the brainchild of Tina Sharkey and Ido leffler.

While I certainly encourage anyone investing in consumer products to follow this team, given the top tier investors in their Series A round, what I’m giddy about is the founders’ core understanding of the beleaguered shopper. I’m talking about the women who control and/or influence 85% of discretionary household spending, including automotive and consumer electronics.

Because women are indeed ripe for a CPG disruption, just like the one Brandless founders describe — and they’ve been headed this direction for nearly a decade. I first saw lifestyle bloggers post about mortgage foreclosure in April 2008 — followed almost immediately by a nation-wide trend in blogs on frugal grocery shopping. The “frugalistas” were churning out more than healthy, well-balanced $5 dinners. I came to realize, during President Obama’s first and second terms, as I witnessed their discussions of public policy from health care to equal pay, that the Great Recession had damaged their trust well beyond Wall Street and Comgress. Pew nailed it in this 2012 survey:

Many women I read blamed the entire system in which their families earn and spend. Basically, the Americans who know the value of a dollar because we count our pennies — and women as Chief Householf Officers in particular — extended blame across the board. The entire system wasn’t working for them. As my mother pointed out at the time, even Costco’s aisles were thinly populated some days.

Over the same period, I saw many women increasingly turn away from official Web sites and other sources of info, and toward each other for product recommendations and information. In 2012, fully 87% of women in BlogHer’s network said they had bought a product based on the advice of a blogger — and 61% of American women online had done so too. And as they did, qualitatively, I felt their comments, eyerolls and relentless searches for value revealed that the third largest offender identified by Pew — large corporations — were particularly in trouble with Her. From purchase funnels offering a way to support bespoke crafting (Etsy, Brit.com, Crafty Chica, StitchFix) to direct-to-consumer appeals like DollarShaveClub consumers, she was more willing than ever to find an alternative. One that put her dollar and her experience first.

Which is why I’m so enamored by Tina Sharkey’s language here:

“… [A] company has to be about something greater than any one product or service in itself. It has to be about the grander opportunity to inspire a movement that ushers in a new wave of consumer culture that makes sense, created in direct opposition to a system that isn’t serving people. There’s a new guard of retailers and brands defined by a greater consciousness of health, the environment, and social good, but this tends to come with hefty price tags. In the end, the person who matters most, the consumer, is forced to choose between what’s good for them and what’s affordable and accessible.” (Emphasis mine)

Amen. I’m excited to watch this launch.