Ch. 16 - Advertising, Public Relations and Sales Promotion

Julia Roberts

 

Lancome's mobile ad

Lancome is a very well-recognizable brand throughout the world. It's considered as the third leading luxury beauty brand in the world and the top-selling brand in selective retailing. No matter how well established the company is, it should constantly maintain brand awareness and market share through advertising, public relations and sales promotions. Advertising is an important and the most effective part of a company's promotional activities. It draws attention to both existing and new products and persuades consumers to purchase them. When Lancome launches a new product, the company advertises it widely in print, television and via mobile advertising. For example, in order to boost sales through mobile commerce, Lancome is pushing a new product line using eye-catching mobile banner ads in New York magazine's "The Cut". The advertisement's design and clear call to action are likely enough to intrigue a consumer into clicking the ad, bringing the consumer automatically to Lancome's mobile-optimized site where they can watch a video about the entire collection of products or shop online. 

The company uses product advertising techniques to promote its merchandise.

Lupita Nyong'o 

It is difficult not to recognize the Lancome brand because of Lancome's employment of iconic and beautiful stars in its campaigns including Isabelle Rosselini, Julia Roberts, Emma Watson, Kate Winslet, Penelope Cruz and most recently the Oscar-winning actress Lupita Nyong'o, the first African ambassador to represent the cosmetics giant.
They all represent beauty, joyful femininity, glamour and elegance. The commercials create a kind of fantasy for the viewer, making women believe in the beauty of life.
Since its products are sold worldwide, Lancome has hired models with diverse ethnic backgrounds and nationalities in order to target specific markets around the world, employing local models and celebrities to appeal to regional customers. This strategy has have proven successful for Lancome and L'Oreal Luxe in general; Lancome's sales in Asia and North America grew by 8.3% in 2012.

As part of its public relations strategy, Lancome's marketing managers do much to promote responsible, caring and high-quality image. Public relations (PR) play an important role at Lancome where one of the company's PR tools is press relations. For instance, since 2010, Lancome has organized an annual Genifique Day for the purpose of raising funds for St. Jude Children Research Hospital. During eight regional events and on October 24th and October 25th Lancome donates $7 directly to St. Jude Children Research Hospital for every bottle of Advanced Genifique Youth Activating Concentrate, Genifique Eye Light-Pearl or Genifique Yeux sold, to underscore Genifique’s 7-day radiance results. In addition, throughout the month October, the brand

invites people on Instagram or Tweeter to post pictures of themselves making a "hand heart" gesture along with the #LancomeGivesBack hashtag. Lancome will make a $1 donation for each post. Genifique Days has been successful in more ways than one. As Stacy Mackler, vice president of public relations and communications at Lancome, notes,“Not only does this approach allow us to give back to a significant partner, it allows our customer to get involved beyond simply purchasing a product. [...] The ability to share the in-store brand experiences through social media only enhances our customer engagement with our products and with the efforts behind the fundraising,”
Another way of advertising Lancome products is though Gift With Purchase promotion where both new and returning customers can choose seven complimentary gifts depending on the amount they've spent. This method allows customers to sample products with the hope that they will return to purchase the ones they like.