Rimmel London unveils ‘brand evolution’ to make consumers ‘part of the story’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVZMoIQU7oE&feature=youtu.be

Rimmel London has evolved the brand’s identity in a new campaign featuring its first male beauty influencer, alongside a new strapline ‘Live the London Look’.

The campaign, created in partnership with BETC London, launches with a digital-only film that looks to celebrate diversity and self-expression. It shows brand ambassadors, including numerous influencers and a male beauty blogger, talking about confidence, individuality and make-up.

The film concludes with everyone framing their faces with the ‘London Look’ signature using their thumb and index finger of each hand – something the influencers and brand ambassadors will encourage their followers on social media to copy by sharing their own take on the ‘LL’ pose.

While the Coty-owned brand’s previous slogan encouraged women to ‘Get the London Look’, its new slogan ‘Live the London Look’ looks to be more inclusive and open-minded.

“It’s not a new brand identity, it’s an evolution. One of common characteristics of millennials and Generation Z consumers is that they want to be part of the story, and not be told what to do, say or wear. Co-creation is hugely important to them. We wanted to move with them and the times,” Montse Passolas, vice president global marketing Rimmel London and Manhattan, tells Marketing Week.

“We want to ensure that ‘Living the London Look’ is us embracing a new culture of consumers. We want to be more engaging. Our old brand identity wasn’t dated but we wanted to evolve and have a dialogue with consumers.”

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The new campaign is putting less of a focus on its celebrity ambassadors by throwing a variety of beauty influencers into the mix, and includes the brand’s first ever male beauty blogger, Lewys Ball. While Passolas refuses to disclose whether the brand had any plans to launch a men-only campaign, she says Rimmel’s choice of influencers came down to them being a “natural fit”.

“[The influencers] talk the same language as we do and work on social platforms. They were a natural and authentic fit,” she explains.

Rimmel is not the only beauty brand to go down the influencer route. Last year, L’Oréal revealed it tiers influencers that it works with according to gold, silver and bronze categories. The gold group represents the bloggers with the biggest online followings and the people that L’Oréal plans to spend the most money with for the biggest campaigns.

However, Montse is not worried the British public will experience ‘influencer fatigue’, as she believes many consumers are “still discovering” online beauty bloggers.

She concludes: “This territory is still to be evolved. As long as the partnership is authentic and the consumer sees this, this fatigue will take a long time to come.”