Philips asks customers to advocate skincare
Philips is calling on its customers to advocate its high-end laser skin rejuvenation product RéAura in an integrated campaign to demonstrate real-life results from using the treatment as opposed to staged creative that could look as though it was post-edited.
All campaign activity will drive consumers to an interactive RéAura Tumblr site, created by WDMP, which will include user diaries and real-trial results. The site will be primarily made of user generated content, which Philips says it will not edit as it looks to build consumer trust in the brand.
Other activity includes a Q&A session with Mumsnet, co-ordinated by Emanate London; a partnership and reader event with luxury title Harper’s Bazar, set up by Carat; and personalised direct mail activity featuring high-quality before and after images by WDMP. A follow up mail pack will then introduce the real-life brand ambassadors and their before and after photos.
Research into RéAura’s target audience – “highly affluent, intelligent women with an active interest in anti-ageing treatments” – found consumer trust in the product grew after consumers saw real life before and after pictures and results.
Philips’ study echoes the Advertising Association’s report last year, which found the majority (76 per cent) of women prefer to see natural images in beauty campaigns, while 84 per cent said it is “unacceptable” for brands to alter the way women look in advertising images.
Vicky Cunningham, Philips skincare business development manager, says: “In the age of the consumer, there is no better brand ambassador than another real life customer. With this integrated campaign and our Tumblr site we hope to provide the right mix of user generated and expert content to allow the audience to make an informed purchasing decision.”
Earlier this year Philips overhauled its marketing strategy to take on a “more human approach” after admitting it needed to do more to explain how its products are relevant to consumers’ everyday lives.
The marketer that lead the change in direction, Joanna Elliott, was later promoted to become managing director of the UK and Ireland consumer and lifestyle products division.
