As long as our planet will have women, the cosmetic companies will follow. These brands can be very tenacious when it comes to reaching out to their target audience – women, perhaps more persistent than men.
The cosmetics industry in India is currently estimated to be around $950 million, which is likely to become threefold by 2020. It is growing at an accelerated rate of 15-20 percent each year. The country’s FMCG industry has witnessed a foray of global cosmetic brands in the last decade, which has also resulted in a healthy competition. It is no surprise to see cosmetic campaigns running round the year in most malls that serve as activation points.
Physical activations by cosmetic companies are quite common and visible these days, but, most of the global brands have also taken their touch points online, taking experiential online. To some of those women who do not prefer getting makeovers or touch-ups at public activation booths, which cosmetic brands usually set up in malls and other public arenas, online is an alternative place to experience the brand and its offerings. Let’s look at some of the global brands in India and how they provide experiential interaction to potential customers.
Lakme
The cosmetic brand Lakme was the first to launch India’s virtual makeover application called ‘Lakmé Reinvent Studio. The application is meant for women who can upload their photo on the application’s online page – http://www.lakmeindia.com/Studio then they can create a new look for themselves using Lakme’s extensive range of products and colours. The application covers everything from face, eyes, lips to nails. It is also smart enough to suggest products and shades. Once done, the user can email the new reinvented themselves back to their email id. It is an interesting way to engage women, especially those who are shy to try a product virtually before they buy it.
Loreal Paris
The well-known brand has a dedicated site on cosmetics and fashion, covering interesting categories such as news, fashion, stars, makeup, hairstyle and Cannes. The most important of them all is the ‘makeup’ section that further has four sections, namely – makeup tips, makeup trends, red carpet makeup and makeup tutorials. The most interesting of them all is makeup tips section, which features photos of popular celebrities followed by tips on how to get their look.
Mabelline New York
Yet another popular brand that has created online touch points to engage consumers. On its website, it has created a section called ‘How To’, which features 3 sub-sections – ‘Beauty Tips’, ‘Step-by-Step’ and ‘Tutorial Videos’. The Step-by-Step section shows photos of different women wearing latest makeup looks, linked to detailed pages that show how to get a particular look.
The ‘Tutorial Videos’ section has a collection of tutorial videos on topics ranging from nails, eyelashes, lipsticks and more. One can spend hours engaging with the site learning.
Mabelline has another dedicated site called ‘InstaGLAM’ that has all the tips and tutorials but in a more blog/article based format. It even features ‘Blogger Reviews’ that collates articles and reviews that people write on various fashion blogs in the country.
In a similar approach as Lakme has, Oriflame has its own virtual makeover site aptly named ‘Virtual Make-up Studio, which lets one upload a photo and discover new looks and colours with Oriflame products.
Oriflame
Oriflame also created an interactive site called ‘Dreamboards’ for its target audience. The aim is to promote dreams of women. It encourages women to go to http://dreamboards.oriflame.com/#en and browse through thousands of pictures to create a dreamboard, save it and share it with friends on social media. The idea is to allow visualization one’s dreams and goals, put them in a photo format, print and then put them near you, so one gets always reminded of their dreams, encouraging them to achieve it.
