Revlon is switching from traditional marketing to revamp its legacy awareness, with the support of its agency village.
The personal care product company is a trusted, household name known for its quality and affordable products.
But the challenge the brand faces is its legacy of being known for traditional makeup such as a bold lip or long wearing foundation, Revlon head of marketing Amy Kingon Smith told AdNews.
Today's makeup category is seeing a proliferation of innovative products and keeping pace ahead of new local competitor brands is a real challenge.
As a result, women are not necessarily thinking of Revlon for their makeup repertoire because of these smaller, innovative, indie brands or new entrants in the marketplace.
So the brand’s recently completed agency village - with media agency Spark Foundry, creative agency independent Emotive and PR agency Stark Matthews - is innovating Revlon’s relevance.
“We need to be taking more risks and have the right agency village to support us,” Kingon Smith said.
“Our agencies are challenging us to make bolder decisions and doing things in a less traditional way.”
Luna Park’s face makeover, with Revlon lipstick, eye makeup, foundation and blush, is a prime example of this agency push.
“We will never have the highest media or brand spend compared to our competitors, so we need to do things differently,” Kingon Smith said.
“To avoid being wallpaper as a legacy brand, you need to do things that are a bit surprising.”
Especially within the face category - which includes products like illuminators, highlighters and even concealers - Revlon is challenged by keeping up with modern trends as women are using a larger number of products.
“The younger consumer is a challenge for many legacy brands, for makeup they are not wearing foundation in the same way that the millennial and beyond were,” Kingon Smith.
“Younger consumers want a beautiful moisturiser, highlighter and some concealer - while they might think they are more minimalist, actually their regime is more complex.”
Revlon finds these insights through consumer research, analysing the brand’s scan data or other sources like research company Euromonitor.
“But often the best research is found in our team, which features a huge age range and they often see the TikTok trends before I do,” Kingon Smith said.
While the agency partnerships are still in its early days and the brand is focusing on pushing through Q4, Revlon’s plans for the future focuses on local product innovations and influencer partnerships to shift consumer perception.
“We've had some autonomy to do our own local product innovation to combat some of those trends that we're seeing in the marketplace,” Kingon Smith said.
“We launched an ANZ only illuminance range but we used our own staff to model the products, like a start up brand, we’re also briefing our media partners on how we want to do things differently.
“And soon a first of its kind TikTok partnership will also highlight those products.
“Every brand talks about TikTok and digital-first but you've got to have the right product line to support that otherwise it looks ‘try hard’.
“Really thinking of the channel first then message and product, rather than a mass awareness brand approach is critical.”
Above all the brand is focused on local-led insights.
“Yes we're a global brand, we celebrate that, but traditionally the big beauty brands advertise in a formulaic way with here’s the beauty ambassador, here's the product, here's the key claim - we need to shake it up,” Kingon Smith said.
“There's a place for that, but if you're trying to get noticed and be reconsidered it's about looking at those either fame driving initiatives or creating your own surprising products which people might not immediately associate with Revlon.”
Continuing the brand’s retailer partnerships is also important, as Revlon does not own its own retail stores.
“So much of how we activate and partner is really important, with the likes of Such as Chemist Warehouse, Priceline, Myer and Independent pharmacies, because we don't control our own retail space,” Kingon Smith said.
“Making sure our store units give that ideal shopping experience is definitely important to us.”
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