Brandstorm is L'Oréal's unique business competition for students to unleash their creativity and apply ground-breaking ideas to one of L'Oréal's international brands and distribution channels. Since 1992 Brandstorm has given to more than 70,000 students worldwide the possibility to work on real life challenges and be coached by top L'Oréal executives.
The Southeast Asia is divided between a side influenced strongly by its traditional oriental culture and other by the values of the occidental world.
The side stranded on its roots is characterized by a conservative culture and religious values, avoiding consumerist living. They are family people, spiritualized, value the natural beauty and accept themselves as they are, not compared to the artificial beauty of the western culture. Completely different the other side is majorly influenced by Europe and United States, seeking each time more ways to distance themselves from the other asians, who are more traditional. They adore the concept of beauty and luxury, always in the trends of fashion, they like to make up their styles, constantly changing their hairstyles and colors, by then, making the economy keep its positive course in a fast and dynamic way, if compared to the western economic growth.
All L'Oreal Paris branding values are quite compelling with this part of Southeast Asia.
The Asian women live in the most upcoming market in existence. They are more active as to work, working in schedules tighter than the occidentals themselves. The space between men and women productivity is narrowing down faster then other places. Being as it is, their purchasing commodities become a more often trade, spending seven times more then the average man.
But these women already posses their own habit of consumption, with their preferred brands. Making them change to something else would be more complex. So, the plan is to introduce the merchandise to a young and fresh public, that doesn't have their own buying patterns stablished, accepting new experiments and always seeking innovations and new interesting trends.
We chose as our target audience teenagers from fifteen to twenty-one years old of the southeast Asia, that search and accept new fashion trends and products based on the western culture.
These girls have an extreme and exaggerated personalities. They blend the occidental style with the oriental one, in a original and pop kind of way. They use as many colors, glow, glamour, texture, fancy, exagerated. They love to be seen, regard the shyness and insecurity, they like to use their clothing and hairstyles extravagantly.
Mostly they have as their musical reference the genders of K-POP and J-ROCK, modern variations of classic styles that in the end blend in a mix of youth cultural madness. The artists included in these genders, as BoA, Psy, Wonder Girls, Kara, Hyori, Kiss me Five, Se7en, launched the styles that are used as reference to these young people.
Even not being financially independent, they are buyers, keeping always active this public in the market. This profile fits perfectly in the essence of the brand L'óreal Paris, that delivers the accessible luxury, which means the product they can afford.
For the entry of a L'óreal product in this region, we believe the adolescent female is ideal, because they long for what the company provides. Besides that, in the future with the product already stablished in the market, the brand will have the opportunity to launch products because it will have a more stable and trustable, besides the fact of having faithful consumers.
Based on our target audience, we picked this product because it fits right in concept of being open to temporary changes on new trends and experiments. These girls, that love sticking out of their everyday look, will make it, trough the product, the sparkle, texture and form that they wish to achieve.
There is a gap on the competition of this category, competing more indirectly with professional products.
The online media corresponds to 53% of the purchasing media of the asian women. They spend, approximately 24,8 hours online per month, double the time spent by north americans.
The most popular way of online entertainment related to make overs are tutorial videos.
Searching "hairstyle tutorial", only in Singapore we found more than 2.400.000 videos made by these girls, by free will, without any commercial stimulations. The most seen video posses more than 41.000.000 views!
On youtube, the girls teach how to make different hairstyles that worked out in their own hairs and want to pass their experiences on. they ALWAYS show the used product, to guarantee quality in the execution of the hairstyle, making a free and sincere advertising for the product/brand.
To enable use of the social network will require a sign up to be done, where will be defined the user's hairstyle,her preferences and personality. This Log in system will serve as a marketing research tool by the company, even to future designs for the region.
After logging in, the user will have created a profile. In this profile will be described all the user's preferences, style and personality, beyond that, the videos, photos, comments and likes posted by the user. Through it, the network itself will filter and suggest videos made by other girls, of hairstyles that match the description in profile. By creating interest in the product with the videos, it will be available for online purchase, stimulating the user to make her on video, therefore by it own purpose or by a full impulse act, in the end shopping, and protecting the product of possibles rivals at the POS's. The online purchase is a safe and efficient way to prevent that the company ceases the demands on the POS's.
In the matter of the product, by making the tutorial, the user will classify it according to the event's category, such as: "casual" "First Date" "Job Interview" "Wedding" "Cover". By uploading the video, it goes through qualified personal just to judge the integrity of the post and brand, that been guaranteed that the only products seen in the videos are in fact L'óreal StudioLine and be able to discard all frauds.
Aiming to obtain success in the network, before it has it's public access enabled, we will create a teaser video, that will also be used as commercials sponsored by Youtube. We chose as spokesperson a singer called Boa, she will appear finishing a look, using the product and inviting her fans to a open concert in Singapore sponsored by the StudioLine. In the event before the artist get on stage, will be played in the screens the backstage, of her getting ready and preparing her hair. When the artist get on stage she will announce the opening of the website, showing up on the screens a part of the interactivity of the network including a brief sample of the tutorial system. It will also be announced that the first thousand profiles signed up to post videos will be rewarded with
StudioLine kits.
The Event will also offer, "backstage buses", where the girls will be tough how to use the product and will have
a place for pictures.
These buses will be the first real contact with the product itself, and to attach it with a fun feeling is essential to create a good relation between client and company. They will be also used outside of the concert, cruising through the streets as a "walking outdoor", and stopping by interest points such as schools, colleges, shopping malls.
To stimulate even more the interest for the network and uploading, the girls with more likes in their videos will have a space in the home page, will receive product kits and will have the opportunity to show up in a capping cover magazine.
This magazine will work as an offline midia, and will be filled with columns by professionals, celebrities and the most assiduous customer and the most liked online, giving hints of using the product the best possible way. The presence of the girls in addition with these people will guarantee a great appeal for the brand, that is because it puts the creative user that achieves more likes to be at the same level of the beloved celebrities. These magazines will be distributed at the principal POS's and will come with another teen magazines.
At the end we have three moments of the marketing campaign:
1. The Pre-selling, when we will launch the teaser videos with invitations to the concert, that will occur, september sixth.
2. The Selling, this is when we launch the product itself and enable access to the network website that will be made twenty-two days later, september twenty-eighth to gather a greater number of viewers, but a period cannot be too long, because there's the risk of oblivion.
3. The Continuity, the weekly issues of the magazine, showing the feedback of the network and congratulating the most watched videos, keeping the interest in the website.
