Maybelline gives women 'virtual' makeover in HK

Online marketing company Open Creative has developed an interactive touch-screen kiosk for L'Oreal's Maybelline cosmetics brand, giving female consumers a virtual makeover.

According to Manpreet Chadha, CEO of Open Creative, the kiosk works by capturing the customer's photo and 'virtually' giving it a makeover by applying various makeup shades from the newly-launched line of Maybelline cosmetics. The consumer is also given a full colour printout of the makeover. The kiosk will be located at the company's flagship store in Mongkok. "The kiosk is free to use and there to create an interest to educate and 'influence' the buying decision of the store customer on the new product lines. It's really there to help invite and 'pull' people into the store and serve as a good attention getter," said Chadha. He added that the software interface was developed using Flash MX in order to incorporate rich graphics and audio. "Hardware posed the main issue as the Kiosk unit was custom-built to hoist from the side-wall the touch-screen only (the CPU unit was hidden away from customers view). We needed to ensure the whole unit was durable and of-course resistance to abuse/breakdown," he said. A CD-Rom kit was also created with interactive personality tests, games, downloads and a makeup guide.