Neutrogena goes online

Developed by Agenda, the new drive will feature two mainland personalities, who encounter a series of challenges, tapping into the insecurities that many young Chinese women feel in terms of skincare.

One of the protagonists is CCTV presenter Zhao Shi Meng, while the other is a highly popular blogger, whose identity is being kept confidential ahead of the campaign's May launch.

"We've always looked out for ways to better connect with our consumers, and this comes out of our deep understanding of our target market," said Neutrogena group brand manager Sara Kim. "We learned that the best vehicle for personal bonding with consumers is web media, so we can have a more interactive relation with them."

The drive follows monitoring of China's blog community, which found, according to Agenda regional vice-president of strategic planning Magdalena Wszelaki, that Neutrogena's core audience of top-tier city women exhibit considerable concern over why they have good and bad skin days.

"A lot of the competitor messaging focuses on making scientific claims, or on the aspirational element," said Wszelaki. "We felt what was missing was an emotional connection."

The series of six webisodes features the two girls being thrown interesting challenges in the areas of beauty and skincare, love and relationships, and career. The duo will share their learnings via a semi-reality TV style that is lightly scripted and features only subtle product placement.

The series will air on the China portal NetEase, and allows netizens to submit their own challenges via the web. Other media involved in the campaign includes email, PR and TV ?the latter two developed by Ogilvy PR and Nitro.

"While we continue to invest in traditional media, we will progressively apportion more dollars to online media, reflecting the evolving media habits of our target market," added Kim.

Neutrogena's key competitors in China include L'Oreal's Vichy, along with other brands such as Olay.