Clinique, Living Proof Expand Beautyverse With New Virtual Reality E-Commerce Experiences
Executive Summary
“The Clinique Lab is the next generation of digital innovation,” says The Estee Lauder Companies brand of its three-dimensional online dreamscape where users’ customized avatars can learn about the brand, its products and ingredients, unlock exclusive offers, and browse a virtual shop. Unilever’s Living Proof announced the launch of a similar concept this month as beauty’s presence in the metaverse grows.
The Estee Lauder Companies, Inc.’s Clinique and Unilever’s Living Proof have joined the growing stable of beauty companies launching virtual reality stores as more of the metaverse, or some approximation of it, takes shape.
The Clinique Virtual Lab is an “advanced” virtual storefront in a “photorealistic 3D environment.”
Available online and on mobile, “The Clinique Lab brings the retail experience of the iconic Clinique Counter to the virtual world where brand lovers and new consumers can discover, interact, play, learn and shop, all at the touch of one’s fingertips. The Clinique Lab is the next generation of digital innovation,” the company says in a 27 March release.
The site allows users to customize an avatar and traverse an iridescent, three-dimensional dreamscape drenched in water and ambient music while ducking giant aloe leaves and collecting floating bubbles that unlock exclusive offers. Brand visuals and product information materialize around bends, as well as opportunities to engage with Clinique consultants.
One portion of the lab is dedicated to the brand’s top performer, Moisture Surge 100H Auto-Replenishing Hydrator, which “helps skin rebound” from daily dehydrators such as pollution, blue light and extreme weather,” and its new “Protect Your Glow” campaign, “brought to life … via interactive elements and explorative storytelling.”
Finally, visitors can visit the Virtual Lab’s ecommerce shop, where they can purchase Moisture Surge and other skin care products, fragrances, and makeup.
“In this dynamic shopping experience, consumers can discover the science behind the brand’s newest and best-selling innovations, receive free samples of top sellers and win exclusive discounts all while learning the rich history of this iconic brand," Living Proof says.
Unilever’s Living Proof, a “high-performance, science-fueled hair care” line founded by MIT scientists in 2005 and purchased by the British company in 2016, announced its entry to the metaverse on 12 March with the launch of its first virtual store.
Stemming from a partnership with experiential e-commerce platform ByondXR, the site similarly provides a “gamified” online shopping experience, allowing the user to navigate between walls of brand information and consumer testimonials and towering bottles of product, including “cult favorite” Perfect Hair Day Dry Shampoo and Advanced Clean Dry Shampoo.
“Utilizing Extended Reality as the enabling technology, the HD-quality, 3D and 360-degree experience features four highly interactive virtual rooms and a groundbreaking, category-first AI Hair Quiz, all designed to bring to life the brand’s ethos ‘Science in Action,’” the firm says.
The hair quiz is powered by Helsinki-based digital tech company Revieve Inc., which Living Proof worked with last year for the launch of its AI Haircare Advisor tool. (Also see "Unilever’s Living Proof To Provide First Look At Revieve AI Haircare Advisor" - HBW Insight, 16 Mar, 2022.)
The hair quiz prompts the customer to consider their current hair routine and desired result, before they submit a selfie, which is analyzed through patented mobile diagnostics to determine hair type, volume, curl shape and color. The system then recommends a regimen of hair care products.
The virtual building also includes a Living Proof salon, which spotlights Triple Bond Complex, a weekly leave-in, repair treatment clinically proven to rebuild the structure of hair, according to the brand. The final stop on the tour is the Sustainability Center, showing how to recycle Living Proof products.
“In this dynamic shopping experience, consumers can discover the science behind the brand’s newest and best-selling innovations, receive free samples of top sellers and win exclusive discounts all while learning the rich history of this iconic brand and how it has delivered best-selling, hair-changing products for millions of fans,” Living Proof says.
Laura Mercier, Armani Beauty and YSL Beauty also have launched virtual, interactive 3D stores on their branded sites.
Growing Opportunity
Though the metaverse is still blurry and there is debate over whether it has already arrived or is still largely conceptual, companies have been trying to find ways to plug into this evolving world, particularly since Facebook (now Meta Platforms) announced its vision for the metaverse in 2021.
In a report on beauty in the metaverse, METAV.RS – a digital research company with offices in Paris and Hong Kong – says while the metaverse is “still under construction” beauty brands have the chance to “experiment ways to create unique immersive metaverse experiences, from gaming to just mix realities. Those experiences can include offering digital assets, unlocking benefits and promotions or simply “giving their voice to support a cause.”
Nonetheless, there are barriers for beauty in the metaverse, says METAV.RS.
“The first one is the lack of realism in avatars and the fact that these digital spaces are still developing,” METAV.RS says. Currently, “[a] user will find it pointless to apply lipsticks or moisturizers for avatars in the metaverse,” the company says.
However, brands can nonetheless benefit from the tools and capabilities of the metaverse to “create new customer experiences, sell and deliver products directly to avatars, and refine the connection between virtual and real-life experiences,” the firm says.
It notes a survey led by Accenture in February 2022 of more than 11,000 consumers across 16 countries found 53% of Gen Zers, 54% of Millennials, 42% of Gen Xers and 23% of Boomers were interested in getting “virtual apparels” like makeup or hair styles for their avatars.
Beauty leaders making moves in the metaverse include L’Oréal SA, whose NYX Professional Makeup brand opened an interactive makeup sampling space on the Roblox gaming platform. L’Oréal also worked with Ready Player Me, a cross-game avatar design platform, to deliver makeup and hair styles from Maybelline New York and L’Oréal Professionnel that may be worn by avatars across more than 4,000 platforms and apps worldwide. (Also see "L’Oréal Exploring New Ways To Put Virtual Makeup On Consumer Avatars In Digital Worlds" - HBW Insight, 21 Dec, 2022.)
Additionally, L’Oréal, along with Estee Lauder, Procter & Gamble Co. and e.l.f. Cosmetics, Inc. have been fencing off intellectual property by filing trademark applications to cover virtual representations of their brands. (Also see "Beauty In The Metaverse: Top Companies Move To Fence Off IP With Eyes On Seminal Court Cases" - HBW Insight, 23 Mar, 2022.)