Adidas Moves $4 Mil. Skin Care Campaign Touts “Active Lifestyle” Benefits

Coty will dedicate more than $4 mil. to a two-month print ad campaign to support the March relaunch of Adidas Moves body products for men and women, according to Coty Senior VP-Global Marketing Anastasia Ayala.

As the six-SKU collection is expected to have a "very broad-based appeal," ads will run in targeted men's and women's books as well as professional sport, general interest, African-American and Hispanic publications, she said. Books include Details, Maxim, Men's Journal, Rolling Stone, Spin, Vibe, People and Self. Coty is planning to continue the advertising into the summer.

Ads will communicate the "active lifestyle" benefits of the body care products, which have been reformulated and repackaged to update the original body care line that was discontinued in January, Coty said.

Coty also will support the launch with 10 mil. samples, Ayala said, noting, "Sampling is something you can't do for a short period of time for a body product, you need to have a long-term plan." The campaign will continue into Coty's next fiscal year.

Trends in the spa industry and the "growing interest in products that take care of skin before or after a workout or sports activity" were the impetus behind the product relaunch, Ayala said. Several items in the original line have been phased out with the relaunch, while several new products will be added, Coty noted.

The collection is an extension of Adidas Moves fine fragrances. The men's fragrance bowed in the U.S. in 1999, while the women's offering launched in 2000 (¹ (Also see "Coty Moves Adidas Men's Scent Into U.S., Creates Global Brand" - HBW Insight, 31 May, 1999.), p. 3 and ² (Also see "Coty" - HBW Insight, 21 Aug, 2000.), Marketing In Brief).

Most of the body products contain a dual-action benefit, as "the idea of two-in-one is very important to an active lifestyle," the exec said. However, the products maintain their importance as scented items and are still positioned as prestige fragrance items.

The women's body care range, while still incorporating the original moisturizing lotion, includes Buff Up Foaming Body Polish, a body product that exfoliates while it cleans, Coty said. The line also contains Fitness Firming Body Lotion, a new item enriched with caffeine to promote "a firmer appearance," the company claims.

The men's line features the original moisturizing lotion formula as well as Play Clean pH Balanced Hair & Body Wash, Ayala said. Cool Down Skin Relief After Shave Balm, a new product with aloe also has been introduced to the men's line, while a gender-neutral cooling muscle relief and soap have been phased out.

All products in the line will retail in 6.7 oz. bottles for $8 except for the aftershave balm, which will cost $17.50 for 1.7 oz. Products will be sold in Coty's full drugstore and mass retail distribution.

New packaging not only "tightens up the look" of the line, but also better reflects the youthful positioning of Adidas Moves, with a "very modern, very relevant, very attractive" and "cool" appearance, the exec said. Adidas Moves fragrances and body care items target consumers ages 16-30.

Holographic packaging of the body care line mirrors that of Adidas Moves fragrances, which were repackaged in December. The body care products will be positioned next to the fragrances on two-dimensional in-store displays.

Adidas also will be expanded in the U.S. with Adidas Performance toiletries in the summer of 2003, Ayala said. Unlike Adidas Moves products, the toiletries "will be driven by the benefit" of antiperspirant, deodorant and aftershave rather than by fragrance, she added. The products debuted in Europe at the end of 2001 (³ (Also see "Coty Taps Galantic As U.S. President To Build North American Operations" - HBW Insight, 5 Nov, 2001.), p. 3).

In addition, Coty plans to relaunch its Healing Garden aromatherapy specialty bath line this summer with new packaging, aesthetics and formulations that will better portray its "natural" and "organic" positioning, Ayala said. The effort will be designed to both update the look of the brand, and better communicate its benefits.

"It is a living brand and any living brand needs to grow and evolve with consumers," Ayala said. "If you don't change and you keep it as it was at launch, you make great mistakes by not keeping up with consumers."

Healing Garden Waters , the treatment fragrance collection of the aromatherapy segment, will be expanded with a third scent to join Pure Joy and Perfect Calm this fall. The fragrances launched in August (⁴ (Also see "Coty Healing Garden Ad Spend Quadrupling To Support "Treatment" Scent" - HBW Insight, 9 Jul, 2001.), p. 4).