Why is this work relevant for Brand Experience & Activation ?

Rather than rely on influencers, we turned our passive product into active influencers by creating four original characters based on our skincare masks. The Rubber Mask Lovers went on-ground to meet fans and followers, while engaging them and continuing the conversations online. Compared to traditional skincare product campaigns, we created a new and disruptive brand experience for a beauty brand in China.

Background

Brands and followers have grown tired of pretentious influencers, and are looking for fun personalities that can offer fresh experiences. Dr.Jart+ wanted to launch its new range of Rubber Mask skincare masks in China. However, it had neither a famous face nor the budget of competing skincare brands. Our objective was to heighten awareness, encourage product trial for new customers, and increase brand affinity.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

The Dr. Jart+ Rubber Mask “Beautiful Journey” campaign is a strange and wonderful journey towards beautiful skin. Dr.Jart+ was introducing a new range of skincare masks, each brightly coloured according to its function. Rather than rely on influencers to establish the product’s credentials, we decided to generate compelling content with influencers of our own. We proposed the idea of four alien-like young women with brightly coloured faces to represent the four products. They would be tasked to cross the nation trying to discover all the beauty in the world through a ‘Beautiful Adventure’. The four became ambassadors of skincare, making regular posts about their adventures and engaging with real customers through their social media channels about the products. Their journey was designed to strike a chord with our target audience and start them off on a beautiful adventure of their own with Dr.Jart+ Rubber Masks.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

The norm of the beauty industry is to rely on a famous face to push products. The celebrity mattered just as much, or even more than the brand or product, creating a largely similar brand experience. For this campaign, we decided to disrupt the practice of being dependant on influencers over brand or product, and instead creating our own fictional influencers - the Rubber Mask Lovers - and along with them, a new and disruptive brand experience for a beauty brand in China. To this end we created the first fictional influencers in China.

Describe the execution (30% of vote)

Throughout the months between August 2017 to April 2018, our fictional influencers went around the nation in search of all things beautiful, discovering beautiful souls, wear beautiful fashion, hang-out in beautiful places and share the secrets behind beautiful skin. On Valentine’s Day, the campaign also centered on a beautifully romantic love story between one of the characters and an 'Earthling' they met on their adventure. As they journeyed, they made regular posts about their adventures and engaged with real customers through their social media channels about the products. On our official WeChat account, Weibo and Instagram, they talked to fans, and interacted with other influencers. Their journey was designed to strike a chord with our target audience and start them off on a beautiful adventure of their own with Dr.Jart+ Rubber Masks.

List the results (30% of vote)

Our rubber-masked friends approached their beautiful journey with a sense of awe and wonder and created a huge following through social media posts. In 3 months, the fictional influencers accumulated over 42 million total impressions on the Chinese internet and 17,000 followers on Instagram. Fuelled by the high traffic to Dr. Jart+’s T-Mall, the brand saw an increase of 185 percent in sales.