Kendall Jenner for Estée Lauder
Beauty marketer Estée Lauder is showing how its latest product multitasks with a campaign fronted by model Kendall Jenner.
Estée Lauder’s Little Black Primer is described as a “lash multi-tasker” that can be worn alone or with a preferred mascara to boost effects. Ms. Jenner was selected by the beauty brand as its ambassador in November to align Estée Lauder’s namesake products with a younger consumer sect, likely enamored by the model’s notoriety.
“Women think of beauty as a fashion accessory,” said Richard Ferretti, senior vice president, global creative director at Estée Lauder, New York.
Fashion is modern and of the moment,” he said. “This campaign represents just how modern the product is.
“It’s quick, easy, cool. The new generation of Estée Lauder women should be seeing themselves this way.”
Eyeing new consumers
In addition to appearing in ads across print, television and digital, Ms. Jenner will create branded social media content for her own channels and Estée Lauder’s. As a “breakout star” in fashion, Ms. Jenner’s ads will likely draw attention from younger consumers (see story).
As of press time, Estée Lauder and Ms. Jenner’s post about the Little Black Primer campaign was about neck-in-neck in likes with 7,267 for the brand and 8,688 for the model.
Kendall Jenner Facebook post for Little Black Primer
Estée Lauder’s post provides a link to the YouTube page for the Little Black Primer teaser video rather than directing consumers to the product Web site. The About Section tells the consumer that Little Black Primer is “the little black dress for lash” and that “no well-dressed lashes should be without it,” along with a brief how-to.
Given the social media-savvy of the campaign star, the hashtag #LittleBlackPrimer is being used as well.
When the “Learn More” link is clicked, the consumer is brought to the Little Black Primer product page on Estée Lauder’s Web site. Here, the full campaign video can be watched.
The video begins with the camera speeding down a hallway and gazing into a keyhole that becomes Ms. Jenner’s eye. Set to lively dance music, the black-and-white video shows up-close views of Ms. Jenner’s lashes as she walks across the checkered floor of a decadent room.
Little Black Primer starring Kendall Jenner | Estée Lauder
After the video plays, the consumer learns that Ms. Jenner wears Little Black Primer with and without mascara, to show the product’s versatility. Below, Estée Lauder notes that “full-on lashes start this way” rather than incorporating a basic “explore” or “discover” prompt commonly found in digital marketing.
As the consumer scrolls down, words such as “tint” and “amplify” appear on the screen with supporting sentences showing the word in bold font to describe product usage. For example, Little Black Primer can be “[worn] over mascara to set lashes with a water-resistant finish.”
Web site for Little Black Primer
Estée Lauder’s following section “Give Eyes the Edge” shows three different beauty looks that all begin with Little Black Primer. Looks include Natural, Intensified and Dramatic and list the tools needed for each, while clicking the plus icon tells the consumer how to properly apply.
“Little Black Primer can be worn alone or with your favorite mascara to get the lashes you want,”
said Meryl Truffelman Macune, vice president, global digital marketing at Estée Lauder, New York. “Mascara is just one element, and we want to give women the tools on how to complete their overall eye look.”
Little Black Primer Intensified look
The beauty brand has enabled ecommerce through four mascaras, including the Little Black Primer, that can be purchased through a “Quick Shop” option. The Quick Shop option gives additional product details, as well as reviews, and does not navigate away from the Little Black Primer content hub.
In the final section, consumers can scroll through a user-generated content element that shows product and user images in addition to those taken by Ms. Jenner. Posts aggregated to the Web site are filtered by the hashtag #LittleBlackPrimer.
#LittleBlackPrimer user-generated content section
“We know the power of user-generated content among younger consumers so we are tapping into the excitement around Little Black Primer and Kendall Jenner by featuring user-generated content on our site,” said Ms. Truffelman Macune.
Beauty interactive
Estée Lauder continually prides itself on being among the top marketers in the digital space in the beauty sector.
Beauty is an especially successful ecommerce category with distribution, online reviews and search visibility on retail sites being the most important factors when it comes to giving some brands an edge over others, according to L2’s latest report.
Search visibility is a key factor in improving a brand’s ecommerce, and Estée Lauder is currently the forerunning in this arena. The Estée Lauder Company owns six of the top 10 most visible brands on Nordstrom.com, as measured by the average first-page visibility for relevant key-word searches (see story).
“What we see here is Estée Lauder, a long-established beauty brand now perceived as tightly affiliated to boomers, going after the rising millennial market,” said Stacy DeBroff, CEO/founder of Influence Central, Newton, MA. “Kendall represents the teen-gone-sophisticate of all things cool, including black eyeliner and smoky eyes.
“Our recent large study on marketing to millennials reveals how nearly 60 percent are highly engaged in pop culture and consumerism, and almost 70 percent share videos they discover online with their peers,” she said. “Here, a brand perceived as dated by the rising millennials becomes centered in visual, edgy cool.
“Estée Lauder has smartly played on teens and young 20-somethings being mesmerized (and of note, Moms being overall appalled – thus it has a rebellious feel to it) by Kendall’s trendy transformation to the latest make-up wielding reality star darling of the Kardashian clan.”
Final Take
Jen King, lead reporter on Luxury Daily, New York