Ch. 16 - Advertising, Public Relations, and Sales Promotion

Public Relations

This year, Benefit Cosmetics wants to engage with their customers more mainly through social media. They wish to lead the social and digital media. Benefit cosmetics PR says they a recreating the brands focus to "act more like a friend" and promote two way conversations and getting users to generate in their own contact.

Ch. 14 - Marketing Channels and Retailing

                Pore O'Clock Campaign

Benefit Cosmetics uses social media and fun campaigns to promote the brand. One of the most successful campaign was "Pore O'Clock." This campaign promoted the POREfessional face primer. Face primer is important before you apply make up because it gives your products a base and helps it last longer. Even though you use face primer, a girl still needs a touch up. If you do your make up early in the morning you will most likely need a touch up around 4 pm. What Benefit did was gather a group of 'spy girls' (like the woman on the product above) and popped up in random offices at 4 pm to hand out product for touch ups. The campaign created a lot of attention they decide to bring it to twitter. The city with the most tweeted hashtag #poreoclock was the city they would appear in again. 

Ch. 6 - Consumer Decision Making

Consumer Values

"Cruelty FREE"

By saying your product is "cruelty free" you are expanding your marketing to vegans or consumers who are pro animal safety. Benefit uses the line that they are cruelty free but there is a loop hole that people over look. It's not really a trick but a lot of people over look it and purchase the product anyway.

Benefit does not test our cosmetic products on animals. When selecting the ingredients to be used in our cosmetic products, Benefit requires raw material suppliers to provide safety information based on scientifically accepted alternative testing methods that meet international safety standards and regulations. Benefit products must meet both consumers’ needs and consumer safety, while respecting animal life. Benefit continues to strongly support & favor alternative testing and is committed to following all animal testing laws and regulations in order to ensure our products’ safety for the end consumer.

So pretty much what Benefit are hiding is that if by law they are required to test a product or ingredient on animals THEY WILL. They disguise this fact with saying how they support and favour alternative testing. Here is the evidence that Benefit Cosmetics are still performing animal testing –  they are“committed to following all animal testing laws and regulations in order to ensure our products’ safety for the end consumer.”

The average consumer may think that ‘They don’t test on animals unless they have to by law so they care about animals and are just abiding by laws’. What they don’t mention is that they DO NOT HAVE TO use those ingredients that require testing or sell to countries that legally request animal testing (China). There are thousands of ingredients that are considered safe and we are talking about cosmetics here, not life saving medication so there is no sufficient argument for any company to be producing a product that harms animal.

SOURCE: https://rabbitrecommended.wordpress.com/2012/01/15/how-to-pick-a-cruelty-free-lie/

Ch. 5 - Developing A Global Vision

Benefit Cosmetics started up as a small shop in San Francisco then worked its way to NYC. Now You can purchase the products all over the world online or in-stores. They even have a vending machine at airports!

Evolving its Marketing in China

Valerie Hoecke, senior vice president of digital experience and commerce at Benefit Cosmetics figured out how to reach out to China. Research has shown that most people from there rarely communicate via email or shop from a direct online store. Instead they use online websites like Ebay or Taobo. Benefit already had their products in high end beauty stores around China but they wanted to market the brand. They created a website specifically for China. This website is more to inform the consumer about the different products. Benefit Cosmetics relies more on third-party stores. Ex. Sephora and Ulta Beauty.

Skin care, eyes, and humidity are the three major things Benefit took into consideration when making products for the region. Most asians are known for having shorter, straighter lashes so they released an eyeliner along with eight other products targeting what the consumers want.