Paris Presents ‘brings beauty to life’ with fan-based, social-media driven approach
Bringing beauty to life” is Paris Presents’ mantra. For the company, accomplishing this goal — and catering to its millennial audience — means focusing not on products themselves, but on what those products can do for the customer and how they can help her attain her own objectives. For example, applying makeup to achieve a particular look. It also means working with social influencers who understand millennials and their priorities.
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“As a company, we’re all about meeting millennials’ needs and reflecting their priorities in the way we position the brand,” said Gonca Paul, director of global customer marketing. “We’re also very fan-based and social media-driven.”
When it comes to its Real Techniques cosmetic brushes, Paris Presents leverages digital marketing and social media to teach consumers techniques for getting the tools to work for them and employing each one to create looks that they love. Makeup experts Samantha and Nicola Chapman provide such education via YouTube and their beauty vlog, Pixiwoo. The Chapmans, who have more than 2 million YouTube followers, also discuss other issues that resonate with millennials, ranging from current events (e.g., the death of Prince) to personal challenges (e.g., Nic’s two miscarriages).
“With Sam and Nic, it’s all about the look, and they’re very authentic in the way they talk about that look,” Paul said. “It’s not about the product. It’s about how to use the product to get the look because the customer isn’t interested in hearing about product features,” she added.
Related marketing endeavors help kick engagement up a notch. Crowdsourcing was the centerpiece of a “Real Techniques Turns Five” promotion that kicked off in April to coincide with the brand’s fifth anniversary in May. Fans were invited to vote for their favorite design to be used on limited-edition gift packs, which typically are offered by Paris Presents once a year. Each design was inspired by one of the Chapmans’ five favorite cities — Berlin, Buenos Aires, London, Shanghai and Sydney.
Meanwhile, Paris Presents’ approach to marketing its EcoTools brand of makeup brushes, hairbrushes and bath accessories — all of which are animal cruelty-free and manufactured using such ecoconscious materials as bamboo and recycled aluminum — is heavily predicated on millennials’ affinity for social responsibility. The Eco-Tools #MyTrueBeauty campaign, which kicked off on International Women’s Day in March, exemplifies such an emphasis. #MyTrueBeauty campaign is intended to promulgate messages of female positivity and confidence across a number of social media channels, while benefitting girls’ education through Glamour magazine’s The Girl Project philanthropic initiative (administered by Silicon Valley Community Fund, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization). Programs offered under the auspices of The Girl Project provide girls with the “little and big things” they require to finish their education, including tuition, safe passage to school, mentorship, confidence building and training for the professional world.
Paris Presents engaged actress and advocate Sophia Bush to ignite a social conversation around women’s empowerment for the campaign. The brand is donating $1 to The Girl Project for every Facebook, Twitter and Instagram post shared using the #MyTrueBeauty hashtag and tagging @ecotools.
Paul noted that in order to succeed in the New General Market and to cater to the millennial consumer, it’s critical for brands to make concerted efforts to understand shoppers and what they want. “Research and more research, testing in store and soliciting customer opinion are as important as approaching consumers from a platform of education,” she said. “So is creating a positive shopping experience, which comes with education and with messages that resonate. It’s all part of one package.”