Maybelline’s Simply Fabulous, a campaign to search for the Malaysian girl with the qualities of New York Chic was a success to link Maybelline’s brand idea with local relevance. At a time where consumers were opting for a home-grown brand, the campaign reversed that notion. The one of its kind show also generated enough hype where sales figures were boosted by end of the campaign. New York Chic found its appeal again, in the hearts of young Malaysian female consumers.
What was our strategic communications challenge?
Throughout the years, Maybelline has successfully used imageries of New York and international celebrities to create aspiration for its late teens/early 20s target audience. But as Asian women began to gain self-confidence and self-worth this winning formula began losing its glitter. Recent years have seen the rise of home grown brands and fringe players gain prominence. For years Maybelline has been enjoying a clear No. 1 position in the market. That is until 2005 with the entry of Silky Girl; a home grown Malaysian brand with perceived parity products but a lower price tag. Since its launch Silky Girl has become a close competitor to Maybelline. Some industry data even suggests that Silky Girl may have overtaken Maybelline as the number 1 brand in terms of volume in the category.
What were our campaign objectives?
With the lack of new news in the 2nd half of 2009 and with Silky Girl on Maybelline’s neck, the client wanted us to create a campaign that connected with young Malaysian women and fended off Silky Girl.
- Create hype in the market- Generate 500% equivalent of ROI in PR value
- Strengthen brand preference which will be measured on sales figure against 2008 data.
We had to connect with Malaysian women far stronger than we had been in the past.
What was our big idea?
New York may be far, but New York chic is you.
How did we arrive at the big idea?
The first twist in this tale involved defining chic for Malaysian women. While they obtained their fashion sense over the internet like a lot of women around the world, Malaysian women also had started clinging to their personalities and cultural nuances as opposed to adopting fashion lock, stock and barrel. So it wasn’t uncommon for young Muslim women, clad in tudung (head-gear covering a Muslim female’s hair) to mix up their more traditional attire with a pair of trendy jeans in social environments.
We also discovered that while Maybelline’s imagery had a universal appeal, it lacked the local relevance of Silky Girl. We needed to make New York Chic relevant and achievable; a style that complemented the young Malaysian girl.
How did we bring the idea to life?
The second twist came from an observation that shows like American Idol, America’s Next Top Model and Akademi Fantasia were extremely popular among young female consumers. Many of them download these from the internet or watch it on YouTube instead of on the traditional TV.
The idea of creating a reality show, broadcasted on both the internet and TV, in search of the Malaysian girl with the flair of New York chic was born. This was a first for Maybelline who had stayed within the confines of the traditional television and PR.
The show was called Simply Fabulous.
We collaborated with 8TV, a TV station targeted at the urban young to produce the reality TV show. The show consisted of 25 webisodes on 8TV’s website, which were made up of the audition, short-listing and the contestant’s experience of going through challenges set for them as well as how they learned to become a girl of confidence and urban chic.
The finale event was held at a popular dance club Ministry of Sound with the appearance of many local celebrities. It was recorded and produced into a half an hour prime time TV slot that was broadcasted on 8TV.
While the above formed the core of the campaign, it was supported through various initiatives to maximize impact; PR drive on traditional media, consumers’ participation in community sites e.g. Facebook, consumer voting on 8TV website, invitation to bloggers and on ground road shows.
How do we know it worked?
Simply Fabulous did fabulously for Maybelline!
By the end of the campaign, we over achieved the client’s objective and helped move the business forward
• Hype was created!
PR Value Equivalent of RM 3,102,924.8
(That’s 1706.78% ROI, much higher than the intended 500% ROI in)
• Brand Preference rose as reflected by steep growth compared to same period in the previous year, in the absence of any price or prize related promotion.
Value sales growth, Month on month, 2009 vs. 2008:-
June +2.1%
July -4.3%
Aug -11.1% (during teaser campaign)
September +6% (during campaign execution)
Oct +14.4% (during campaign finale)
Nov +13.7% (1st month post campaign)
Dec +27.2% (2nd month post campaign)
• Total Website Hits 345083
( 262 474 views for I Wanna Be A Model 3)
(345 000 views for America’s Next Top Model)
(136, 352 views for 8 Style, fashion-style focus show)
(Source: All the above are client provided data)
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