I have to say I was a little disappointed that I didn’t see a strong presence from the major cosmetics and personal care companies on Pinterest. some of which are even difficult to find.

Cosmetics and Personal companies exist to make you more beautiful, they are selling beauty, happiness, success, attractiveness, desire, self-esteem, relationships and more through beautiful images.   Thus Pinterest would seem a good choice for cosmetics and personal care brands to be present and share images and information through Pinterest boards.

What can brands do to use Pinterest more effectively?

• Add a Pinterest “follow” or “pin it” button to their website.

• Crowdsource – ask fans of your brand to pin pictures of themselves with their favorite product and tag you. After that repin those photos into a VIP board.  Good example:

L’Occitane

http://pinterest.com/loccitane   593 followers

From my point of view they are running a very successful Pinterest account out of New York. In addition to the lifestyle boards (home, culture & fashion, hand made, nature, food, events, vintage posters, etc), they are doing a great job of repining content from Pinterest and linking it to their online store http://pinterest.com/loccitane/from-the-pin-osphere/

• Focus Group. Glean insights about your target market by looking at the Pinners who follow your brand, what they are pinning, who they are following and who their followers are.
• Expand your Boards. Get inspiration and ideas of the type of content the Pinterest community favor and expand your boards and pins accordingly. Good example:

Bergdorf Goodman

http://pinterest.com/bergdorfs/  18240 followers

Retailer Bergdorf Goodman – in addition to regular brands boards, like “Louboutin”, “Tom Ford” and product focused boards, like “Safe Sun”, “Earrings”, “5F Denim Refined”,  “Gifts for Kids”, lifestyle pins like “My life’s work” , “Dec Home Inspiration”,  has very creative and inspiring pinboards, like: “ I never forget..”, “I have a weakness for…”, “If you had $300 to spend…”, “Sundays are made for…”

• Enhance your brand image. Think about the type of pinboards that will enhance your brand image and use theme-based pinboards to support it.  Good example:

Weleda

http://pinterest.com/weleda/  a very small account with 49 followers

I like the boards: “our beautiful world”, “fair trade”, “plants leading the world”. My advice is to have more inspiring lifestyle boards and less product boards.

• Keywords and Hashtags. Optimise each pin by adding keywords that users may be likely to search for. Use multiple hashtags, however bear in mind that too many can look like spam.

•  Link back to your website. Add a URL in the pin description to bring users to your website/pages. Good example:

L’Oréal Paris

http://pinterest.com/lorealparisfr (small French account) 294 followers

It is not easy to find the official L’Oreal Pinterest channel and the company will clearly have to do a better job of separating their international accounts for users and followers. The French account I found does have just a few regular boards (Make-up eyes, make-up lips, hair, nails, etc) and one very interesting board: http://pinterest.com/lorealparisfr/les-ambassadrices-l-oreal-paris/ – the brands ambassadors. Many beautiful color and black and white photos are linked back to the company’s website.

• Comment. Comment by typing @username. People like to know that their pin was helpful.

• Add Tips. Put tips on a visually appealing slide with a short phrase and link it back to your website /blog.

• See what is being pinned about your company. Substitute your company URL (http://pinterest.com/source/ADD YOUR URL HERE) to see what’s been shared from your website or blog. Example: http://pinterest.com/source/kgsglobal.com

• Encourage comments. Use your new pins and boards as opportunities to converse with users on Pinterest. Create interest by asking a questions (for ex. “Tell us what you think of our new product?”, “Guess where was this photo taken? “.

• Create a contest. Contests represent one of the new and very popular trends on social media: gamification. Contests will engage your audience, help to build followers and create brand ambassadors. Good example:

Sephora

http://pinterest.com/sephora/  14130 followers

Sephora has created a new competition called ‘Sephora Color Wash ‘http://pinterest.com/sephora/sephora-s-color-wash-sweepstakes/ which keeps things simple and involving.

To participate, users must create a new board titled ‘Sephora Color Wash’ in the Hair & Beauty category, pin the competition page on their board and begin pinning five images featuring their favourite colour, all for the chance to win one of ten $250 Sephora gift cards. All images have to be Sephora products meaning that the brand and its products are not only shared on individual profiles, but also in the categories which more people would view on a daily basis, meaning further exposure for the brand.  Very smart! http://www.sephora.com/contentStore/mediaContentTemplateNoNav.jsp?mediaId=14300138&om_mmc=oth-pinterest-2012apr-colorwash&MobileOptOut=1

• Video.  Encourage your community to post videos. Good example:

Birchbox

http://pinterest.com/birchbox/  11599 followers

Birchbox stands out as a brand using Pinterest in its creative pinboards. Birchbox pinboards offer seasonal content and content by product-type, as you’d expect from a beauty brand. It’s a great mix of audience segmented content, cross-promotion, and direct and indirect marketing. A special board Birchbox has is “un-boxing” http://pinterest.com/birchbox/birchbox-un-boxing-videos/ where community members can post videos to see what they got in their Birchboxes. It also directs clients to the Youtube channel. It’s a great example of how to cross-promote content to give a wider audience exposure to the brand.

• Pin it to unlock.  Good example – GILT, a retailer, who are placing “pin it” buttons next to items for sale as a sharing mechanism. They are taking the whole Pinning trend to another level by allowing users to access special deals on pinned items. The new social commerce feature, “Pin it to Unlock” allows shoppers to unlock a special deal on a GILT Kids products by re-pinning. For example, if a product’s image from Gilt’s site on Pinterest has been pinned 50 times the pin will link to a hidden sale on Gilt.com where shoppers will have the opportunity to purchase the special item.

Infographics source : Mashable Pinterest 

With Pinterest’s continued growth and function, it is the perfect media tool for the beauty industry.

As outlined above there are clearly some early adopters who are already benefiting from having a Pinterest account.  There are, however, many companies who have not even begun to utilise Pinterest.

What are your predictions?

Will we see more and more beauty brands creating accounts and boards?

Which company do you think has used Pinterest the best so far?  And who do you think the beauty brands can learn from?

Please comment on this blog below or join GlobalCosmeticsCommunity to discuss it with your peers.

Your chocolate. Your fans. Your strategy. Social media research made actionable

Thursday May 10, 2 – 2:30 pm EST By  Sourabh Sharma.

Social media research is based on the premise that to understand consumers, we must listen, not ask. In this webinar we will demonstrate how powerful social media insights can be for measuring your brand equity and reach, understanding your competitive landscape, and getting closer to your consumers.

Chocolate is the topic of an exciting case study undertaken by SKIM that demonstrates the opportunities that social media research offers. The result will be an understanding of the actionable recommendations that can rise from social media research, which are useful for marketers, researchers and brand managers alike.

Product portfolio and revenue optimization

Thursday May 24, 2 - 2:30 pm EST By Juan Andrés Tello.

Ever wondered if you should increase your product price or decrease your pack size? Among the many options your pricing, strategy, and research teams face in a competitive consumer environment, this is one of the most common. In this webinar we will explore ways to optimize your pricing and your product portfolio composition to maximize overall revenue.

You will see scenarios bound by real market constraints as they are typically defined by your team. This allows you to decide whether to increase or decrease prices, by how much, whether to up size or downsize your product pack, or introduce a new premium/value line extension or new pack size, or even a combination of all these. This webinar will be useful for management, pricing, strategy and research teams.

Developing winning claims

Thursday June 7, 2 - 2:30 pm EST By Paul Janssen.

What distinguishes a winning communication strategy from a losing one? In this webinar we will show you results of SKIM’s meta-analysis of hundreds of claims across 14 different categories. While popular communication techniques like humor, comparative advertising, jargon, and other approaches appear often in communication efforts, they can unintentionally undermine this message and render a claim ineffective. Instead, our analysis shows that a tangible promise of value is absolutely critical to a claim’s success.

The goal of this webinar is twofold. First, marketers and researchers alike will receive a roadmap for how to develop more effective claims. Second, we can show you how re-analyzing large amounts of data across your studies and categories can be a powerful tool in generating essential consumer insights.

Link for more information and to register

Bulldog, the UK’s first and largest natural skincare brand for men, provides men with a natural alternative amongst the chemical-heavy products currently found on the shelf, making natural grooming more accessible to all.

Simon Duffy,  Co-Founder,  discussed their journey at the InnoCos 2011 event last June in Paris (presentation above).  He spoke about ideation to retailer shelf, the thought process behind creating leading natural formulations that men love and how Bulldog competes by being different and making the best of use of new media.

Want to meet with your peers face-to-face and hear more presentations like this?

Visit InnoCos Europe conference in Geneva, May 30-31, 2012

Visit InnoCos USA conference in New York, July 11-12, 2012

Click HERE to download InnoCos conference agenda

Lux Research is an independent research and advisory firm providing strategic advice and ongoing intelligence for emerging technologies.

In this presentation, given at the InnoCos 2011 event in Paris, Chananit Sintuu, Ph.D, Research Associate at Lux Research Inc. discusses targeted delivery technologies and why partnerships in this field are especially important. Chananit Sintuu shares best practices for partnering in the delivery space with specific examples from the cosmetics industry and shows how various delivery technology developers stack up against each other on the Lux Innovation Grid and how the grid can be used in partner selection process.

Want to hear more?

Visit InnoCos Europe conference in Geneva, May 30-31, 2012

Visit InnoCos USA conference in New York, July 11-12, 2012

Click HERE to download InnoCos conference agenda

Aurelio Schlegel, Marketing Manager Global Personal Care, AkzoNobel

In this interview Aurelio Schlegel walks us through various new technologies and products from AkzoNobel. He discusses the launch of Zeta Fraction™ technology, various new launches in starches (including DRY-FLO® TS ) and two new products in styling applications (including STRUCTURE® STYLE).

AkzoNobel Global Personal Care is a market leader in delivering high performance beauty technologies for leading consumer personal care companies. Driven by innovation and supported by their world class development resources they envision the beauty care needs of tomorrow so they can deliver solutions for beautiful, healthy hair and skin today. Their technology platforms based on natural and synthetic polymers, surfactants and actives are at the core of their business.

Follow @AkzoNobel

Dr. Louise Crascall, Chief Marketing Officer, Vivimed Labs

Louise Crascall, Chief Marketing Officer of Vivimed Labs, talks about the Nisarg™ product range (including Nisarg™ Soapnut, a natural surfactant gentle to skin and environment with excellent foam generation) and the launch of Jarocol® Blue 15, a unique direct blue colorant for semi-permanent and permanent hair dyes.

Vivimed is an Indian-based company with expertise in a range of chemical technologies, providing solutions to personal care customers across a number of markets: hair and skin care actives, UV-filters, antimicrobials, preservatives, thickeners and conditioners. With five production sites that offer flexibility and security of supply, our internationally recognised management certifications prove our passion for manufacturing excellence and our strong commitment to social responsibility.

Products include Etone, a highly effective SPF booster; Vintox, a potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agent; Vividine, a proven hair growth active; Vivinol, for skin lightening and age spot reduction; and the renowned Jarocol® hair dye range.

Arnita Wofford, Global Polymer Product Manager, SEPPIC

Arnita Woffard, Global Polymer Product Manager at Paris-based SEPPIC, discusses the new trends for fall/winter 2013-2014: Apothi’Care and Fantasy Paradox.

SEPPIC has been a wholly owned subsidiary of the Air Liquide Group since 1986 and is part of its Health WBL (World Business Line). For over 60 years they have been designing and supplying innovative specialty chemical products for the cosmetics, pharmaceutical, nutrition, vaccine and industrial markets. Their aim is to advance health and wellbeing. SEPPICs cosmetics business draws on its synthesis, formulation and biology expertise. They offer a full range of innovative ingredients that deliver ease-of-use, technical performance and efficacy to their customer’s formulations.

Follow @SEPPIC

Dr. Ajax K Mohamed, VP Sales, Sabinsa Europe

Dr. Ajax K Mohamed talks about Sabinsa’s focus for 2012/2013.

Sabinsa, founded in 1988, is committed and dedicated to the principles of tradition, innovation and research. Founded on the modern application of standardised ingredients, Sabinsa has established itself as a manufacturer and supplier of high-quality extracts. Sabinsa has brought to market more than thirty standardised extracts and privately funded several clinical studies. Process development and product innovation form the focus of the ongoing R&D efforts. With more than 100 scientists working full time, Sabinsa continues to develop and patent cosmeceuticals. With an office and warehouse in Germany Sabinsa Europe GmbH is able to service customers easily.

Fred Zülli, Managing Director Biochemistry, Mibelle Biochemistry

Fred Zülli, Managing Director Biochemistry at Mibelle Biochemistry, discusses the launch of a new product which boosts collagen and elastin production, stimulates natural growth factors of the skin and renews the skin’s resilience and firmness.

Mibelle Biochemistry designs and develops innovative, high-quality actives based on profound scientific know-how.

Follow @mibelle_biochem

Anna Balaguer, Marketing Manager, Provital Group

Anna Balaguer, Marketing Manager at Provital Group, talks about two new launches: SENSFEEL™: an active designed to enhance man’s appeal; and the anti-aging product CITRUSTEM™ .

Provital Group is a Spanish company, based in Barcelona, dedicated to the research and development, production, marketing and sales of Ingredients and Active Principles for the cosmetic industry. Provital focuses on the creation of novel concepts for natural active ingredients. Besides safety, they study and evaluate the specific actions of their products on the skin and hair, and supply their customers with much more active, sustainable and environment-friendly products.

Samantha Brown, Marketing Manager, InnoSpec

Samantha Brown, Marketing Manager at InnoSpec, talks about various new product launches to support the sulfate-free trend. This includes two brand new blends Iselux® SFS and Iselux® SLB.

Innospec is an international specialty chemicals company providing products and technologies to a range of markets. Innospec’s Personal Care division provides high performance products and outstanding expertise in sulfate-free surfactant technologies. Their extensive range includes the Pureact mild taurate and isethionate surfactants and Iselux®, the novel and unique high-foaming transparent sulfate-free surfactant. Their Iselux® SFS and SLB performance concentrates make sulfate-free formulating even simpler providing pre-blended systems perfect for creating mild shampoos, bodywashes and even structured systems where high levels of oils can be incorporated. Innospec also manufactures the Finsolv® emollients, biodegradable chelating agents, dispersants and conditioning agents.

Dr. Stephan Hausmanns, Head Health & Nutrition Sales Collagen Peptides, GELITA

Dr. Stephan Hausmanns, Head Health & Nutrition Sales Collagen Peptides at GELITA talks about the ingredient VERISOL®. Dr. Hausmanns also briefly discusses GELITA’s approach with regards to European regulatory aspects.

GELITA is the leading company for manufacturing and marketing collagen proteins. Coordinated from its headquarters in Eberbach, Germany, GELITA provides customers around the world with products of the highest standard, comprehensive technical expertise and sophisticated solutions. More than 20 sites and a global expert network ensure that state-of-the-art know-how is always available for customers. More than 135 years of experience in the field of collagen proteins are the basis of GELITAs performance. A strong requirement for innovation is the driving force of the family-owned company that is continually looking for new solutions.

Follow @GELITA_AG

Frederic de la Torre, European Technical Service Manager – Personal Care at The Dow Chemical Company

Dow Personal Care presented a broad range of technologies to help you create styling products that provide innovative textures, excellent hold performance and enhanced sensory appeal. Below you can watch Frederic’s entire presentation which helped us explore a world of new textures for hair styling with ingredients from Dow Personal Care. New textures presented by Frederic de la Torre are:

• Rich Feel – high hold styling gel with stringy texture and maximum pick-up
• Smooth Feel – high hold, clear gel delivering a smooth feel with full body texture and generous pick-up
• Refreshing Feel – high hold gel with refreshing, watery feel
• Ultimate Look – long lasting hold gel with suspended bubbles and rich texture
• Fiber Touch – ultimate hold styling gel
• Magic Sprits – think long lasting sprayable gel
• You Care – strong hold conditioning mousse
• Forever Care – creamy styling mousse for ultimate care

The Dow Chemical Company is a leading supplier of innovative specialty additives and technologies for the personal care and cosmetics industries. Dow, through its Dow Personal Care, Dow Performance Additives and Dow Microbial Control businesses, offers technologies that contribute to and enhance the performance of many formulations, such as anti-aging actives, conditioning polymers, emollients, foam boosters, hair styling polymers, lubricity aids, opacifiers, preservatives, rheology modifiers, specialty neutralizers, SPF boosters, UV filters and water resistant polymers.

Follow @DowChemical

Want to meet with your peers and discuss business issues face-to-face?

Visit InnoCos Europe conference in Geneva, May 30-31, 2012

Visit InnoCos USA conference in New York, July 11-12, 2012

Click HERE to download InnoCos conference agenda

A recent Total Beauty Media Group  study found women spending more than 20 minutes preparing for their shopping trips by flocking to the web to research products, read reviews, seek out the best value and connect with other women about their beauty product experiences. That’s a lot of time and your brand should be there!

Take a look at how women are crafting shopping decisions online and let us know how you think you can be added to the shopping cart!

You can download the full insights report at addtothecart.com 

Ethelbert will be sharing his experience on how your brand needs to be relevant during every step of her shopping journey, with an emphasis on how to engage with the mobile road warrior, at the InnoCos USA conference in New York, July 11-12, 2012

Click HERE to download the InnoCos conference agenda

How are you ensuring you are added to the shopping cart?

Digital is transforming the way brands address their consumers, providing a completely different brand experience. It is an interesting way to create engagement with your core target and a great tool to recruit the youngest.

Perrier, hence, has succeeding in rejuvenating its core target in many markets (France, US and Canada) through a clear digital strategy.

While TV campaigns are the best way to build an iconic dimension of the brand and express the core benefits, digital helps to create engagement with the consumers, leveraging the brands personality.

With a daring, sexy and festive personality, Perrier is the perfect brand to provide an amazing digital experience to the web users Since 2009, Perrier has launched a unique digital program every year with success. The last one “le club perrier” has reached 11M views and was the 1st tweeted buzz in June 2011. For such a brand as Perrier, digital is a strategic pillar.

Do you agree? How are you implementing digital into your marketing and branding strategies?

Want to hear more?  Visit InnoCos Europe conference in Geneva, 30&31 of May 2012

Click HERE to download InnoCos conference agenda

guest blog post by Jack Vincent, Brave New Sales

You’re all set…

Search. Like it. Pin it. Share it.  Women online are taking a range of actions that signal “I need help” or “I’m ready to craft my shopping list”. These actions present opportunities for brands to raise their profile with shoppers and possibly gain her dollar.

More than 87 million women in the US incorporate digital media into their daily routine.  This number probably isn’t so surprising anymore.  What’s more interesting is what these women are doing online. A recent Total Beauty Media Group study found women spending more than 20 minutes preparing for their shopping trips by flocking to the web to research products, read reviews, seek out the best value and connect with other women about their beauty product experiences. That’s a lot of time and your brand should be there. Here are 3 tips to incorporate into your brand plans to engage in her digital life and get in her shopping cart.

#1 Give consumers more ways to engage with your brand, especially curating reviews

Women are online seeking product reviews and advice. So much so that they are spending 50% more time with web content when related category advice or reviews are available to aid the research process.   User reviews are the most trusted voice for consumers across the beauty category.  Be sure your brand is curating the best reviews and leveraging as a credential shoppers are looking for.

#2 Entice her with samples and other offers

32% of women report samples as a top influential touchpoint to her purchase decision according to 2011 Total Beauty Media Group sample research data.  Samples uncovered through her online beauty brand research process can elevate your brand’s profile and place your brand in her consideration set.  Beyond converting women through trial, we’ve uncovered many positive benefits from sampling.  We’ve found 84% of women recommend the brand while 80% will talk about the brand online. Both these actions are relevant to elevating your brand’s profile online among a consumer’s peers.

#3 Be relevant and engage her in the right context, across channels

Women are shopping across channels and screens. At the store shelf, at home while online as well as on the go via mobile devices.  Visit addtothecart.com to download more insights around how your brand can get added to her shopping cart while she’s researching products online.  At InnoCos USA in July, I’ll be sharing ways your brand can be relevant to her across channels, with an emphasis on how to engage with the mobile road warrior. She’s leveraging mobile throughout her entire day including while she’s in store. Your brand needs to be relevant during every step of her shopping journey to secure her transaction.

Want to hear more?  Visit the InnoCos USA conference in New York, July 11-12, 2012

Click HERE to download InnoCos conference agenda

Here are a few interviews we conducted with representatives of cosmetics companies from Korea, China, Thailand, and Singapore.

Why Beauty Trends in Asia are different from Europe:

Taking a look at the Petronille Dermo Cosmetic range and hearing why trends in Asia differ from Europe by Petronille Houdart – Dermo Cosmetic (Singapore).

• Why you have to adapt your skin care to Asian market trends
• Targeting the Asian market with whitening components in cream or boosters
• Differences in skin care due to tropical climates
• The new trend of “sheet masks”

Would you like to access more video interviews about trends in Asia? come can join the discussion at Global Cosmetics Community, it takes just  a few minutes to join.