M.A.C cosmetics: the new wind in the 1980s
- Minh Duc
- 26 nov. 2019
- 3 min de lecture
Dernière mise à jour : 11 mars 2020
In the decade of 80s, there was a limit in makeup’s colour, especially in the photography sector. For that reason, M.A.C was born to reply to the need. M.A.C stands for Makeup Art Cosmetic, a first professional brand in the makeup industry. Of course, the customer segment of M.A.C is mainly focused on pro-users such as makeup artists, models and photographers. This is also the unique point makes the brand become outstanding compared to the others. For me, it could be considered as an innovation in the market at that period. So today, we are going to discuss about Brand strategy and M.A.C is one of the classic examples. Founded by Frank Toskan, a photographer and makeup artist, M.A.C was created from a makeup artist for a makeup artist. Aiming to the niche market in the world makeup, M.A.C introduced a wide range of colour, for every skin tone and they also were in charge of making the new trends. From a niche brand, M.A.C has become a global brand. M.A.C uses mix strategies, aiming to price, product, social media …
Product
This is the main different making M.A.C outstanding with its competitors. They develop different blends of pigments to match the need of customer over the world. More choices can lead to low sales-driven, but in the case of cosmetic, it is totally reverse. Customers are willing to have more than one lipstick. Each will be served for different occasions. The quality is also better because it can last longer on customer’s face thus giving them extra service. In addition, a distinct package also makes products more attractive.
Pricing
If compared to the overall market, the price of M.A.C is slightly higher but the value that the customers receive is worthy. The brand aims to customer benefit rather than the cost. Moreover, this is the pro-user segment, so the price is not the main issue to the customer. Another great thing, the brand provides its customers with the complemental product. They also reduce the price on loyalty so actually, the price is quite competitive.
Communicating
By providing products for professionals, celebrities and media, M.A.C was using the most basic, the most traditional method in branding which is words of mouth. As the founder Frank Toskan stated, he first manufactured makeup for models, but then the models wanted this makeup for their sisters, friends and so on… The brand focused on building creditability and awareness to attract new customers. Combining with creating trends, M.A.C gradually became global. There were blogs and sites for women love M.A.C products. On social media, the brand uses social network like an efficient tool to broadcast themselves. They appear on every platform such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or YouTube. They have 16.2 million likes and 16 million followers on Facebook, 1.31 followers on Twitter and 12.8 million followers on Instagram, the highest among their competitors. The customers can easily find or see the product’s information, promotions or instruction on the network without any frustration. Besides that, a number of videos on YouTube talk about professional makeup appealing the brand’s fans. They can watch these videos because of their favourites, their profession or their idols. In the other words, M.A.C really jumped in the makeup’s community and profited it.
Social funds
It seems to be strange when we discuss about charity activities in branding. However, this is actually a wise choice of brands. M.A.C AIDS fund was raised in 1994 to support men, women and children who were affected by HIV/AIDS. At this period of time, this disease became more and more popular due to its range and damage. The world paid more attention to it and therefore, any activities related to this disease would be on air. The action by M.A.C noticeable changed the image of the brand to a new level. All the revenue of Viva Glam will be spent on charity purpose. Additionally, M.A.C Cruelty-Free beauty appealed to prohibiting animal testing. Contrasted to other brands, M.A.C really opened a new century in the makeup industry with their actions on social responsibility.
In the conclusion, it could be old when we are discussing about M.A.C cosmetic, but compare to the whole industry, this is actually an innovative brand. The innovation from the product to the branding strategy.
NGUYEN Minh Duc
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