The Brand Identity Strategy Behind Sunnies Studios’ Global Growth
Sunnies Studios built a global lifestyle brand by staying true to its identity and listening to its customers.
With the October 2025 opening of experiential retail concept Sunnies World in Bangkok, Thailand, Sunnies joined the ranks of homegrown brands that have hit the international scene. From a tiny eyewear kiosk, the brand has evolved into a global multi-category lifestyle enterprise encompassing cosmetics, drinkware, and food.
Making up half of the foursome who founded the company is the husband-and-wife tandem of Eric and Bea Dee, who also serve as CEO and head of product development, respectively. The Business Manual sat down with them to delve into Sunnies’ success, both locally and globally.
How Sunnies Studios Found the Market Gap That Started It All
The Dees’ partnership began in 2010 - even before their marriage - with a business called Charlie, which sold clothes, shoes, bags, and accessories. After learning the ins and outs of running a retail store, they noticed that one bin in particular was doing well: 70% of their sales were from the sunglasses section.
That led to their discovery of a huge market gap: sunglasses were either too cheap or too expensive. They decided to focus on the market gap they had discovered, and got co-founders Martine Ho and Georgina Wilson on board. Thus, the birth of Sunnies Studio in 2013.
The Sunnies philosophy and strategy were created from that initial lightbulb moment.
“When we find a great gap that we can fill, and we know we can win in, I feel like that's the formula that is Sunnies Studios,” Eric said.
The sunglasses were initially sold in a bin beside the cashier, which was not the customer experience they wanted.
“What we wanted was for people to be able to hold it, feel it, touch it, try it on. This gave us a very good business model in terms of looking at the landscape and saying, that is the gap of experiential sunglasses that caters to a very accessible market,” Eric added.
How Sunnies Studios Used Influencers Before It Became Standard Practice
Sunnies launched with a highly visible co-founder, Georgina Wilson, who at the time was hosting the third season of the reality TV show Asia's Next Top Model. The company was one of the pioneers that integrated influencer marketing before it became standard practice.
“George [Georgina] really personifies what the brand is all about,” Bea shared. “In 2013, when we launched it, she had the most amazing, most iconic photos, and she really built the brand.”
She said the influencer marketing model is an important layer of Sunnies.
“When you look into our stores, into our VMs [visual merchandising, or how products are presented in-store], our products, and even the way we write copy - every single aspect of our brand is felt.”
The launch of Sunnies also coincided with the rise of Instagram and the beginning of the selfie craze, which Eric calls “perfect timing.” They took advantage of the fast-rising platform to reach a wider audience by giving away sunglasses to about a hundred of their friends, who in turn were excited to receive free merchandise and took selfies with them.
“Everyone we sent products to, or the packaging to, actually posted, talked about, and enjoyed receiving the product,” Eric said, noting how product awareness surged during that time.
How Customer Feedback and Data Shaped Sunnies Studios' Product Line
The Dees credit their listening to customers and their attention to data for the growth in Sunnies’ offerings.
The idea for the prescription eyewear line started when customers browsing sunglasses started asking if they had an in-store optical clinic. Their cosmetics line was born from comments often made on their posts (specifically, creative director Martine’s), such as, “What lipstick is she wearing?”
The Sunnies flask line was conceived when they realized it was a natural product to pair with eyeglasses, since people tend to bring both when it’s sunny.
How Brand Identity Became Sunnies Studios' Crucial Difference Maker
The leadership team was intentional in ensuring that Sunnies had a strong brand identity, calling it the “Sunnies DNA.” This includes the look of the stores, the social media channels, the design of the products - right down to the music playlists for the stores.
“All the small details, all the small touch points that we're very particular with, that all stack up into creating what Sunnies is today,” Eric says.
Having expanded from eyewear into cosmetics and drinkware, how does Sunnies decide on which new products to launch?
The couple shared that they focus on providing enjoyment and beauty in everyday objects. The company has five core values: creativity, consideration, continuous learning, customer focus, and collaboration.
A sixth value is cuteness, Bea said: “Daily things that give you joy…if we can make this spark more joy and happiness, and make it cute.”
“The best comment that you can get on an approval or on a proposal is, ‘Oh, that's cute.’ That's better than okay and approved,” Eric added.
They look at Sunnies Cafe as a way to solidify the Sunnies experience and highlight the brand. Eric’s exposure to the food business as the son of restaurant mogul Rikki Dee helped in this regard.
“It's creating a Sunnies World experience. Everything that we have been building just really helps them contribute to that brand identity,” Bea said.
How Sunnies Studios Broke Into the Thailand Market
Frequently Asked Questions
Sunnies Studios identified a market gap in accessible, experience-driven eyewear in 2013, when co-founders Eric and Bea Dee noticed that sunglasses accounted for 70% of sales in their first retail venture. They recognized that mid-market sunglasses — neither cheap nor luxury — were largely absent from the Philippine market.
Sunnies DNA is the internal brand identity framework that governs every customer touchpoint — store design, product aesthetics, social media channels, copy, and even in-store music playlists. It reflects five core values: creativity, consideration, continuous learning, customer focus, and collaboration, with a sixth value — cuteness — added by Bea Dee to anchor everyday joy.
Sunnies Studios launched in 2013 with co-founder Georgina Wilson — then-host of Asia's Next Top Model — as its lead brand face, making it one of the Philippines' first brands to integrate an influencer-anchored strategy. The approach coincided with Instagram's rise, and early product seeding to about a hundred followers generated organic visibility before paid influencer marketing became standard.
Sunnies Studios spent 13 years preparing for international expansion before launching in Bangkok, opening eight stores as of the Thailand rollout. The brand led with its full lifestyle concept — Sunnies World — integrating eyewear, cosmetics, drinkware, and café under one experiential retail format, with the Sunnies flask emerging as the top-performing product in the Thai market.
Sunnies Studios has been profitable since its founding, scaling on internally generated revenue rather than external capital. Eric and Bea Dee attribute this to disciplined cost-of-goods management, controlled operating expenses, and maintaining correct business ratios — a framework that underpinned both domestic growth and the brand's international expansion into Southeast Asia.
