L’Oréal targets men for the first time as it evolves strapline to embrace diversity

L’Oréal is featuring a man in a cosmetics ad for the first time as it focuses on a new tagline which aims to ‘celebrate diversity’. The campaign, created by McCann London, includes celebrities Cheryl Fernandez-Versini, Katie Piper and a list of influencers and bloggers. L’Oréal’s first male blogger and makeup artist Gary, aka ‘The Plastic Boy’, has been chosen to reflect the fact that more men are wearing makeup.

Speaking to Marketing Week, Adrien Koskas, general manager at L’Oréal Paris UK said: “We are very aware that the cosmetics market is growing and that more guys are using makeup and making makeup blogs. This campaign shows we are listening to everybody, different characters with very different stories.”

The move comes after the brand found that 61% of women in the UK have not been able to find their foundation match, while ethnic minorities often end up paying 70% more for foundation. The brand’s latest campaign aims to address these issues as it claims its TrueMatch foundation can match 98% of UK skin tones across all ethnicities.

L’Oréal has also evolved its famous ‘Because you’re worth it’ tagline for the campaign to ‘Because we’re all worth it’, something Koskas says relates to the diversity in beauty and the fact the foundation can be used by all.

“I’m worth it, you’re worth, we’re worth it. Our taglines have developed over time but we think it’s all the same message whatever we do, to bring beauty to as many people as possible.”

Adrien Koskas, General Manager, L’Oréal Paris UK

The #YoursTruly campaign will be rolled out through cinema, TV and social media. It will launch this Sunday (28 August) at 11am on the influencers’ social media channels before running through traditional media. Koskas believes a greater focus on influencers’ YouTube, Twitter and Instagram platforms is important for the brand, as he says that audiences have become “sceptical” about traditional marketing methods.

“Traditional consumers are not connecting in the same way these days. Whether that is with TV or traditional media, they have become sceptical. We think it is much more important to use influencers who consumers can relate to on a daily basis, in a genuine and sincere way,” he said.Though Koskas believes L’Oréal customers value the brand for its “quality of products and quality of research”, he says the company has also noticed “scepticism” in regards to audience perception of the brand, with some saying “L’Oréal is a bit cold as a brand, it is not connecting with me” or asking “what does it have to do with my daily life?”. He says that in order to address this L’Oréal wants to bring more warmth and to create a deeper connection to the brand in this latest campaign.

Success will be determined through the sales that are generated, along with engagements with the campaign and the reactions L’Oréal gets from the communities following the selected influencers and celebrities.