On 21 February, L’Oréal Paris launched its International Women’s Day (IWD) campaign, more than 3 weeks ahead of the 8 March date. With its head start, the French cosmetics giant began releasing a series of 14 podcast episodes with various partners between the launch date and 6 March. The French brand will also host a livestream for the campaign on Weibo and Rednote on 26 February.
This year, the podcast discusses the lived experiences of women in China, around a collective theme of “It’s ok, every step was worth it”. It is an interpretation of the French brand’s slogan “Because you’re worth it” which has been empowering women since 1971. At the same time, L’Oréal Paris also released 3 short video adverts featuring brand ambassadors’ Chinese actresses Tang Yan and Zhong Chuxi, as well as Chinese-born Singaporean actress Gong Li.
Earlier this month, L’Oréal Groupe released its annual financial report, which shows that despite the fact the group reached its highest revenue in five years at 43.49 billion EUR (45.50 billion USD), up 5.1% year-on-year (YoY), North Asia is the only region for the group to see decreased revenue. The beauty department, including L’Oréal Paris, also shrunk in Mainland China. The single-digit decrease marks the first time L’Oréal has seen negative growth in China for 10 years.
Some commentators believe that L’Oréal-owned brands need to “dive” (下沉) deeper into lower-tiered cities and towns in China, more than its current explorations. However, for a premium brand like L’Oréal, there’s a balance between maintaining its metropolitan brand positioning and expanding. The latest IWD campaign, decidedly rooted in the intellectual class, seems to confirm that the core customer cohort for the brand remains the metropolitan youth.
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