Case Study: Media Mix Conveys Heart of Brand; Establishes Foothold in the Market

Indelible, a digital innovation company specializing in beauty and cosmetics brands, recently conceptualized and created an e-commerce website and Facebook presence for prestige skin care line Love Life Skin. The digital and social media campaign spurred impressive growth for a nascent brand in the crowded luxury cosmeceuticals market.

Background

Launched in 2011, the website spotlights Love Life Skin’s origin as well as its revolutionary formula. The brand was founded by Ranee Flynn, a cancer survivor and a veteran in the beauty industry. While receiving chemotherapy in her doctor’s office, Flynn overheard cancer specialist Ann Marie Beddoe, MD, comforting a patient who complained about chemotherapy’s ravaging effects on her skin. When Dr. Beddoe expressed her wishes for a skin care line to combat the dehydrating effects of chemotherapy, Flynn chimed in and offered to help. Out of this serendipitous moment, Love Life Skin was born.

Flynn was enlisted by a team of oncologists—Dr. Beddoe, Peter Dottino, MD; and Rudy Segna, MD—to carry out her vision for a line of products that all women, not just those undergoing chemotherapy, could use, and chemist Tian Wang, PhD, was brought in to help formulate a unique concentrate. He was directed to spare no expense in development, and the outcome was Recovery Elixir 31—a blend of 31 of the world’s most powerful organic botanicals, antioxidants and moisturizing ingredients formulated to revitalize ravaged skin.

The Mission

Indelible’s mission was to launch a unique cosmeceutical skin care line formulated to rehydrate and heal even the driest, most traumatized skin. While designing the e-commerce and Facebook sites, Indelible was mindful that the brand must be presented not only as a top-of-the-line product with a clinically proven formula but also a product with the power to heal from the outside in.

The goal was to convey a revolutionary product without losing the emotion and heart behind it. Through thoughtful organization of the website architecture, it was possible to communicate the inspiration behind the brand and science behind the formula without making it too clinical.

The Mix

Indelible produced a sophisticated, clean website designed to speak to the audiences on many different levels. An easily navigable home page greets visitors with an invitation to watch an introductory video that tells the soup-to-nuts story of Love Life Skin. The “How it Works” and “Results” sections delve a little further into the science and technology of the formula.

The “Testimonials” section features written and video testimonials from customers and cancer patients who have experienced the products’ effects firsthand. Finally, in the “Products” section, customers may purchase any of the four Love Life Skin products ($65–150), with 10% of the proceeds going to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund. On March 15, 2011, a Facebook page was launched, and the first ad buy was made. The Facebook page delivered a straightforward, empowering message that immediately struck a chord with women. The target consumers were receptive to the brand from the very start, and a lot of women commented and liked all of the Facebook posts from the beginning.

Outcome

Despite Love Life Skin’s positioning in the beauty industry (a new brand with relatively little advertising), the ad buy yielded notable results, as well. Every weekly and bimonthly report showed increases, and they projected increases for the end of the campaign because the rate at which fans were acquired kept increasing. A large percentage of these fans arrived at the page organically, an unusual phenomenon for such a fledgling product with a modest marketing budget. Less than one month after launch, the Facebook page acquired 2,600 fans. Several weeks later, it reached 7,000. The success of Love Life Skin’s Facebook page is evidenced by the cost per Facebook fan: Indelible was initially benchmarked at $5 per Facebook fan. In actuality, the cost per fan is $1.85.

“Indelible understood how to present Love Life Skin not only as a beauty product, but as a brand with both science and soul,” says Flynn. “Love Life Skin is for women who just want to feel good about themselves. Indelible grasped that fundamental message and translated it into a powerful, heartfelt campaign.”

Love Life Skin may be the new kid on the block in the world of prestige skin care, but the brand’s revolutionary technology and unique back story was capitalized to help build a reputation to better compete with La Prairie, Cle de Peau and other veteran prestige beauty products.

Ross Glick is the CEO and co-founder of Indelible, a full-service digital innovation company and production studio specializing in experience commerce, social media ownership and narrative marketing. The company’s services are designed to improve brands’ performance in any space, and its portfolio of clients include Sephora, Allergan, Shering-Plough, Chanel, Mac, Sony, Casio, Playboy and Ladies’ Home Journal.

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