BEAUTY SQUAD| L’Oréal

With the majority of the world’s leading brands investing more heavily in influencer marketing, the risk of these celebrities losing their authenticity and in turn their ‘influence’ is growing.

Taking this into account, L’Oréal veered in a different direction to its competitors. Having uncovered that sponsored blog posts were producing more of a return than most other mediums and channels, the L’Oréal team turned to micro-influencers, signing up five British beauty bloggers to create content on an ongoing basis as it looks to “craft a different type of relationship” with influencers.

The Beauty Squad campaign is steeped in consumer perceptions insights that prove the appreciation their consumers have for more authentic brand experiences.

“Consumers will walk away from influencers that have been bought by brands, where there is no story behind it or are doing just one-offs”, L’Oréal’s UK General Manager Adrien Koskas told Marketing Week. “It depends on us being the biggest beauty brand in the UK to craft a different kind of relationship.”

“When it comes to influencers, we want to shift the industry towards something that is more genuine.”

WHY BEAUTY INFLUENCERS ARE L’ORÉAL’S SECRET WEAPON

World leading beauty company, L’Oréal, have devoted themselves to beauty for over 100 years. They are present across all distribution networks and have the digital marketing to match. The beauty brand are not only innovative in their cosmetics line, but also in their marketing strategies. In recent years, they have used technology to their advantage. The company soon formed bonds with beauty influencers and took on a team of long-term ambassadors.

This influencer marketing strategy is L’Oréal’s secret weapon…

WHAT IS THE ‘BEAUTY SQUAD’?

The ‘Beauty Squad‘ is L’Oréal’s team of beauty influencers (vloggers and bloggers) that undertake the role of long-term ambassador for the brand. In September 2016, it was announced that the squad consisted of: Emily Canham, Kaushal, Patricia Bright, Ruth Crilly and Victoria Magrath. After positive reception, Lydia Millen, Ling KT and Amena were added to the ‘Beauty Squad’ in July 2017.

The squad have an impressive combined viewership of 6.35 million on YouTube and over 5 million followers on Instagram.

General Manager of L’Oréal Paris UK, Adrien Koskas, commented on their new marketing technique and why they chose the influencers they did:

“We strive to connect and engage with our consumers via all touchpoints. We’ve chosen to work with key influencers who are true advocates for our brand and who will speak with sincerity to their audience.”

WHY DO L’ORÉAL USE BEAUTY INFLUENCERS?

According to Influencer Marketing Hub, an influencer is: an individual who has a following in a particular niche, which they actively engage with. The beauty squad of L’Oréal are all well-known for their niche – beauty. Each of the members specialise in one or more of the three categories L’Oréal represent: hair, skin care or make-up.

A significant interview took place with Koskas (GM) for Digiday UK where he revealed why they use beauty influencers. He disclaimed that L’Oréal have always been known for their campaigns featuring celebrities and expert spokespeople. However, “influencers have a different value because they are the voice of consumers“. He continues:

“Through them, we can reach communities we couldn’t reach before, and make the face of L’Oréal Paris more inclusive.”

Further to this, he added that they receive live feedback from the influencers. Part of the ambassador relationship involves the beauty squad visiting the labs where L’Oréal create and test their products. The squad have their say in the creation of the products which is beneficial for the brand.

The purpose of working with influencers is to better inform potential consumers about the brand, its products and its values. It also encourages higher levels of engagement.

WHAT DOES INFLUENCER MARKETING LOOK LIKE IN ACTION?

Across all social media platforms, the beauty squad boast their partnership with the No. 1 beauty brand. In action, influencer marketing in the beauty industry looks like this:

HOW HAS DIGITAL MEDIA AFFECTED L’ORÉAL’S MARKETING?

Since reportedly doubling their investment in digital channels to 30%, L’Oréal has seen a meaningful impact on sales.

The beauty brand jumped on the bandwagon of social media marketing almost immediately after its release and have been big on the platforms. They “need to own the conversation and drive interest in the market” according to Williamson.

When TV and print ads were no longer enough to draw attention to new product launches, the beauty brand turned to digital media.

Always one to lead the trends, L’Oréal invested a lot in working long-term with the beauty influencers. Instagram and YouTube have been the most popular platforms driving sales and engagement.

HOW HAS THIS MARKETING TECHNIQUE CHANGED THE BEAUTY INDUSTRY?

It’s no doubt that influencer marketing has a bad rep. People will see influencers posting one off sponsored posts for brands and feel negatively towards it. It’s all do with how ‘forced‘ an ad looks. With L’Oréal, it’s different. The brand focuses its attention instead on forming long-term human relationships with their influencers.

As a result, sponsored content deriving from the brand gains positive responses. The beauty influencers only post about a product if they genuinely love it and want their audience to know about it.

Despite some controversial comments, all posts are genuine and honest and the influencers still have their independence. They are not tied to L’Oréal in a way that they can’t use or sponsor other brands. That is what makes this marketing technique to real and trustworthy.

This marketing strategy has been revolutionary, with many brands following suit. I would therefore say that it has changed the beauty industry in a very positive way.

Little Veggie Shop| Pret A Manger

This innovative Pret campaign that launched in April 2016 is notable not only for its originality, but for its refreshingly creative and low-budget approach to marketing.

Using the power of consumer insights to fuel their thinking, the inventive in-house creative team conducted research that revealed a shift in consumer attitudes towards healthier foods, having seen a double digit sales increase for healthy vegetarian options in 2015.

Basing its marketing around this insight, the team launched its first standalone vegetarian pop-up shop to give their clientele exactly what they were looking for.

Relying almost exclusively on in-store advertising and social media to expand their reach, the campaign proved the power that lies in listening and responding to your audience.

Pret’s sales of vegetarian food achieved a 13.9 per cent increase in sales to reach £676.2m last year, with the campaign leading to the rollout of more permanent sites. Group Marketing Director, Mark Palmer says:.

“If customers are good enough to give you their time, you need to listen.”

“Marketers find it hard to listen, they usually have their minds already made up. That is a mistake because if customers want to be part of your brand, you need to take them seriously.”

Pret A Manger's vegetarian products boost sales

• 19 April 2016

Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES

Coffee and food chain Pret A Manger says demand for its vegetarian products helped to lift sales last year.

Total group sales rose 13.9% to £676m in 2015, with like-for-like sales - which strip out the impact of new stores - up 7.5%.

Underlying earnings at the chain rose 14.4% to £84.2m.

Pret said it was continuing to adapt its menu to meet the demand for healthy options and it is planning to open a vegetarian "pop up" shop this summer.

In the UK, sales of vegetarian products showed double digit growth last year. Avocado was the ingredient that saw the biggest rise in demand.

Clive Schlee, chief executive of Pret A Manger, told the BBC: "Demand for vegetarian foods is growing faster than for meat, but meat remains an important part of the diet.

"We are encouraging vegetarianism because we want to give meat eaters more options. I think vegetarian foods could look better and be better."

Image captionPret's customers ate five million avocados in 2015

The chain said coffee remained an important area of growth, with customers buying 1.5 million cups a week from its global network of shops.

It said it had seen an increase in demand for breakfast-on-the-go, with 58% of sales occurring outside lunchtime.

International appeal

The US was Pret's fastest growing market last year, achieving a 13.8% increase in like-for-like sales.

Pret opened 36 new shops last year - 23 were in the UK, six in the US, four in France and three in Hong Kong.

These included locations at major transport hubs such as Penn Station in New York, Nice Airport and Gare de Lyon station in Paris.

The company said it created 763 jobs worldwide, with 500 of them in the UK.

Clive Schlee said the chancellor's National Living Wage had meant a 5% increase in the company's wage bill, but he said they were committed to paying above their competitor's rates to keep their staff fully engaged in the business.

For once, Don’t Do It | Nike

The latest Nike advertisement is a play on the company's slogan, "Just Do It," while also addressing racism.

The ad, titled, "For once, Don't Do It," contains several powerful messages throughout the one-minute spot:

• Don't pretend there's not a problem in America
• Don't turn your back on racism.
• Don't accept innocent lives being taken in front of us.
• Don't make any more excuses.
• Don't think this doesn't affect you.
• Don't sit back and be silent.
• Don't think you can't be part of the change.
• Let's all be part of the change.

The ad, created by Wieden + Kennedy Portland, is a series of simple yet powerful statements set on a black background: 

“Nike has a long history of standing against bigotry, hatred and inequality in all forms,” said a Nike spokesperson. “We hope that by sharing this film we can serve as a catalyst to inspire action against a deep issue in our society and encourage people to help shape a better future.”

The spot illustrated Nike’s commitment to social issues and highlighted one of the brand’s most visible athletes in that space.

Filibuster| Three and a half hours TV spot -- and it was all filmed in a single take

App Marketing | Return Journey

A return journey is an approach for responsive communication with lost and inactive customers that encourages them to return and make more purchases, and if succeeded they will refer others.

Objective

The overall goal is to:

1. Claim them back,
2. Increase their order count,
3.  Recruit them as ambassadors.

Solution

Indulge & delight. Fresh, Engaging, and delightful brand. Customer Happiness.

Tactics

On Demand applications that 1- Take a Genuine Interest in customer Interests 2- pre-Solve Customer Problems 3- have Positive Customers, go above and beyond what is normally expected. The group that elevated will be biggest marketing asset in the long-run.

Many tactics can be used and I recommend a mixture of:

Nonpaid

• Direct Marketing
• Exit Offers
• Containment Social Media
• Loyalty/ Affinity Programs
• Personal Calls

Paid

• Remarketing/ Retargeting

Acquiring customers is the easy part, Retaining them is the real deal:

Seek Recognition

Encourage feedback voice from customers and implement their aspirations into your business and then you follow up and show them that their voice is heard.

Offer Exclusivity

Your 30, 60, 90 days customers are more valuable than the first 1 or 7 days customers. They deserve superior handling.

As long as customers know you care about them, they won’t worry about little imperfections.

Industry: Food & Beverage, QSR, Online food order application

Brand: Local, 9 months since launch.

County: Saudi Arabia

Date: September 2016 

ALS Association| Ice Bucket Challenge

The Ice Bucket Challenge is now considered one of the legendary social media campaigns of all time after using a simple (but unpleasant and hilarious) challenge to raise over $115 million dollars for a disease that most people had never even heard of.

What helped propel the virality was the fact that people were publicly challenging their friends and family on social media, which made them more likely to get involved than someone asking for a retweet. 

http://www.alsa.org

Oreo|

Oreo found a great way to engage their fans by posting DIY content on Vine. Fast tips like these do very well on the platform and it gave Oreo a unique opportunity to engage with their fans and see how they engage with their product. 

Kohls | #PeterSomForKohls

A lot of brands are undecided on how to leverage Google+, because it doesn't fit neatly into one category of social media. However, Kohls has found a way to leverage the popularity of influencers to promote their Peter Som line of clothing on Google+ -- while still keeping it fun for the fans.

CapitalOne | Personable Brand Voice

Banks and other financial institutions generally don't do a great job of connecting with people through social media. (Amex is the notable exception.) However, CaptialOne does a great job of consistently posting snappy and relatable content on their LinkedIn page. This is a reminder that "serious" businesses can get away with keeping it casual on social media.

Urban Decay | Get Electric. Festival Style.

Urban Decay built a social campaign on Pinterest where users could submit their best recreations of makeup styles that they've seen at their favorite music festivals. Throughout the campaign Urban Decay gave away free festival tickets to Pinterest users that created the best boards featuring festival looks. 

Essence | Justin Bieber Believe Tour Sponsorship

The European beauty brand Essence made the most of their sponsorship of Justin Bieber's Believe Tour by creating social media events around each show.

They gave away free products at shows and offered various sweepstakes that highlighted user-generated content as contest entries for free tickets and other prizes.

Not only did they generate a lot of interest in their own brand, but they helped build buzz around each of the shows on the tour. The campaign resulted in 263 million brand impressions, 82,615 brand expressions, and 35 percent of on-site activation through social.

TD Ameritrade | #itaddsup

With this campaign, TD Ameritrade was able to capitalize on the 2014 Winter Olympics hype by comparing the accumulation of small investments over time to the practice and preparation that athletes go through to compete.

An entire staff created for the campaign stayed in Sochi to document the athletes' journeys with photos, videos, and other content. The campaign resulted in 78,000+ uses of the campaign hashtag #itaddsup, a 12% increase in overall social audience, and 97 million brand impressions.

GE | #6SecondScienceFair

GE launched a campaign hosting a #6SecondScienceFair on Vine and Tumblr where they re-vined posts from people using this tag to encourage interest in science, increase engagement, and build GE's reputation as an innovator. 

The particular Vine below highlights what happens when you combine milk, food coloring, and dish soap. It has been liked 130,000 times and re-vined 105,000 times.

Maslow 3.0.

Social platform

Businesses today are starting to understand the value of social media for marketing and are turning their attention to integrating these various platforms into their strategy. Marketing plans that continue to solely focus on traditional methods and do not include social strategies are archaic and ineffective in today's social world. However, with multiple social platforms to choose from, it can be difficult to understand how to manage each account.
When managing multiple social media accounts, it's important to understand that not all platforms were created equal. Each platform (though there are some similarities) functions independently with its own unique qualities. As a result, social media managers must treat each platform as such. Let's take a closer look at the best ways to integrate the most popular social networks that businesses use today.

Facebook

With more than 1 billion active users, it's a no-brainer that businesses should have a Facebook presence, but keep in mind that Facebook is about more than just the number of "likes" a company has. Facebook is a great way to build brand persona and awareness through updates, contests, and sharing videos or pictures. It's a place to showcase a company's culture and vision, so be cognizant of the content posted on a business page. Businesses should also take advantage of the location information users provide in their profiles, allowing for targeted advertising based on city and the option to offer deals through Facebook Places when a users "checks in" to a particular business or location.

Twitter

Twitter began as a way to quickly share "what's happening." Now with more than 170 million active users, the microsite has evolved into a successful marketing tool when used strategically. Twitter is a free way to monitor conversations happening about your brand as they are happening. This allows businesses to extend their customer service efforts, as they can detect problems early and act timely, rectifying brewing situations before they can spill over. Twitter is also a great place to find hot leads, as people constantly tweet about things they need or want. Reach out to those who are at the point of decision making and introduce them to your product or service. And because many users follow their favorite brands and businesses, Twitter is a great platform to share deals and discounts or announce sales and new products.

LinkedIn

Last year, 10 million to 15 million users per quarter joined LinkedIn. Known as the social network for professionals, LinkedIn has plenty of benefits for business. At the basis of a successful business, there are employees that keep the wheels turning and business moving forward. LinkedIn is the preferred platform to recruit top-level employees. Employers can search for candidates based on job requirements, as users publicly offer their resumes and skill sets. LinkedIn Groups is also a great place for a business to grow its network while building rapport through offering advice or helpful content.

Google+

With more than 100 million active users, Google+ is a huge success compared to its predecessor, Google Buzz. One of the biggest benefits of Google+ for businesses is improved results in Google Search, increasing your visibility and helping customers find your business faster. The +1 button also increases the chance of this visibility, as the more +1s a link has, the more attention it gets in search results. Additionally, Google+ Circles create more personal relationships with consumers, even allowing businesses to have live video chat sessions with their audience through Hangouts.

Pinterest

Hailed as the "the fastest growing social site" ever, Pinterest is a great place for businesses to focus some of their social media efforts. Consumers love pictures, especially when they are looking to purchase a product or service. But beyond posting pictures of products to drive sales, Pinterest is also the platform to build your brand and showcase your mission. Dedicate a board to the company culture or lifestyle, and pin content that shows the company's unique personality. Pinterest also drives traffic to your site, so make sure you are detailed in the description and include a link back to your site.

Because social media is an essential part of successful marketing today, marketing, community, and social media managers must be well versed in the social media platforms most used. Effectively using social media begins with proper education of the platform, as each of the ones above has the potential to be a valuable asset, not only in the success of a social media plan, but also in the success of the business overall.

Newsweek's last print issue before go all-digital features a hashtag on the cover: #LastPrintIssue!

Hail in Riyadh . a tweet by an automotive brand.

A warm tweet sent to all Riyadh car owners to hide their cars because of hail.

This tweet is so smart it represents the ultimate brand engagement for positive reach and relevant conversation.

KLM gets live and personal with Twitter

Airlines and Twitter have a chequered history. Some airline brands have embraced the immediacy that the micro-blogging platform has to offer, while others have come in for very public floggings from disgruntled passengers.

This stunt is the latest example of KLM's social media expertise. Unusually, this strategy publicised KLM's readiness to embrace customer conversations through social media, rather than promoting ticket sales.

Rather than using Twitter to promote a new ticket offer or service, KLM wanted to let customers know about its commitment to customer service in the social media space. KLM's social media policy was to answer every customer message personally within one hour, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. The results was a Twitter response campaign that was people powered in more ways than one...

KLM wanted to let customers know about the service that KLM offered in the social media space. KLM's social media policy was to answer every customer message personally within one hour, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

In a move designed to demonstrate its commitment to customer service through social media, KLM decided to spend a day replying to Twitter messages in person, or at more accurately, with 450 people.

Live reply involved the deployment of 450 KLM volunteers working in three shifts to answer tweets, Facebook posts, or Hyves 'scraps' using 140 characters at a time.

Followers and friends of the brand could reach KLM through social media channels in Dutch or English and ask anything regarding their travel or tickets. KLM also informed its followers about the latest airline news.

The human tweets were streamed live on a dedicated site, and archived on the KLM YouTube channel.

Results

This stunt is one of a number that KLM has staged on Twitter. Live reply saw approximately 70 videos were uploaded onto the KLM YouTube channel, each achieving between 200 and 6,500 views.

External links

KLM YouTube channel

BRAND: KLM

BRAND OWNER: Air France KLM

CATEGORY: Travel/Airlines

REGION: The Netherlands

DATE: September - September 2011

MEDIA OWNERS: Twitter ,Facebook ,Hyves

MEDIA CHANNEL: Digital,Online,PR

Brands Now Direct Their Followers to Social Media

By ANDREW ADAM NEWMAN

MARKETERS promoting their products online have followed a fairly standard arc historically, first buying digital ads and building their own Web sites in the early years of the Internet, and more recently amassing followers on social networks like Facebook and Twitter.

Published: August 3, 2011

Now, companies increasingly are running online ads that focus less on pitching their products than promoting their Facebook pages and Twitter accounts.The ads, which have menu tabs and increasingly resemble mini-Web sites themselves, allow users to click within the ad to see a brand’s Twitter messages or Facebook wall posts in real time, or to watch a brand’s video content from YouTube — all without leaving the Web page where the ad appears.

•

Ritz crackers, a product of Kraft, used in-text ads to highlight its Facebook contest promotion with the television show “Glee. A recent online ad for Mrs. Meyers, the cleaning brand, for example, said, “Clean should smell better” and instructed users to “Hover to expand.” When a cursor is placed over the ad, it extends downward to expose an area that, depending on what button is clicked, displays real-time Facebook wall posts, Twitter users posting about Mrs. Meyers, or a video from the brand about Thelma Meyer, for whom the brand is named.

Although Internet users rarely click on an ad to be taken away from a page — only one in a thousand do so, according to Google — they could engage with all those tidbits in the Mrs. Meyers ad without leaving the Web page they were visiting.

And engage they did, according to Flite, the media and technology company that produced the ad.

Consumers on average spent 30 seconds interacting with the ad, compared with an average of what, according to Google, is just 11 seconds. In addition to spending more time on the ad, consumers were more likely to click on a “learn more” button to go to Mrs. Meyers’ own Web site, with 35 of every 1,000 users clicking through, compared with an average, again, of just one in 1,000.

“Brands are building a great presence on social networks and are looking at ways of making it more accessible,” said Giles Goodwin, president for product and technology at Flite.

The company refers to its technology as a “cloud-based ad platform” because it infuses ads with live content from other sites including Facebook and Twitter, and it has produced such ads recently for brands including Coca-Cola, Lancôme, Volkswagen and AT&T.

Another media and technology company, Kontera, is taking a similar approach with in-text advertising, where advertisers pay for keywords to be hyperlinked within an article or blog post. While clicking such words often takes users to an advertiser’s Web site, with Kontera, ads pop out in a window on the same page, and many ads that Kontera is doing these days highlight advertisers’ social networks over their products.

In recent ads for Ritz crackers, the Kraft brand, for example, the brand wanted to highlight a promotion with “Glee” that included a sweepstakes to win a trip to meet the cast of the Fox show on their set in Los Angeles.

On the Kontera network of sites — which include those for the magazines U.S. News & World Report, Shape and Men’s Fitness — words in content likely to relate to the show, including of course the word “glee” and the names of both the characters and the actors who play them, were highlighted. Positioning the cursor over those words caused an ad to pop out in a window that promoted the sweepstakes and highlighted posts on the Ritz Facebook page about the show and contest.

“Social media is not a tactic that stands alone from your advertising campaigns,” said Chris Karl, a senior vice president at Kontera.

The “Glee” in-text ads presented themselves to fans of the show when they were most likely to be reading about it, then ended up signing them up as followers of the brand on Facebook, which was required in order to enter the sweepstakes.

As for why Ritz aligned itself with the television show to begin, the crackers, often served at social occasions, share the show’s spirit of being “all about fun and a champion of fun,” said Sheeba Philip, the marketing director for Ritz.

“A program like Kontera’s is really effective for reaching consumers with common and shared passion points,” Ms. Philip said. “It really was a push to drive people to Facebook to learn more about the brand.”

For other in-text ads by Kontera for Verizon, the brand did not even promote its own social network account, but rather that of Will Power, the race car driver who competes in the Indy Racing League, and whom Verizon sponsors. While Mr. Power is not, of course, likely to send Twitter messages with Verizon slogans, in the photo of the driver posing alongside his car on top of his Twitter page, the Verizon logo is prominent on both his uniform and car.

•

Andy Smith, a co-author (with Jennifer Aaker) of “The Dragonfly Effect: Quick, Effective, and Powerful Ways to Use Social Media to Drive Social Change,” said incorporating live content from Facebook and Twitter allows online ads “to feel less static,” and even to be “at least as current if not more current” than adjacent editorial content.

Even if those live snippets in ads include brands apologizing about missteps or customers griping, it still could benefit advertisers because in an era when consumers actually become friends with companies on Facebook, those consumers may expect some warts-and-all human characteristics.

“There is transparency in being willing to say, ‘This is what people are saying about us,’ ” Mr. Smith said. “And with the relationships that people have with brands today, the more honest and human they seem, the more likely consumers are to like them and stick with them.”

A version of this article appeared in print on August 4, 2011, on page B3 of the New York edition with the headline: Brands Now Direct Their Followers to Social Media.