Skin care and cosmetic product

Skin care and cosmetic products are necessities for ladiesnowadays. People are more than willing to invest in these items toincrease their charm. In the meantime, cosmetic companies strivefor better ways to deliver product information to potentialcustomers and arouse their interest in purchasing. Besides offeringdiscounts there are many other ways to trigger sales. EvelynLauder, an executive at Estée Lauder and member of the Lauderfamily, created the Clinique brand name and developed its line ofproducts. Lauder worked as the training director for Clinique. Shewas the first person to wear the trademark white lab coat, now wornby Clinique salespeople at cosmetic departments worldwide. Here isan example of how Clinique, one of the cosmetics and skin carecompanies, promotes its mascara brand through various channels.With the key objectives to acquire new consumers and further growthe mascara franchise, Clinique adopted a series of promotionactivities to achieve them.

Aggressive Print-Ad Campaign

Targeting the right group of female consumers, Clinique inHong Kong advertised intensively on several selected magazines suchas JCODE, Elle, and CosmoGirl to create awareness among them.

Mascara Exchange Online Campaign

The purpose of this campaign was to invite customers to visitClinique stores and get a mascara sample by returning used mascara.The exchange program was to encourage people to take the very firststep to experience Cliniques’ new mascara. The main channel ofpromoting the campaign was via the Internet. Pop-up ads were usedon popular search engines like Google and Yahoo! HK. On top ofthat, electronic direct mail was also sent out to subscribers ofBeauty Exchange, Jessica.com, Elle.com, and She.com, to reach alarger group of target consumers. Various activities were launchedby Clinique, aimed at encouraging trials from potential femalecustomers. Campaigns like the Mascara Preview Party at Cliniquecounters and the Mascara Makeup Demo at road shows generatedcustomers keen on trying out the new mascara.

“Big Eyes Competition”

Another promotion activity adopted by Clinique was the “BigEyes Competition,” meant to create launch excitement. Thiscompetition took place in road shows, with the use of Cliniquecounters in shopping malls. Clinique makeup artists helpedcustomers put on the new mascara. Photos were taken later, andthose with the biggest and brightest eyes as judged by Cliniquewere awarded prizes of Ghs1,000 worth of Clinique coupons. Withsuch marketing campaigns, Clinique’s efforts paid off. According toBeaute Research in 2010, the ranking of Clinique mascara went up,from sixth to second.

REQUIRED

a. Discuss the various elements of the communications processused by Clinique in the different promotion

programs.

b. Analyze this campaign in terms of the following keyelements:

i. Identification of target audience

ii. Design of the campaign message

iii. Choice of media through which to send the message

c. Do you agree Clinique’s integrated promotion program waseffective? Why or why not?