Consumers are not all the same, something recognised and even promoted by an increasing number of brands.
In a world that seems to finally be changing its attitude towards women and the perception of what beauty is, brands and the advertising they use are being held more accountable than ever before. With a strong focus on mental health and self-esteem, there is a big push for brands to show how perfectly imperfect we all are and engage everyone.
Dove, the third most chosen brand in this sector, has long had an association with the promotion of a more realistic view of beauty with their award-winning Campaign for Real Beauty. Last year saw the launch of their Pro Age skincare range aimed at the over-65 market. The brand’s 3% increase in CRPs was in part also due to the Dove Men+Care range which performed well in deodorants and skin cleansing as well as the new Visible Glow self-tan product launch. Nivea in position 2 also recognised the need for skincare for the older market with the debut of their Q10 60+ product, an extension to the Q10 range launched the year before.
Pantene launched the premium Hair Biology range last year with a strong celebrity-led PR campaign behind it. The new range included a product targeted at grey hair which was a first for a mainstream brand. They also launched Pantene Gold, an intensive moisturising range aimed at ethnic hair. Elvive, just outside the top 20, increased CRPs by 6% in this year’s ranking and launched a purple shampoo to target people with grey hair. Tapping into more moments, the brand also developed Elvive Rapid Revivers, a range of “power conditioners” aimed at the time poor consumer.
With changes in perception of beauty, and a widening acceptance of what is normal, hair removal has become an option rather than a requirement. We see almost a million fewer weekly shaving occasions compared to 10 years ago and of those, only one quarter of women shaving claim to be doing so because society says they should.
Direct to consumer brand Billie broke the mould in hair removal by being the first to show women shaving actual body hair. In a market that is declining in engagement, they’ve managed to secure $25m from Goldman Sachs – showing how financially important the trend of embracing diversity will become. It also re-emphasises the need for brands to create a transparency and intimacy with their consumers to succeed.
This approach was also echoed by the Venus #MySkinMyWay campaign created to challenge beauty stereotypes. It was built around the fact that 63% of women said that they would feel more comfortable if they saw more women “like them” represented in adverts and focuses on stories of real women.
