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SOCIALMEDIAxSCIENCE was held on July 18, 2018 in San Francisco.

Brand Building: What’s Fueling Success?

Aditi Nath – Brand Manager, Neutrogena Makeup, Johnson & Johnson Consumer, Inc.

What takes a 20-year old brand to the next level? This case study on Neutrogena Makeup illustrates how a legacy brand with a deep heritage can regain relevancy and new consumers through a digital and social first communications model.

Business Challenges: In 2017, Neutrogena Makeup was at risk amidst brand and channel proliferation (e.g., even 7-Eleven has their own beauty line, only sold at gas stations) and the new social, digital first landscape. Key obstacles included: (low awareness) 81% of makeup users search for beauty content online (esp. Instagram and YouTube), yet only 3% saw Neutrogena online; (lack of relevance) only 28% of existing Neutrogena Cosmetics buyers were staying with the brand; (no path to conversion) there was no connectivity to where to buy in the digital landscape, lapsing shoppers to other brands.

New Strategy: To overcome these barriers, Neutrogena fundamentally turned their media plan and planning on its head. They moved from a very traditional, linear TV model to a fully digital, social-first communications model. The budget didn’t change, but was now 100% in digital/social. In addition, they went through an equity refresh (new visual ID, tonality, and logo); started working with influencers; and made sure all touchpoints lead to a path to purchase.

Research: Developing the new communications strategy was a multi-step process, but moved quickly. Research to understand consumer insights, concept/positioning design and testing, were conducted as well as partnership with Google Brand Lab to understand the role of key vehicles (esp. YouTube, which was a new space for the brand), platforms in the ecosystem, and to determine the measurement plan. All of the agencies came to their headquarters to workshop and narrow down all the content types, ideas, and guardrails for playing in this new space.

Insights:

  • They were not speaking the language of their consumer. Search analysis showed that consumers were seeking “makeup,” not “cosmetics.” This lead to changing the brand name from Neutrogena Cosmetics to Neutrogena Makeup.
  • Step away from just using celebrities to using real girls and influencers.
  • Diversifying and rebalancing the Influencer strategy (to leverage micro influencers along with mega and mid-tier influencers, MUA network, specific retailers) was critical to success. For many micro or rising influencers, the cost involved was only the cost of the free sample sent.

Output:

  • For Q4/Q1 Healthy Skin Ecosystem included: diverse, organic influencer content; paid social influencer cut downs; microinfluencer seeding & incentives; all paths to purchase integrated to retail; custom .com landing experience.

Results (in a span of three months):

  • Double digit sales turnaround nationally
  • Positive share growth (first time in three years)
  • Household penetration growth (first time in three years)
  • units per purchase increased 9x on Neutrogena.com
  • Paid social media results: +184% more effective reach than TV; engagement 2x stronger than any other J&J consumer campaign; significant lifts on ad recall and brand awareness.

Lessons learned:

  • Embracing the new communications model required fundamental shifts in the way the brand works with their agencies; sell into customers; gain alignment and buy-in with senior leadership.
  • Constantly be willing to test, learn, and pivot.
  • Have fun! Don’t be afraid to experiment.

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