FIT Grad Program Whiz-Kids Offer Digital-Marketing Insight, Predictions

“Age of human-centric marketing” necessitates a new approach from beauty firms, which must abandon risk-averse mentalities of the past in order to actively engage consumers, say reps from leading beauty firms in digital white paper from FIT grad program.

Engaging consumers on a personal level to establish lasting brand connections in the digital age requires a new mindset among beauty marketers and may call for reorganizations of firms’ marketing divisions and larger corporate structures, reps from leading beauty firms say.

According to participants in the Fashion Institute of Technology’s graduate program for cosmetics and fragrance marketing and management, the “age of human-centric marketing” necessitates a new approach from beauty firms that may be a departure from the risk-averse mentality that has served in the past.

In their digital-marketing white paper, “future industry leaders” from Beiersdorf AG,[LVMH Moet Hennessy - Louis Vuitton], Unilever PLC, [Coty Inc.] and [Firmenich SA] advocate an m^3 model for marketing beauty in today’s environment where success depends on talking with, rather than at, consumers on a 24/7 basis.

Going forward, even in traditional advertising channels, “brands will create ad templates with multiple versions for different consumer groups and, through the use of advanced algorithms,” target content appropriately, the authors suggest.

The authors define m^3 with an equation: micro-Targeting +micro-Engagement = micro-Marketing.

The strategy involves the use of “advanced predictive analytics to cultivate deep human understanding of individual consumers” and “constant, on-demand two-way communication” between brands and consumers, culminating in campaigns that offer “the illusion of personalization,” delivering “the right content to the right individual at the right time,” the researchers say.

To be effective within this context, firms’ communications programs must prioritize flexibility and speed as they strive to respond to consumer feedback in real time and shape their messaging accordingly.

A spirit of experimentation and a willingness to try out new media, channels and ideas is also imperative, the authors say.

They note that “given the nature of the beauty business, the cultural mentality can sometimes be risk-averse, with a focus on ensuring perfection across all areas of the business. The risk of a mistake in the production of beauty products has grave consequences in the context of a consumer’s health and well-being.”

However, “if this culture permeates the m^3 function, m^3 marketers will not be able to do their jobs effectively,” the team asserts.

According to the white paper, internal restructuring can help to ensure that marketing personnel in the digital age can carry out their responsibilities effectively without impacting other areas of a company’s business.

“Given the risks associated with a rapid-response model in the health and beauty category, it is recommended to separate product development and business management – two critical functions – from the new m^3 marketing group,” the researchers say.

Lines of communication should remain open between “hubs” of expertise so that knowledge can be shared and units can advance in parallel toward overall business goals, they suggest.

As for the specific makeup of marketing teams, firms should look to have specialists in targeted areas, including:

• Communications experts “who own the essence of the brand and help drive brand strategy via smart channel marketing and execution choices”
• Content craftsmen “with backgrounds in content publishing that have experience in community management and journalism”
• Data analytics “who aid in mining insights via micro-targeting tools and analysis”

Currently, companies typically avail themselves of such experts, but often through partnerships with outside parties, such as PR or creative agencies, the researchers note, adding: “It is recommended that beauty marketing organizations bring these capabilities in-house.”

From ROI To ROL

“Marketing can no longer be done in silos – marketing campaigns must tell stories across platforms, not just in them,” the white-paper authors note.

Led by Andrew Videira, brand manager for NIVEA Lip Care at Beiersdorf, and Adrienne Davis, director of education for Guerlain at LVMH, the team emphasizes that a shift from one-to-all messaging to one-to-one communications in the digital era does not mean that traditional TV and print advertising no longer have their place.

However, they also will evolve and “become ‘smart,’ interconnected and interactive,” the authors say. To personalize outreach, “brands will create ad templates with multiple versions for different consumer groups and, through the use of advanced algorithms,” target content appropriately.

They cite Digital Generation, Inc./MediaMind as an agency that is “already beginning to make this a reality for marketers.”

As firms monitor various channels and collect consumer feedback across all touch points, they’re able to leverage that information to optimize strategies in real time for maximum effectiveness, Videira, et al., note. This marks a change in how success should be measured – from traditional return on investment, as quantified based on reach, gross ratings point and click-through rate, to “return on learnings,” the team says.

While visibility has been limited into the monetary impact of consumer engagements in the digital realm, technologies and online platforms are emerging to help firms understand the benefit of such programs and sharpen their focus for greater efficiencies based on “where consumers are entering and exiting the selling model” (Also see "Emerging Tools Give Brands Insight To Optimize Social Media Strategy" - HBW Insight, 11 Jul, 2011.).

“With this new ROL approach, and the necessary analytics tools to support it, marketers will be able to track unique consumer value over her lifetime and understand the most critical points that drive future sales at the individual consumer level,” the authors say.

Videira, et al., provided an overview of their research June 5 at FIT as part of a larger “Beauty in a Digital World” presentation from the school’s master’s degree program for rising executives in the beauty industry.

Other research highlighted during the event offered additional predictions for digital beauty – for example, that “leveraging artificial intelligence, facial recognition and predictive analytics technology will revolutionize the in-store experience by completely personalizing it,” and that other tech advancements will give consumers greater power to shop and purchase products from wherever they choose, so that “the street becomes the new shopping mall.”

FIT’s graduate program “has become the beauty industry’s recognized think tank,” and each year its participants present before executives and media, offering in-depth research and “forward-looking, often astonishing predications and proposals to the industry,” according to FIT.

This year, the program was conducted in conjunction with Google, Inc., with Beiersdorf serving as event sponsor.