CASE STUDY: How Watsons tapped women's innate desires to push own-brand products

Background

Facing increasing competition from overseas personal care stores entering the Chinese market, such as Sasa, Mannings, Sephora and Bonjour, Watsons wanted to enhance its brand image and enlarge its membership enrollment numbers.

Watsons' target was to build an emotional connection with 18- to 35-year-old consumers who are modern, urban Chinese women with unique fashion and beauty senses. According to internal research, Watsons' main media delivery method is still traditional print media, and lacks interactive communication with consumers.

After analysing behaviourial habits of the target audience, OMD found today's independent-minded young women like sharing beauty tips with their girlfriends; are accustomed to using social media as a main source of beauty knowledge; and view online video sites as a source of entertainment. These women also like to define their own beauty styles to show off their individualistic characters.

 

Execution

Watsons approached OMD China to drive awareness of its brand proposition “Live Beautifully”.

Notable executions included branded content—eight episodes of an online beauty pageant broadcast on watsons.tudou.com, a Tudou microsite created for this program, as well as a Renren-driven campaign featuring local singer Laure Shang Wen Jie.

In the Tudou beauty pageant called YOU AWARDS 2011, participants (who were required to be Watsons’ club members) underwent image changes by using in-house beauty products from Watsons. The winner from 12 finalists was offered a female leading role for an original Tudou idol drama production.

In the Renren campaign, OMD commissioned Shang to produce a original song titled 'Live Beautifully' as well as a music video for Watsons. The song was the core communication vehicle for the campaign including both online and offline executions on Watsons' branded SNS page on Renren, music site Kugou.com, and fashion magazine Marie Claire Beauty.

Eight on-ground autograph sessions with appearances from Shang were staged at shopping malls housing Watsons stores. Consumers obtained a free single of the song and got close to Shang, on the condition that they bought a certain dollar amount of Watsons' products.

As part of a collaboration with Marie Claire Beauty, a five-page spread introducing various Watsons' branded products was featured. Products include Watsons 'Water 360' shampoo and conditioner, Watsons' coconut bath oil, Watsons bird's nest essence whitening facial mask & antioxidant body lotion, Watsons Rose Fairy hydrating facial toner, and Watsons Collagen BB cream—all own-brand products.

In addition, a selection of females who uploaded their prettiest photos onto Renren were showcased as 'cover girls' in the magazine.

Results

The series of activities effectively raised awareness of Watsons' new brand proposition to 80 per cent. Watsons' Renren brand page attracted 130,000 fans and generated more than 2.3 million posts. The pageant finals was broadcast live with more than 620,000 simultaneous viewers online and 320,000 actively voting and commenting. The 'Live Beautifully' theme song and MV were downloaded more than 700,000 times and streamed online for 120 million times.