L’Oréal Taps Argentinean Journalist as New Spokeswoman

From left, the local face of L’Oréal Paris’ Revitalift antiaging product, Argentinean television journalist María Laura Santillán, with L’Oréal Paris’ Eleonora Kaplan.
From left, the local face of L’Oréal Paris’ Revitalift antiaging product, Argentinean television journalist María Laura Santillán, with L’Oréal Paris’ Eleonora Kaplan.

L’Oréal Paris has selected the prestigious Argentinean television journalist María Laura Santillán to be the local face of its Revitalift antiaging product. “This is the first time a local personality has been chosen to represent a product in the Dermo-Expertise skin care line—at the international level, Hollywood actress Andie McDowell is the face of Revitalift campaigns,” Eleonora Kaplan, responsible for L’Oréal Paris’ Argentine public relations, told GCI magazine. The campaign was introduced during an event for industry media and special guests.

At the same event, Dominique Marceau was presented as the new general director of the consumer products division of L’Oréal Argentina, which is responsible for the L’Oréal Paris, Maybelline NY and Garnier brands. Marceau, who replaces Julio Quiroga, overseen L’Oréal operations in Morocco, Spain and Italy.

Pierre Fabre Resort/ Spa Launch

As part of its strategy to introduce additions to the Cellu/Reverse by Elancyl line, French company Pierre Fabre aligned with another luxury brand, Starwood Hotels, and organized a special trip for the most renowned Argentine beauty editors to Sheraton Iguazú Resort & Spa’s Seda Pool & Spa, located in Argentina’s Misiones province. This product is designed to address cellulite in the waist and stomach areas, with a formula based on Szechuan pepper. Seda Pool & Spa offers exclusive beauty treatments based on raw materials from the Misiones province, which are applied in an ideal context for relaxation, with the Iguazú waterfalls as scenery.

Issue Group’s Sales Up

Argentine beauty company Issue Group—marketer of the Denney, Neva Hills and Issue brands and considered a leader in hair coloring products—reported sales of more than $13 million during the first half of 2009. Revenue grew 17.8% in local currency, and the number of units sold grew 5.4%, in comparison to the same period in 2008. According to Marcelo Rubaja, CEO of Issue Group, “The firm expects to exceed the 80 million units sold in 2009.”

In exported units, the company reported an increase of 3% over the same period in 2008. Issue Group exports to 29 countries—including Cuba, Australia, Chile, Brazil, Paraguay, the U.S., Uruguay and Mexico. It also operates subsidiaries in Mexico, Brazil and Uruguay.

Bottle Samples Imply Complete Experience

According to a market report from Kitelab and presented Aptar B&H Latin America, women in Argentina prefer bottle samples for fragrances, “since they imply a complete sensorial experience.”

The Role of Sampling in the Fragrance Category report focuses on the value consumers give to samples and consumer habits with regard to fragrances. “The samples [create] recognition of the brand in consumers, generating a link between them and brand or product,” said Lila Guerrero, president of Kitelab. “Samples are highly appreciated by consumers, and provide a first experience of the product.”

The report also noted Argentine women frequently own multiple fragrances, that they buy these products for themselves or their loved ones, and that they alternate between fragrances according to the occasion, their state of mind and the cost of the fragrance. The research concluded that samples have a key role at the moment the consumer decides to buy a fragrance, and that there’s a general predisposition to try and incorporate new products and to acquire larger sizes.

Cristina Kroll is a business journalist specializing in the beauty sector and living in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She has written for the main Argentine magazines related to the beauty business, and was a correspondent for French magazine Beauty Business News.

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