Insight by Leah

It’s clear that since the economic downturn, fragrance sales have taken a nose dive.  Combined with the fact that the market is saturated with new fragrance launches every week, this sector is in desperate need of some help – and soon.  As consumers decide either to not purchase or to stick with dependable classics, marketers are scrambling to determine what appeals to consumers – and the answer is packaging and even storytelling.  One of the more successful recent fragrance launches was Coty’s Harajuku Lovers line (obviously the packaging influence came from Gwen Stefani who partnered with Coty for this fragrance).  Consumers loved the mini-dolls that each came with their own "personalities" and distinctive scent, and Coty offered the option of purchasing each doll separately, or in a collectible five-pack.  Coty is re-launching the line again this winter with a twist – each girl will be bundled up for the cold weather.  Coty has even suggested that at some point consumers may be able to order wardrobe changes for their fragrance dolls.  Coty combined unusual and even risky packaging with a great, personalized story, and also created a special website for the launch and as an ongoing way to engage consumers (http://www.hlfragrance.com/).  The site includes videos and music for each girl inspired by Stefani.  In a stale and crowded market, Harajuku Lovers engaged and inspired consumers.

Check out the girls in their winter gear!

Insight by Leah

Tabu, that fragrance that reminds everyone of the 1970’s, recently won the best mass-market, drugstore, budget or direct-sell fragrance in the 9th Annual Basenotes Awards.  This Dana Classics fragrance has been going through somewhat of a brand revival, and has been mainly focused on building an online following (check out the Facebook page) to grab consumer focus.  As with any brand revival, it’s always difficult to tap into consumer memories, and to build a customer base off of select brand memories.  However, the Tabu approach has been interesting to date, and may eventually offer a model for other, older brands that want to reach a new audience.

A few things that Tabu can begin to do to expand their potential:

1. Listen to their consumers – it would be great for consumers to have an active forum where they could add comments and suggestions for the brand – on everything from packaging to slight fragrance changes.  These conversations can take place on a brand blog or even on the Facebook page.

2. Create or build a new compelling message to consumers – when reviving a brand, it’s not enough to "rest on your laurels."  Tabu needs to update their 1970’s image and tagline to be relevant for the current market.

3. Explore other distribution channels – despite some initial forays online, my guess would be that Tabu is still mainly sold through corner drugstores.  Why not open up to other channels including HSN or other online channels?

What are your thoughts on Tabu or on brand revival?

Insight by Leah

Konectors, a London-based organization that finds "connectors and mavens" that have both an online presence and the social networking power to influence product purchases on behalf of advertisers, recently released a report on the Top 50 Beauty Blogs.   It should come as no surprise that topping this list is Temptalia – a blog that we have highlighted as both engaging and insightful for its audience.  Two other blogs of note include Naturallycurly.com and Basenotes.  As noted in the report, these top 50 blogs receive over 2.8 million visitors per month, and beauty companies should realize that these visitors are actively responding to content and engaging in conversations about products.  Among the other things that Konector factored into their analysis was how the blogs used various social media networks to engage consumers on their blog, on Facebook, on Twitter and in particular, YouTube.  As Konector director, Kingsley Mauder, correctly notes, YouTube and images are increasingly important in beauty purchases.

Top 50 List

Konector Report Overview

Insight by Leah

A recent New York Times article highlighted how Ulta, a national chain of beauty stores, is close on the heels of its top competitor, Sephora.  Ulta, which was originally a discount retailer, currently has 331 stores nationwide (versus Sephora’s 230), but the big news is Ulta’s product offerings – the store carries designer fragrances and drugstore staples, and more importantly, a growing number of mass prestige brands including Benefit and Smashbox.  Sephora still offers more prestige brands, including the wildly popular NARS line and Tarte Cosmetics, although Ulta is attracting luxury brands.  Ulta’s mix of mass market and luxury brands appeals to many women as it can be a one-stop beauty shop for everything from a favorite Maybelline mascara to a desired Lorac cream.  Indeed, Lorac, a company that was initially wary of signing with Ulta (the line is already carried in Sephora) likened Ulta to "a Baskin Robbins … There’s nonfat yogurt, but there’s the good stuff too."  As for online, at this point, Sephora appears to have a clear advantage by offering shoppers a Beauty Insider program and free samples with every order.  However, Ulta is now pushing a very popular points program that results in discounts on orders, and as many bloggers point out, Ulta is often less expensive for high-end products.  We’ll wait to see how this battle plays out online and offline.

Link to New York Times Article

Sephora Website

Ulta Website

Insight by Leah

Lancome is again releasing The Pout a Porter lipstick – the brand has in the past teamed up with rising designers to create a lipstick that reflects their own personal style signature.  In the past, Lancome has teamed up with Behnaz Sarafpour, Proenza Schouler, Peter Som and Thakoon, much to the delight of both the brand’s and designer’s fans.  Lancome is now working with Chris Benz on a new lipstick that will be featured on all the models in his September 2009 runway show – but this time, the beauty brand reached out to consumers to help name the lipstick.  The contest was open to anyone, and Lancome and Chris Benz accepted submissions on the Chris Benz Facebook page and received over 1,000 entries.  This is an excellent example (and initial first step for Lancome) of engaging stakeholders – no doubt both Lancome fans and Chris Benz fans will feel a connection to the lipstick, and Lancome is banking on this collaboration with its consumers to drive sales of the latest Pout a Porter release.  As well, using the Facebook fan page provides an easy venue for Lancome to communicate with a younger, diverse audience than may typically purchase some its products.  All in all, a great first step for Lancome in opening up the process.  It will be interesting to see if more companies (and Lancome) continue to engage consumers in additional product development steps – brand stakeholders (and that includes everyone from company employees to consumers) are invaluable resources for feedback on everything from packaging to ingredients to advertisements, and more companies would be wise to engage them before product releases.

Excerpt from Second City Style Blog:

Big news! The Pout a Porter lipstick series by Lancome is back! The skincare and cosmetics brand has already teamed up four times with some of the most influential emerging designers to create a lipstick that embodies their particular style. The previous four lipsticks in this collection were collaborations with designers Behnaz Sarafpour, Proenza Schouler, Peter Som, and Thakoon. So far the limited edition lipsticks have been a huge success with all four selling out quickly once they hit stores. One Proenza Pink lipstick even sold for $122 on eBay!

Link to blog post

Link to Chris Benz Facebook Fan Page

Shared by Leah

As we all know, beauty purchases tend to be one of those "high involvement" categories for most women – it’s as important what you think as what other people are saying about the product.  Thus, the importance of product reviews for the beauty industry.  Bellasugar.com has a section of their website specifically dedicated to product reviews provided by their editors and, more importantly, by their readers.  Additionally, Bellasugar.com has even highlighted for site visitors who are the most active reviewers and who are the most trusted reviewers.  Further, the site has made it easy to search for either a specific product with easy to browse categories or the best and worst reviewed products, and even points out for readers a product review of the day (check out this one on Cetaphil Daily Cleanser).  All this incredible content begs the question – what is the beauty industry, and specifically the beauty companies, doing to engage these active reviewers and to connect with sites like Bellasugar.com?  These product review forums are the perfect venue for companies to engage their stakeholders, broaden a fan base, receive valuable insights (check out the people who slammed the L’Oreal Vive Pro Line, which unfortunately for L’Oreal now appears as one of the worst reviewed products) and get feedback before an expensive product launch.

Shared by Leah

For those of you who live and breathe make-up and social media as we do here at TheNhuch.com, Lauren Luke is dream-come-true success story.  A little background on Luke – she first began selling make-up brushes, eyeshadows and more on eBay, and soon found that she was bombarded with questions about use and application tips from her customers.  Since make-up is one of those "easier to show you than tell you" products, Luke began creating make-up tutorials on YouTube, and soon became an overnight sensation.  Luke’s video tutorial on singer Leona Lewis’ green, heavily lined cat eyes from Lewis’ “Bleeding Love” video is considered Luke’s breakthrough video – it alone has almost 3 million views.  As well, she has launched her own make-up line, By Lauren Luke, that is available on her own website, and will soon be available through Sephora.com and in Sephora’s new flagship store in Times Square.  Affirming how important social media has been for her, Luke admits that she was initially contacted by her make-up line partners through Facebook.  Perhaps most importantly, Luke continually interacts with her stakeholders – fans, consumers, and business partners – by responding to comments, emails, inquiries and feedback.  As she states "That’s the good thing about it (YouTube) — people can tell me what they want and I’ll see if it’s doable."  For Lauren Luke, having these interactions is her way of giving back.  For us at TheNhuch.com, it’s a perfect, winning example of mass collaboration.

Lauren Luke YouTube Channel

Lauren Luke Facebook page

Lauren Luke on Twitter

Insight by Leah

More and more companies are discovering the value and power of social media, and are increasingly engaging consumers through Facebook and Twitter.  This article highlights how Astral Brands, parent company of Pur Minerals and Aloette Cosmetics, invited its network of franchises, consultants and customers to become fans of the brands as part of its 31st anniversary celebration.  The result – 3,000 people became Facebook fans in May alone.  Astral is taking an open approach with its customers and independent consultants, and creating an inclusive environment for its community – Facebook fans receive updates on upcoming products, sales, trends and other beauty advice as well as an opportunity to provide the company with feedback.  This strategy no doubt results in greater consumer-brand engagement and increased consumer confidence in the Pur Minerals and Aloette Cosmetics brands.  As well, recent studies of consumer engagement/friend recommendations and beauty products have indicated that consumers are significantly more likely to make a purchase based on a reference from a friend/influencer.  It’s a smart move by Astral Brands and we’ll look to see if more beauty companies follow this lead. 

Pur Minerals Facebook Fan Page

Aloette Cosmetics Facebook Fan Page

Excerpt from Beauty Packaging Magazine:

These days, it’s all about being online. Astral Brands, the parent company of cosmetics brands Pur Minerals and Aloette Cosmetics, is pairing the power of email and social media to raise awareness and boost sales of its expanding cosmetics lines.  Read the complete Beauty Packaging article.

Insight by Leah

A recent survey by market-research firm Information Resources Inc.  revealed that the recent downturn has profoundly changed how consumers are spending their money – on everything from how often they wash their clothes to how many lipsticks they purchase.  This downturn has impacted consumer behavior in a way that retailers and companies could never have predicted, and many of these companies are struggling to adjust (as we commented in an earlier post on beauty companies offering more mid-priced goods and smaller size options).  To quote the WWD article: “Women will still be purchasing cosmetic products, but they’ll now buy maybe just two varieties of lipstick instead of 10,” Thom Blischok, president of consulting and innovation at IRI, said. In place of paying a professional salon, things like home pedicures are rising in vogue, “which we wouldn’t have expected two years or even 18 months ago.”

Read the complete WWD article.

Insight by Leah

Estee Lauder, P&G and even L’Oreal have all announced intentions to offer consumers lower cost items and smaller sizes of some products in order to drive sales during a down economy.  Although the strategy may provide an initial bump up for these companies, it could be a dangerous decision for two reasons – 1. Consumers who had previously purchased "luxury" line items from these companies may completely abandon the higher priced lines for a similar, lower-priced offering deciding that the lower priced one is "close enough;" 2. Lowering prices on some luxury items (for example, La Mer cream) may cheapen the value of the brand.  It’s a thin and difficult line to walk for these brands.

Read the full article.