The Campaign

To launch Garnier Pure Active, a brand that fights six skin problems like pimples, as well as its new brand ambassador, Georgina Wilson, we had to outsmart rather than outspend our competitors. Since pimply teenagers spend a lot of time on social media, we wanted to make Garnier Pure Active the most talked about skincare brand online. Leveraging on the insight that Filipinos associate pimples with love, we asked Georgina to start the conversation on ‘what are the #6signs of love’ on Twitter in the hope that ‘pimples’ would come up. We timed it in February, the love month. As hoped, pimples were one of the most tweeted replies. Georgina then announced that she found the perfect solution for pimples in Garnier Pure Active. @Garnierph joined the conversation and announced it will award the best answers with the product. The connection was made and Twitter followers were ecstatic. We trended globally and locally making Garnier became the most talked about skincare brand online, despite zero media spend. Best of all, as of June, Garnier Pure Active scrub is the fastest growing facial wash in the Philippines and Garnier Pure Active roll-on is the number one selling special care acne product.

The Brief

To launch Garnier Pure Active and it’s new endorser, Georgina Wilson in a cost-effective and efficient way leveraging on our social media channels and be the most talked about skin care brand online. The launch targeted pimply teenagers who spent a lot of time on social media sites like Facebook & Twitter. We observed that riding on Twitter trending topics was a habit among the youth so we knew we had to start the right conversation so they would want to participate and hopefully generate the buzz that we needed for Garnier Pure Active without spending on media.

Results

We outvoiced competition on social media with 48% SOV and 98% positive sentiment (Source: Radian 6) making Garnier the most talked-about skin care brand on social media from January to March. Garnier generated 5,000 mentions on Twitter alone making it trend globally and locally for two days and stories on Garnier Pure Active appeared 350,000 times on Facebook newsfeeds and generated 900 post stories with people liking, commenting and sharing. Georgina’s endorsement for the brand also received positive feedback from consumers and generated brand love from her own followers. More importantly, all that buzz translated to real sales. According to Nielsen Retail Panel Data (June 2012) Garnier Pure Active Scrub is now the fastest growing facial wash in the Philippines and Garnier Pure Active Roll On is the number one special care brand for acne. All this with no paid media support and solely through social media efforts.

Execution

February was love month, the perfect time to talk about love and pimples. Rather than running the campaign through @Garnierph, we asked Georgina to tweet ‘what are the #6signs of love’ first, with hopes that people would actually tweet ‘pimples’ as one of the #6signs so we could connect it back to the brand launch. Luckily, they did and the connection was made. By the end of the day, Georgina revealed that pimples are indeed one of the #6signs -- the best solution for which is Garnier Pure Active, a product she now endorses. @Garnierph then joined the conversation, welcomed Georgina and thanked everyone who answered. To sustain the excitement among our Facebook fans, we treated twenty of our most active fans to an exclusive Fan’s Day with Georgina. By integrating Georgina’s skin care tips with product pushes, we continued to drive conversations about Pure Active even after the launch.

The Situation

The skin care category in the Philippines is one of the noisiest and is led primarily by whitening creams with huge media budgets like Pond’s, Olay and J&J. Garnier a relative newcomer in the category, has low awareness and is a far third in terms of market share. Challenged with building the brand with limited marketing budget, we maximized the brand’s exposure online by growing and engaging our online communities on Facebook and Twitter. We started 2012, with 28% SOV behind Pond’s & Olay. Now, we had to leverage these communities for the launch of Garnier Pure Active.

The Strategy

With no paid media money and at the heels of Pond’s recent TV launch of their pimple scrub & Clean & Clear’s well-established equity as the anti-pimple brand for teens, we knew we had to leverage on: 1. Georgina Wilson, the new brand ambassador, & her strong follower base on Twitter 2. Garnier’s 215,000 strong community on Facebook and growing follower base on Twitter 3. An insight about the target market and pimples that would generate conversations about Garnier Pure Active. 4. Insight: Filipinos associate pimples with love. People often joke by saying, ‘In love ka siguro, kaya may pimple ka’. Seeing a pimple on someone’s face is a sign that he/she is in love. While people don’t always talk about pimples, they most certainly like talking about love. And that’s what we used as a hook for our campaign.