L’Oreal Paris Men Expert - White Activ...From Zero To Hero

What were our campaign objectives? 

Our long term objective was to become market leader over 5 years by 2012.

What was our big idea? 

"REAL MEN LOOK GOOD WHEN THEY HAVE BRIGHTER AND CLEARER SKIN TONE"

How did we arrive at the big idea? 

With cleansers and moisturizers being the drivers for the men’s segment, we looked outside Malaysia at other markets for our innovation. Thailand provided fodder with their successful launch of the White Activ range; products that come with a skin whitening effect upon usage.

But men in Malaysia didn’t see whitening as a desirable benefit. They felt it was meant more for women and perceived it as feminine. While that might have prevented some from probing deeper, we were not easily perturbed. Further deep diving into Malaysian men revealed that while fairer skin wasn’t what they were looking for, brighter and clearer skin tone was a benefit they actively sought. Same product but different benefit. 

It was however also clear that this benefit had to be communicated with care. Masculine cues were necessary for the benefit to sit well with Malaysian men.

How did we bring the idea to life? 

Aaron Aziz was carefully chosen as the brand ambassador for our White Activ range of products because of his down-to-earth personality and masculine demeanor. He was the perfect candidate to make brighter, clearer skin a masculine enough benefit for men to react to.

Our idea also included raising the ante on masculinity by including promotions where the prizes were superbikes. This campaign also included strategic POS as well as outdoor advertising.

How do we know it worked? 

After the launch of our campaign, the White Activ range of products achieved a sellout performance across key markets in Watsons, Guardian, Carrefour, Tesco, and Jusco. Sales went up by an average of 67%.

                                         Campaign launch

                            Sales figure for White Activ (Volume) from Jan – May 2009

                                                                                                 (Source: Internal figures)

More importantly, the White Activ range became the best selling product for L’Oreal Paris Men Expert, with a contribution of 67% to the Men Expert business. 7 months after our launch, Men Expert overtook Biore men as the market leader with a 27.4% market share (Source: from Nielsen Market Data Report YTD 2009)

Anything else going on that might have helped  drive results? 

We ensured continuity in media presence for the first 4 months of the campaign launch, and a sustenance media strategy that carried through to the end of the year.