PHD shifts Ingrid Millet's brand building to TV

The brand previously used mainly print and OOH advertising, but with its change in the marketing strategy to boost brand building, PHD Hong Kong advised the client to focus its media resources on extensive TV advertising instead.

With the huge competition from well-known international cosmetic brands like SKII and L’Oreal, Ray Wong, chief executive officer of PHD Hong Kong reckoned that for cosmetic brands, brand image building on TV is still more powerful than print.

“We suggested the client to focus their media investment on TV advertisng, as people still have a general belief that when they see brands doing TVCs, they feel the brands have more credibility as TVC is still the most expensive media investment," Wong said.

Currently the brand is running its new TV campaign on TVB Jade, My TV, Now TV and iCable and is in the process of expanding to outdoor TV platforms.

Unlike other consumers cosmetic brands, Ingrid Millet is more niche, as it also offers facial treatments, including high-end laser facial, in addition to its cosmetic products. The brand is targeting 35-year-old-plus women and men with high disposable income. Hence its 38 branches in Hong Kong are all located in business and commercial districts, with additional branches in China in high-end shopping mall like Taikoo Hu in Guangzhou.

According to the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, one of the interesting product trends in the cosmetic section is that the aging population is driving the recent surge in "cosmeceutical" products that combine cosmetics with vitamins, herbs, and sometimes pharmaceuticals, such as Vitamin-C lotions, tea tree oil-infused cleansers and collagen masks (collagen is formerly used in treatment of burns). Many of these medicinal beauty products focus on anti-aging.

In 1959, French cosmetologist Ingrid Millet made the discovery that plant cellular extracts have a remarkable rejuvenating effect on the skin. She became the first to use them in cosmetics, as a mean of combating premature skin ageing.

Reported last year, Ray Wong himself had taken a turn in front of the cameras to endorse OMG's client Estée Lauder's Lab Series MAX LS Age-Less face cream products.