Marketing
by Student’s Name
Class/Course/Code
Professor’s Name
University/School
City, State
Date
Marketing and Communication
Lancôme Paris, also known as Lancôme, is a cosmetic brand established by Armand Petitjean in 1935. As a French luxury cosmetic house, Lancôme operates in the luxury products industry, which provides makeup, skincare, and fragrances at a higher price. The Lancôme brand has been operating under L’Oreal since 1964 (Wang & Chen, 2018). Armand Petitjean focused on spreading the luxury French aroma across the globe. The brand provides women with the opportunity to explore their beauty. The journey of Lancôme begun in Paris in the year 1935 when Armand Petitjean produced five perfumes. The five perfumes were an instant hit, and the founder soon moved to the skincare business. Armand Petitjean then focused on producing lipsticks, which remained a bestseller for about 25 years (Toppano & Toppano, 2014). The founder was searching for a suitable name for his business, which should have a French sound. He ended up with a unique name, which eventually became the brand name.
In 1964, L’Oreal acquired Lancôme, and since the acquisition, Lancôme has been part of L’Oreal’s luxury cosmetic brand. At the time of the acquisition, Lancôme had been selling in more than 98 nations with 33 agents (Wang & Chen, 2018). Lancôme has been regularly providing wide-scale innovations in its product line. The brand has launched new types of perfumed every year with a similar degree of success. Today, Lancôme is the leading brand in the French perfume group and operates in 163 nations. L’Oreal’s business strategies and marketing inputs have worked to guarantee that Lancôme stays loyal to its spirits (Toppano & Toppano, 2014). The producer’s dream of beauty products has been directed to a world of reality. Lancôme has enjoyed incredible success in the perfume industry. It is a leading brand with a top customer base (Wang & Chen, 2018). The organization has established an exceptional mix and match marketing strategy with the aim of attracting many customers. The brand recently introduced Lancôme Idôle, and the brand developed a new campaign to attract customers for the new product.
The SOSTAC of the famous campaign of Lancôme Idôle
Situation analysis
Lancôme Idôle was released in 2019, and it is a contemporary floral scent that mixes citrus and musky notes with Lancôme’s signature rose. It was created by three women: Nadege le Garlantezec, Shyamala Maisondieu, and Adriana Medina (Wang & Chen, 2018). The perfume is offered in three 3 bottle sizes, which are all refillable at specific Lancôme counters. The perfume bottle is attractive and minimal, very slim, but considerably weighted. The press release stated that Idôle is the slimmest perfume bottle in the world. The fragrance has the ability for confidence. However, Idôle takes it to the next level. For this launch, Lancôme focused on creating an aroma that turns women into inspirational leaders. Idôle has many other inspirations, too (Lancôme, 2020). Travel is among the major ideas behind the perfumes’ ultra-thin bottle, which takes signals from smartphones, while the perfume ingredients in its composition are sustainably sourced. The scent is decisively aimed at the millennial market, and it was motivated by the young generation of women, and it signifies the strength of this group of women (Lancôme, 2020). The brand re-imagines its innovative great fragrance in the wake of this modern femininity. The brand estimated that the new Lancôme Idôle would reach $300 million within the first year, citing industry sources with the fragrance widely predictable to become one of the Lancôme’s pillars.
Objectives
The objectives of the Lancôme Idôle campaign were to be the number one provider of beauty products to consumers and offer consumers access to beauty products through cross-platform promotion (Lancôme, 2020). The campaign also aimed at bringing Lancôme Idôle to life in-store and establish a profile of Lancôme Idôle key professionals and develop a partnership with the main media partner.
Strategy
The brand targets high-end users because this customer group can afford to purchase the firm’s luxury products, such as the Lancôme Idôle. The target market is comprised of professional women at the age of about 30 years. This category of women is always more concerned with the signs of gaining and their fragrance (Lancôme, 2020). They trust Lancôme because they believe that the brand can offer them the quality products they require for different uses. These professional women earn more money, and they reside in urban areas. They are major buyers of fashionable clothes and premium brand stores in upscale department shops. The brand has been involved in numerous advertising activities to promote its products, such as Lancôme Idôle. Even though the brand’s founder Armand Petitjean believed that Lancôme should never advertise. Today, the brand is one of the major advertisers in the luxury beauty sector. Lancôme’s ads can be seen in countless publications worldwide, from French Vogue to Harper’s Bazaar (Wang & Chen, 2018). Lancôme’s ads are always being shot by leading photographers such as Mario Testino, Brigitte Lacombe, Mario Sorrenti, Patrick Demarchelier, Peter Lindbergh, and Dusan Reljin. Additionally, the brand formed a partnership with the software developer Perfect Corp to establish an innovative mobile application experience to enable customers to try on makeup and make direct purchases through the mobile app.
In 2014, established a marketing campaign that included a loyalty program known as ‘Lancôme Elite Rewards’ through many different social media platforms. The program offers points as rewards to members sharing on social media. This program enables members to earn points by sharing the brand’s products such as Lancôme Idôle or connecting with the brand on social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. The members can get a discount by earning many points (Lancôme, 2020). The combination of giving rewards and social media platforms in this program aims at attracting more engagement, and the word of mouth publicity that has resulted from the campaign has increased the effectiveness of digital marketing in the brand. The brand has also focused on Magazine and LCD advertising and marketing as other media channels to promote the product. The brand’s goal is to take advantage of well-known, pricey magazines about beauty whose readers are majorly women (Wang & Chen, 2018). The firms majorly advertise through well-known magazines such as Her World, Elle, and History Fashion.
Tactics
The firm’s marketing strategy involves numerous tactics, such as the use of social media platforms. Lancôme major focuses on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. The firm’s target audience has more than one social media accounts (Wang & Chen, 2018). Therefore, the use of Facebook and Instagram ensures that the brand can easily reach its customer base. The marketing campaign also involves sales promotion tactics, such as displays and demonstrations (Díaz-Bustamante & Carcelén, 2016). The brand sent its retail stores huge color advertising campaigns to display in the selected stores and small brochures detailing the products and their features. The display focuses on Lancôme Idôle as the most progressive and luxury product of Lancôme (Lancôme, 2020). The brand also aims at attracting customers by ensuring that customers can have the opportunity to try before they buy the product. The sample tactic helps develop a loyal customer base because the consumers will only purchase the product if they genuinely liked it. The brand will also focus on personal selling to promote the product (Díaz-Bustamante & Carcelén, 2016).
The brand will offer salespeople in-depth information about the product, such as its superior features and the advantages of using the product (Wang & Chen, 2018). Since introducing the product into the market, the product has gained a substantial number of loyal customers who have a strong opinion on the merchandise (Fancaria, 2016). Lancôme salespeople are highly trained in building and maintaining close relationships with the customers. These sales consultants are responsible for regularly contacting the potential consumers and informing them about the availability of a new product in the market and its advantages. In this case, the sales consultants are responsible for contacting potential customers and informing them about the Lancôme Idôle. The salespeople are also required to inform the customers about the superior features of the product.
The sales consultant’s interpersonal communication skills ensure that they deliver definite, brief, and consistent information to the potential customers about the product. They tell the customers why they should purchase the product based on the salesperson’s understanding of information (Lancôme, 2020). The process is followed by counter salespeople responsible for collecting customer information and following up with customers so that customers can give their reviews on the products. They are also requested to share the product’s information with their close friends to convince them to purchase the product.
Action
The brand is represented by global supermodels, actresses, perfumes, and makeup artists. Many emerging fashion designers have always partnered with a brand to promote the brand. For Lancôme Idôle, the brand welcomed the American singer, actress, and fashion authority Zendaya Coleman as the brand’s new face. Zendaya Coleman joined the Lancôme stellar group of ambassadors of Kate Winslet, Julia Roberts, Penelope Cruz, Lupita Nyong’o, and Taylor Hill. Zendaya is the role model for her generation, and she uses her voice to promote education and positivity. Therefore, her involvement with the brand will ensure that Lancôme Idôle reaches a wider demographic. Zendaya will also be leading the scent’s marketing campaign. After being named the brand’s new global ambassador, the singer is now turning up the visuals for Lancôme Idôle. In the new commercial, Zendaya takes center stage while showing off her equestrian skills throughout Los Angeles. She serves a significant beauty goal with glowing skins and wavy tresses designed by Kim Kimble and Sheika Daley. Throughout the commercial, the actress makes her way to the top of a mountain with a bottle of her sider’s perfume for a melodramatic effect.
Control
Using an influencer marketing strategy is crucial for a beauty brand to achieve its goals. However, partnering with the right influencer is more important. Lancôme has experienced a huge pay off for their influencer marketing tactics, with more than 69 percent of their general MIV coming from the influencer voice (Wang & Chen, 2018). This is mainly because Lancôme has focused on partnering with voices that especially resonate with their values and campaigns. The brand has a long partnership with influencers such as Lupita Nyong’o, Chiara Ferragni, and Zendaya. All these women exemplify the brand’s #BeUnstoppable campaign (Fancaria, 2016). These voices also particularly resonate with the younger audience with actresses such as Dove Cameron and Zendaya. Many top-performing celebrities and influencers for Lancôme are relatable to both Gen Zers and Millennials. The firm does not stray too far from Lancôme’s initial branding to ensure that it does not send away loyal customers.
The perfume was received in the market for numerous reasons, such as selecting an appropriate influencer. Zendaya has always been fighting for women’s rights, non-gender stereotyping, and media bullying (Díaz-Bustamante & Carcelén, 2016). Therefore, her involvement with the brand encourages customers to purchase the product because both Zendaya and the perfume focus on women empowerment. The scent is also a part of L’Oréal’s socially productive purchasing initiative ‘Solidarity Sourcing,’ which focuses on social inclusion and upholds sustainable, Fairtrade and eco-friendly supply chains (Toppano & Toppano, 2014). For example, the role petals were harvested by a family-based organization with Fairtrade working conditions that enabled women workers to recognize their contribution. The perfumed has also been received well in the market because the bottle is refillable. Many Lancôme received the delivery of refill stations before the product’s launch. The refill stations allow customers to take their empty bottles to be refilled at a discounted price.
Reference List
Díaz-Bustamante, M., and Carcelén, S., 2016. Consumer Behavior Regarding Luxury Perfumes: Key Elements for Marketing Strategy Design. In Global Marketing Strategies for the Promotion of Luxury Goods (pp. 46-70). IGI Global.
Fancaria, A.C.D.A., 2016. How to conquer the 6th continent: Lâncome Brand in the travel retail (Doctoral dissertation).
Lancôme (2020). Idôle Eau de Parfum. https://www.lancome-usa.com/fragrance/idole-eau- de-parfum/LAN387.html.
Toppano, E., and Toppano, A., 2014. The role of sound in brand communication. In Proc. of the Int. Conference on e-Commerce, Lisbon, P. Computer Science, and Information Systems Series, IADIS Press (pp. 167-174).
Wang, J., and Chen, X., 2018, July. An Analysis on Pragmatic Presupposition in Cosmetic Advertising Language of Lancome. In 3rd International Conference on Contemporary Education, Social Sciences, and Humanities (ICCESSH 2018). Atlantis Press.