I often think about social responsibility and how brands can stand out these days. I firmly believe that instead of governments, the private sector should be the main driver of social change (a combination of doing good and doing well). Social media enables people to share their opinions and advocate. Brands are trying to figure out how to use social media in order to create meaningful conversations. These conversations will be created, shared and multiplied if they are rooted in causes that are relevant and dear to their fans/advocates (shall we no longer call them customers or consumers?). 

So I was very glad that at the recent WWD CEO Summit (May 2010) there was a panel discussion about digital marketing that brought up the concept of relevancy to our industry. Panelists included B. Bonin Bough, global director of digital and social media at PepsiCo; Jory des Jardins, president, strategic alliances, and co-founder of BlogHer Inc.; Kevin Kells, national industry director of consumer packaged goods at Google Inc., and Fred Mossler of Zappos.com. 

The highlight, in my opinion, was introducing the audience to PepsiCo’s Refresh project, which is giving away $20 million to sponsor community projects driven by individuals, not organizations. PepsiCo reallocated budget from its Superbowl opening ad position into this effort in order to build relevance in the eyes of the consumer while promoting the health of its brand.

Here are some interesting quotes from WWD article Digital Directive that covered the panel, June 06/11/10: "Bough (from PepsiCo) observed, “When people are having conversations about our brand online, are they mentioning these attributes — a brand that I can’t live without, a brand that I know supports my passions?”He continued, “What it was really about was, can the brand stand for something, can we remind people that a soda can make a difference and, even more, that your choice makes a difference? Kells of Google added, “Relevancy is tied to effectiveness. That’s where I think in the next decade, the conversation has to switch.” He added that the industry has been too hung up on efficiency. The best way to grow the top line, he asserted, “is to be more effective. The way to do that is to be more relevant at the right moment for the right outcome.”

Brands like MAC have connected and created relevance through many ways and specially with Viva Glam. Most of the other beauty companies support breast cancer. However our beauty fans/advocates are dealing with a wide variety of interests, needs and wants, that brands could tap into to connect and create relevance. Why don’t you ask them what they care about before your next campaign?

Credits: Photo by Harvey Bilt, WWD.com

The volume of Beauty tweets is overwhelming these days. Many people ask me: "What beauty blogs should I read?". Facecaker has organized a vast amount of content generated by beauty bloggers, magazines, manufacturers, networks, news, product reviews, salon/spas, marketing/consultants/pr and stores. Once you click on their specific pages you will find a list of latest tweets, a brief description, links to their site and twitter page, plus numbers of friends and followers. You can either quickly navigate all tweets, links and pictures or follow the lists. Follow them on Twitter @facecaker.

Manwomanfilm creates amazing looks (hair, make up and fashion) in a very theatrical and fun way. She highlights the product followed by a step by step application, without any narration, which makes the content appealing to global markets. In addition, when she uploads the video she post the list of products used in the creation of the look. In a recent video she added subtitles and steps. This is one of the most subscribed channels in Japan. Manwomanfilm is a great resource that brands should consider when developing content for their communities online. Can you imagine what she could do if a brand gave her complete freedom to create her own tutorial using their fashion/beauty products.

GCI is one of my industry references. Yesterday I had a chance to read the Branding for Digital Media article by Aniko Hill. I was really excited to see the topic being reviewed in more depth and Aniko provided some very good points and tips for successful digital marketing. However, after reading it a few times, I was very worried that this February feature may give the industry the wrong impression about social media & marketing. I’ve been in the beauty and digital industries for many years and I do my fair share of reading and writing but I was extremely surprised about some of the points raised in the article.

"Tropicana’s rebrand, spearheaded by ad giant Arnell Group (which also did Pepsi’s recent face-lift), had all the pieces in place for success. Most projects that come out of reputable agencies for large clients have comprehensive strategy, a long design process and thorough focus group testing before the product hits the shelf."

 

Tropicana example was used in a way that makes social media the culprit and Arnell the victim. Ad giants make mistakes and are perhaps one of the most alienated from the changes and benefits brought by social media. Furthermore, according to a post by Jym Edwards on bnet.com, this was the third flop by the uber agency, not to mention that the Pepsi redesign received its own fare share of criticism. Perhaps, their biggest mistake was relying so much on their expertise and traditional way of doing things and not using enough social media tools to test their new packaging concept. Many companies are embracing mass collaboration/crowd sourcing in their product development processes and package testing is one of the easiest applications of this concept (check Jovoto, a platform that allows people to submit, review, rate and vote on creative projects). 

 

"Unless you have a solid understanding of the art of branding, you can unwittingly damage your brand very quickly without even knowing it."

 

It is not so definite like that. According to Jeff Jarvis, an industry expert, we live in a constant state of beta and "there is no such a thing as perfection". Social media tools allows us to try new things and update them as we learn and improve. In my opinion, as long as there is transparency and honestly, online audiences are much more forgiving than the boardroom.

 

"Digital marketing is still a very new discipline, and navigating this world can be overwhelming for brand owners."

 

Digital marketing is not at all new. I built the first Hispanic minisites for Redken, L’Oreal Paris, Maybelline and Lancome back in 1999. The problem is that most digital departments have spent the last few years managing complex website platforms and failed to keep up with the arrival of Web 2.0. Yes, navigating the new social media world can be overwhelming, but companies need to realize by now that things have changed and the social web is here to stay. For example, a handful of the most valuable brands today were built without the uber agencies and are pure online players: Amazon, Google, and Zappos to name a few. So how is this so new? 

Our industry relies a lot on traditional agency approaches to communication. When the popular Super Bowl ads (Doritos and Google), are not produced by any large agency, but by new processes like crowdsourcing it is clear that the traditional agencies need to review their approaches in a rapidly changing communication environment. Holding traditional branding in such high regard may leave the industry with the same challenges faced by large agencies.

 

If all larger cosmetics brands fail to step in, experiment and learn the new rules of the game, there are lots of smaller and mid-size brands who will do. Check a few examples of successful social media strategies on low budgets: askelf.com, purplelabnyc.com, orglamix.com. At this point, fear of the new environment and lack of speed is our biggest obstacle.

Meet ups, Tweet ups – huh? Events now come in many different shapes and names and have become a popular format for connecting bloggers that interact on a regular basis through social media tools.

"The Bi-Annual NYFW Media Mixer is the premiere event for bloggers and online media to connect and network to connect with the best brands in the industry". Press Release.

Established beauty expert and blogger Lianne Farbes of The Make Up Girl and Paul Barandam, executive publisher/editor of online magazine Beyond Beauty Basics created the BiAnnual NYFW Media Mixer, and hosted their second event on Saturday Feb 13th at ION’s Studio in Soho. The event was a huge success with a guest list that closed by the end of January. They were also able to secure an extensive list of sponsors with the main spot secured by Secret for Women. Other sponsors included Tarte Cosmetics, Ted Gibson Beauty (he was hanging out with bloggers & taking pictures), Lierac Skincare, Phyto Haircare, Suave Beauty, La Roche-Posay , PH8 , Vichy Skincare, Stila Cosmetics, Zeno, Gillette Venus, Zoya Nail Polish & Treatments (plus Prosecco and Moscato provided the drinks). ION Studio, a boutique, environmentally friendly hair salon / art gallery hosted over 200 people without a problem. There was a very interesting vibe in the room, a mix of college reunion and speed dating. Many were hugging and dancing while others were mingling and putting faces to Twitter/Blog names. I had a great time, made new friends and even got a ride home with @coutorture (who I met through @kraseybeauty and @thebeautychick3). The four of us had a great chat about their experiences blogging, adnetworks, Fashion Week leaving Bryant Park, etc. Not to mention that we were sent home with a pretty heavy goodie bag including very generous full size products from the sponsors. 

Several brands were represented by their communications, online teams and/or their PR agencies and even founders (Ted Gibson and Karen Robinovitz, Purple Labs). However, I still went home wondering why there weren’t more marketers there. Bloggers are great media outlets, but more importantly, they are the source of priceless insights and product feedback. They are the uber educated consumer. A  brand manager and product developer’s dream! PR/Communications teams need to make this connection. ASAP! It will be the best win win situation.

As part of our Beauty Series of Interviews, launched during Social Media Week NY (February 2010), we interviewed Ron Robinson, industry veteran and founder of BeautyStat – a highly targeted expert driven community that connects women around beauty. He shared with us his inspiration to start his community, how he came up with his tagline "Beauty of Facts not Fiction", how brands can listen to consumer conversations and involve them on their product development process. He also touched on trends for the future, the power of social media, the role of the beauty blogging community and BeautyStat VIP Blogger program and much more. Check out the video on YouTube: Part 1 and Part 2. Enjoy!

thenhuch.com hosted an interview with Ted Rubin, CMO of e.l.f Cosmetics as part of Social Media Week in NYC. In an intimate event, that took place at the new e.l.f showroom and headquarters, Ted spoke to us about social media, social commerce, relationship with bloggers, askelf, tips about tweeting and managing different social media tools, the importance of public relations and much more. He also invited Achelle Dunaway, the creative force behind the brand, to share her insights and experiences with us. Check out the video and let us know what you think!

 Watch The Beauty of Social Commerce with Ted Rubin CMO of elf Cosmetics.

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Mark, is on its way to change forever direct selling for the next generation. According to WWD, this was Andrea Jung’s request to Claudia Puccia, when she was appointed as Mark’s Global president in 2005. First was the iPhone app launched in August  to help sellers replace their old catalogs. Now Facebook users can shop directly from the Mark Girl fan page. A shop tab was inserted with an ecommerce widget allowing users to navigate, shop and select a representative without leaving Facebook. This is definitely a very forward thinking move, and perhaps one of the first major brands to do so on the popular social media platform. The shopping page has a great design and straightforward check out, even though it wasn’t integrated to Facebook in anyway to leverage the fans information. If someone has a previous meetmark.com account they can use it, otherwise they need to create a new account (without leveraging Facebook user info) and enter their details. Future integrations should consider tools like Facebook Connect to ensure a seamless experience for fans. As fans become savvier they expect those types of integrations from brands in order to expedite their experience inside Facebook. The current Mark model seems focused on helping the reps increasing their sales, but not leveraging the full benefits of being inside Facebook by allowing fans to share their purchases with their friends through full integration with Facebook. So the question is: What would it take for meetmark.com and Facebook fans to be combined in one database? Is it possible? Why wasn’t it done? The beauty of the web is that everything can be continuously improved and I am sure Mark and Alvenda are looking into these questions for future launches.

“Seven to 10 million iPhone or iTouch users have already downloaded a beauty-related app or indicated they are very interested in doing so. And we’re just starting to see big brands get involved, which will be huge,” said Sunil Verma, a founder of Mobclix, a mobile ad exchange network. Download the Face of your Dreams, New York Times, 11/25/09 (article found via Cosmetics Makeovers. Post ranked higher on Google than the NYT article itself)

Brands are all over apps. According to the article they are becoming more utilitarian and part of everyone’s lives. They resonate best with teenagers (14 – 17) but plenty of growth is expected among older woman. Are they really going to become every women’s best friend? Are we going to be innundated with millions of beauty apps like we are with products? Are they the new "micro site"/promo sites for brands? Is this the next must have after a website, Facebook fan page and a Twitter account? I am afraid  yes, yes, yes. Apps are the mobile way of consuming content instead of web browsing. At first I thought it was a fad, but now it is definitely here to stay. The challenge is to create dynamic apps that don’t require too much maintenance like web 1.0 sites used to.

Here is a list of Aps listed in the article: Make up, Sally’s Spa, Return to Beauty, iSurgeon.

Brands with apps: Lancome, L’Oreal Paris, Avon, Mark.

Images: Used in header from NYT article by Tony Cenicola/The New York Times. Mark Get the Look from  DeCare Systems Ireland website.

After Facebook, iPhone apps seem to be getting traction in the beauty industry. This past October, Lancome launched an app to promote its Declaring Indigo Fall 09 Color collection by make up artist Aaron De Mey (one of the most talented make-up artists of his generation according to the app intro and brandall77 a Total Beauty community member). The app received only 2 starts out of 336 ratings. Users mentioned that it crashed often. I downloaded the app and didn’t experience any technical difficulties. However, I found it a bit limiting when it came to creating looks. It only allowed me to use one color at the time for eye shadow, lipstick and nail polish. Overall it is a nice looking app but extremely basic and it doesn’t have enough content to bring users back on a regular basis (news section is buried). Apps are a great opportunity to keep customers engaged. Brands should make sure to take advantage of the captive audience that already downloaded it and avoid treating it as a seasonal ad. On another note, I wonder how many people shared their looks. Mine is below.

Additional reviews:

Mail Movement

Hahayue

Total Beauty

Mobi Ad News