Lancôme innovates to win over Millennials
- Minh Duc
- 6 nov. 2019
- 3 min de lecture
Dernière mise à jour : 11 mars 2020
The name Lancôme was inspired by the forest of Lancosme in France, and the rose in this area was chosen to be the brand's symbol. We can easily see on advertising that the rose had appeared frequently beside the brand name since 1996. However, in 2004, the brand decided to less rely on its symbol by using a bold-looking signature.
In detail, the flower still remained on Lancôme's logo but in the centre, the circumflex as curved rather than pointed. The reason for this change is explained as approaching young customers. As we already knew, the customer demographics of Lancôme is middle-aged women. Nevertheless, influenced by the trend, more and more young women spend money on makeup. By consequence, the brand had decided to expand its customer target.
But why do they had to change their brand identity?
First, we will have an overall look at Lancôme. Each brand has different customer segments, different product ranges. Some aim to high-end market, some in the middle range. By consequence, the brand identity is also coherent with the market. In this article, we will glance through Lancôme to see how they approached the richest.
Product's design: When I do a quick search about Lancôme's products, the sophistication appears on every package. Instead of plastic or cheap glass, they made the bottle with high-quality glass and elegant textures. Of course, they are always sparkling below the light. Compare to other luxury brands, especially in L'oréal group, we have the same formula in the design language.
Brand's logo: Choosing the rose to be the brand's logo is not a strange decision from Lancôme. Rose is a symbol of the beauty, the luxury and the most desirable flower. In the other words, Lancôme expressed their brand's positioning through the logo.
Advertisement: we can not skip the adverts when we want to brand and Lancôme neither. Firstly is the character: a Holywood star or an A-class model. Secondly is the screen. Most of them are from above, where you can see the view of the city. Thirdly is the content. A motif I found in their adverts is the main character by someway, will shine or sparkle. This is what we call the brand's personality. Lastly, the background music is also an unmissable factor. It is not a Rap or Rock song, definitely.
From my perspective, who want to use a product for the elder? Maybe I a little bit exaggerated, but this is actually true when in your perception, your mother, your grandmother is using this kind of product. A solution is changing the identity. Simple but effective. Moreover, Lancôme did not erase everything, they just adjusted to being more fashionable, more style. With this strategy, they could not only act on the perception of young people but also retain the core identity of the brand. Last but not least, typography is also the trend in the cosmetic market. In the interview with "The Newyork Time", answering for the "big" change, the executives of Lancôme said they did not worry about the brand awareness than an old cosmetic brand. Challenging themselves is something must-do for a brand.
Changing the logo is just a part of the strategy. From packaging to communication campaigns, they have a consistency strategy on every channel. They also built a digital platform with short videos and virtual try, which give the customer the right to check the colour online, on their virtual face. Beyond that, they also developed young talent endorsements such as Lily Collins, Taylor Hill or nearest, Zendaya, a hot girl in Spiderman series. As a result, Lancôme became the number one selective women's beauty brand followed by L'oreal annual report 2017.
In conclusion, brand identity is strict to customer target. It is definitely a nightmare when you build a young image to elder people or using rose colour for a masculine brand. Even a brand since 1935 as Lancôme accepted to change its image.
NGUYEN Minh Duc
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