Analysis of two published marketing articles.

LIST OF CONTENT.

Introduction. 3

1. Article A. “China's Huawei 'Growing Up' To Become The World's

No. 1 Smartphone Brand”.

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1.1. Product differentiation. 5

1.2. Advertising. 7

1.3. Branding. 8

Conclusions. 9

List of references. 10

Bibliography. 11

Appendices. 12

2. ARTICLE B. “L’Oréal targets men for the first time as it evolves strapline

to embrace diversity”.

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2.1. Market research. 16

2.2. Segmentation. 17

2.2.1. Positioning. 17

2.2.2. Targeting. 17

Conclusions. 19

List of references. 20

Bibliography. 21

Appendices. 22

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INTRODUCTION.

The objective of the present assignment is analysing two marketing articles, one called “China's Huawei 'Growing Up' to Become the World's No. 1 Smartphone Brand” and the second one is called “L’Oréal targets men for the first time as it evolves strapline to em-brace diversity”.

In both articles, it will be analysed different aspects of marketing that takes part of the reading content. Therefore, the report will divided in two parts, examining first “China's Huawei 'Growing Up' To Become The World's No. 1 Smartphone Brand” and its content related to product differentiation, advertising and branding.

Then, it will be presented a summary of the article and later, it will be explained the con-ceptual base of these marketing elements, an example and how they are presented in the reading to discuss theory and practice of the aforementioned marketing elements.

Finally, the main ideas will be summarised in the a brief conclusion section and the com-plete reading will be available in the appendices.

Similarly, the second article, “L’Oréal targets men for the first time as it evolves strapline to embrace diversity”, will be presented with a succinct summary and the following para-graphs will analyse the marketing content of the reading under the perspective of market -ing research and segmentation (targeting and positioning). It will be explained the concep-tual background of marketing research and segmentation and its practical application in the study case to finish with conclusions and the complete story in the appendices..

Having considered these points, it is important to mention that the report will only focus at analysing three aspects of marketing in the first article and two aspect in the second article due to the limited scope of the present assignment and the extension of the available mar -keting literature.

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1. Article A. “China's Huawei 'Growing Up' to Become the World's No. 1 Smartphone Brand”.

SUMMARY.

Since Huawei changed its business model of selling cheap smartphones to a diversificated marketing strategy of selling smartphones for diverse economic segments (low income. medium income and high income customers), it has become a globally recognised brand.

Now, Huawei is a serious contender for Apple and Samsung as it currently has 8.3% of the smartphone market share and it is rapidly increasing, while Samsung and Apple market share is flat, or even decreasing, in the case of Apple (Shepard, 2016).

This increase in Huawei's market share is caused by the quality growth in Huawei's products and the recognition gained by the B2B associations, like the business partnership with Leica, the German photography company, which, significantly improved the camera design and quality.

On the other hand, the sponsorship of popular football teams like Arsenal, AC Milan, and Paris Saint-Germain has positioned this brand in Europe and it is now associated with high quality products.

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As has been mentioned above, this marketing reading will be analysed under the perspective of three marketing aspects: product differentiation, advertising and branding and they are presented as follows:

1.1. Product differentiation.

Product differentiation is conceptualised as the distinguishing factors of services and goods of one seller from its competitors with the purpose of leading buyers to a preference for the brand (Chamberlin, 1965, as cited in Dickson and Ginter, 1987: 2).

To contrast concepts, Dickson and Ginter (1987: 2) remarks that product differentiation is made by the unique qualities of a product, which, makes it more attractive or superior to the competitors product in an attempt to adapt them to the taste and needs of diverse customers and buyers.

As a consequence, both perspectives emphasise that the brand should alter the physical and non-physical aspect of the product (like the stories related to the product) to make it unique in the market and facilitate its recognition and differentiation by customers.

Following this, the article mentions that Huawei produces affordable smartphones of high quality, associated with successful celebrities like Messi or Lewandowski and it possesses the same functions of Apple or Samsung's smartphones, but what makes it unique is that it is less expensive than competitors and this is the cause it is gaining a bigger share in the smartphone market, especially, in Europe.

Indeed, “Huawei once found their niche selling handsets cheaper than the big brands of the world”, but now the competitive prices are also combined with high-quality products (Shepard, 2016) and it makes Huawei different to its competitors Apple and Samsung.

To further illustrate this point, the reading remarks that Huawei is now a “serious contender for Apple and Samsung” with an 8.3% of market share and the principal characteristic of its products is the high quality and affordable prices, which, is a competitive advantage for Huawei (Shepard, 2016).

In effect, price has always been low in Huawei products according to the article and when it increased the quality of its products, Huawei made its brand known as an affordable great products, which, differentiates itself from expensive high-quality products of Apple and Samsung.

On the other side, another differentiator highlighted in the reading, is the use of Leica's technology in their smartphones' cameras, which, makes Huawei excel in camera phones (Shepard, 2016). Similarly, it is “currently working with Swarovski to design a fashionable smart-watch for women”, which, will differentiate even more the brand from Apple and Samsung.

Under these circumstances, the article explicitly made reference to various current and future differentiators of Huawei, which, makes it distinguishable from the competitors' offers and it points out that Huawei is not a generic unbranded organisation anymore as

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differentiation resides in “staying aware” of the market and “looking continuously for gaps in market coverage that the company can fill, of looking continuously at new ways of influencing buyers to choose one’s product instead of a competitor’s” (Levitt, 1980).

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1.2. Advertising.

Advertising is defined by Dibb et al (2012: 514) “as a paid form of non-personal communication, transmitted through mass media”. In the same manner, it is a way of facilitating consumers' buying decisions, so “advertising is simply anything that promotes your business” (Hoxie, 2010: 2).

In effect, advertising is promoting the brand's product in order to stimulate demand through mass communication media, such as the Internet, newspapers, magazines, television, radio, among others (Dibb et al, 2012: 515).

Now, relating theory to practice, the article's story points out the importance of advertising to promote smartphones in big European cities. For instance, it is mentioned that “Huawei’s dramatic rise in European sales was initiated by an improvement in product quality but was also complemented by a very high profile advertising”, which, covers the main locations of Rotterdam and down-town Brussels (Shepard, 2016).

As a matter of fact, the article states the details of the advertisement campaign, which, includes “gigantic Huawei banners in places like Berlin” or the multiple advertisements in “the city centre of Warsaw” that “looks like an advertising convention where Huawei was the guest of honour” (Shepard, 2016).

As noted above, the advertising campaign of Huawei is connected to the advertising theories as “advertising often serves as a reminder for consumers to continue purchasing the brand” (Darrat et al, 2016: 62) and Huawei is making sure that customers in the main cities of Europe always remember that the brand is there to offer good products for less than its competitors.

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1.3. Branding.

Hestad (2013: 11) defines branding as creating a firm's image to differentiate from competitors, conveying certain meanings, a philosophy or a vision in order to be recognised by customers.

Likewise, it can be seen as the process of creating a well differentiated and memorable image of the brand to persuade targeted customers to prefer their products (Dibb et al, 2012: 317).

In essence, the two concepts show different characteristic of branding, one as promoting the philosophy and values of the company and the second definition remarks the fact of offering a memorable image of the brand to customer, so they can differentiate the brand from competitors. Therefore, branding focus on creating loyalty through the image and values of the brand.

Regarding this, the article states that the branding of Huawei is made in Europe utilising celebrities' images and sponsoring successful football organisations. Indeed, “the sponsorship of popular soccer teams like Paris Saint-Germain, Arsenal and AC Milan, and, endorsements from star European athletes like Lionel Messi and Robert Lewandowski” (Shepard, 2016).

In other words, Huawei utilises the images of famous sport clubs and athletes to make potential customers associate the brand with successful organisations and sport celebrities and they explode that idea as a key of its branding campaign. “Basically, Huawei figured out what Europeans like and stuck their logo on it” (Shepard, 2016), creating “a reputation, a mark of trust” with a compelling corporate image that strategically addresses the target customers needs (Gronlund, 2013: 3).

To summarise, the branding strategy of Huawei described in the reading is comparable to the theory of branding. According to Gronlund (2013: 4), a branding strategy is expected to shape a brand image, providing “impressions of what the brand looks like” for customers and this strategy is related to the emotions the target perceives from the brand and how the reputation of the brand is interpreted. Thus, the exploitation of an image of success and utilising celebrities, delivers emotions of success and familiarity to customers and it shapes what they perceive about the brand.

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CONCLUSIONS.

The analysis of the article's marketing content, divided in three main elements: product differentiation, advertising and branding, has briefly discussed these definitions and how they are connected to the marketing campaign of Huawei.

Establishing the relationship between marketing's theories and the study case of Huawei, it is relevant to highlight that in the examples of each marketing element, it is emphasised the uniqueness, high quality and low price combination in Huawei's products, which, in marketing terms, produces a high product differentiation.

Lastly, it was stated how Huawei's branding strategy included the image of famous athletes to evoke a successful and modern image associated with the Huawei's brand and it also shows how Huawei's advertising campaign in various cities of Europe has successfully promoted the brand and increased sells in European markets, which, enhance Huawei's branding.

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LIST OF REFERENCES.

Darrat, M. Wilcox, G. & Funches, V. (2016) Toward an Understanding of Causality Between Advertising and Sales: New Evidence from a Multivariate Cointegrated System. Journal Of Advertising. Vol. 45 (1) pp. 62-71.

Dibb, S. Simkin, L. Pride, W. & Ferrell, O. (2012) Marketing: Concepts and Strategies. 6th ed. Andover, United Kingdom: Cengage Learning.

Dickson, P. & Ginter, J. (1987) Market Segmentation, Product Differentiation, and Marketing Strategy. Journal Of Marketing. Vol. 51 (2) pp. 1-10.

Gronlund, J. (2013) Basics of Branding: A Practical Guide for Managers. New York, USA: Business Expert Press.

Hestad, M. (2013) Branding and Product Design: An Integrated Perspective. Farnham: Routledge.

Hoxie, M. (2010) 90 Days to Success Marketing and Advertising your Small Business , Boston, Massachusetts: Course PTR.

Levitt, T. (1980) Marketing Success Through Differentiation—of Anything. Harvard Business Review. Online at: https://hbr.org/1980/01/marketing-success-through-differentiation-of-anything [Accessed: 06 September 2016].

Shepard, W. (2016) China's Huawei 'Growing Up' to Become the World's No. 1 Smartphone Brand. Forbes. Online at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/wadeshepard/2016/05/25/chinas-huawei-growing-up-to-become-the-worlds-number-one-smartphone-brand/ [Accessed: 06 September 2016].

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BIBLIOGRAPHY.

Matukin, M. Ohme, R. & Boshoff, C. (2016) Toward a Better Understanding Of Advertising Stimuli Processing. Journal of Advertising Research. Vol. 56 (2) pp. 205-216.

McAlister, L. Srinivasan, R. Jindal, N. & Cannella, A. (2016) Advertising Effectiveness: The Moderating Effect of Firm Strategy. Journal of Marketing Research. Vol. 53 (2) pp. 207-224.

Osawa, J. (2016) Huawei Aims to Overtake Samsung and Apple in Smartphones. The Wall Street Journal. Online at: http://www.wsj.com/articles/huawei-aims-to-overtake-samsung-and-apple-in-smartphones-1464921400 [Accessed: 09 September 2016].

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APPENDICES.

Appendix 1.

China's Huawei 'Growing Up' To Become The World's No. 1 Smartphone Brand.

May 25, 2016.

Wade Shepard.

Dumping their previous business model of flooding the planet with cheap, unbranded cellphones, China’s Huawei has risen to become a globally recognizable brand and a serious contender for Apple AAPL -2.60% and Samsung. Advancing rapidly into new markets worldwide, Huawei is now the world’s number three smartphone brand, with an 8.3 percent market share. Europe, in particular, has been receptive of Huawei, where the company is growing at an unprecedented clip on the back of better products and a new brand image.

Rising up from humble beginnings in Shenzhen in 1987, Huawei started out as a producer of phone switches. Growing up with the city’s nascent electronics industry, Huawei would became the global leader in telecommunications networks by 2012 — despite a ban by the US government and its knee-jerk ramifications.

However, where Huawei now stands to make the most waves is with its prime consumer product: smartphones. Last year, the company sold 108 million of them — which is still far behind Samsung and Apple, at 324 and 231 million units, respectively, but the gap is closing fast. This year, Huawei’s trajectory is looking even steeper, as quarter one saw 28.8 million phones sold, more than a 10 million unit year-on-year increase, while Samsung stayed flat and Apple actually went into decline.

This new global market position was obtained through a very active initiative to drastically increase the quality of their feature phones as well as major ad campaigns designed to let the world know that Huawei has arrived.

Huawei once found their niche selling handsets cheaper than the big brands of the world, reaching for low hanging fruit rather than the premium tiers soaring at the top of the consumer tree. My first Android device was a $100 Huawei that I picked up in 2012 in Jiangsu province. It was mediocre but cheap — a tagline that could sum up public sentiment about the brand at that time. But all of this has changed for Huawei.

“I went to my shop and they advised me instead of getting a Samsung maybe this Huawei is better,” said Bogdan Goralczyk, the Polish Sinologist, author, and former ambassador. “More and more people are starting to realize that it’s not as shit anymore, that it is not a fake product, that it is much better than we expected. It is changing the mentality of the people; they are starting to think, ‘China, wow, that’s impressive.’”

Huawei launched its new flagship phones, the P9 and P9 Plus, in London in April of this year. The phones feature cutting edge duel-lens cameras, which allows in more light to improve photo quality, a better battery, innovative biometric fingerprint technology, a Kirin

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955 2.5GHz 64-bit ARM-based processor, and a high-quality aluminum body with aesthetically pleasing and ergonomically contoured rounded corners. The phone is not only meant to function at the highest level and to push new features into the market, but to look good too — a major demand of the Chinese consumer in particular.

Huawei has also engaged in some very high-profile partnerships to develop some of their new products and features. Right next to the duel lenses of the P9 is written the word “Leica,” the name of the prominent German photography company who designed it. Huawei also produced Google GOOGL -0.85%’s Nexus 6P and is currently working with Swarovski to design a fashionable smartwatch for women.

Beyond China, where they are the undisputed number one smartphone brand, Huawei has advanced aggressively into new markets, with a heightened focus on Europe, where they are the continent’s number two Android phone and, in some markets, number two overall. A full half of Huawei’s 100+ million handset sales and 65% of the company’s revenue last year derived from markets outside of China, as the company’s market share rapidly rose in countries like Germany, Italy, and Spain.

Huawei’s dramatic rise in European sales was initiated by an improvement in product quality but was also complimented by a very high profile advertising blitz. Ads and promotions for Huawei now cover the trams of Rotterdam, a flagship store sits in a prominent location in downtown Brussels, entire buildings are being covered with gigantic Huawei banners in places like Berlin and Lodz, Poland, the roadsides of major highways are speckled with billboards for Huawei, and the city center of Warsaw looks like an advertising convention where Huawei was the guest of honor. This campaign has also included the sponsorship of popular soccer teams like Arsenal, AC Milan, and Paris Saint-Germain, endorsements from star European athletes like Lionel Messi and Robert Lewandowski, as well as key product launches in European cities. Basically, Huawei figured out what Europeans like and stuck their logo on it.

The Chinese electronics industry has been rapidly at work shifting not only their business models but the paradigm of how their products are perceived around the world. Following a strong push from China’s central government for more innovation, companies big and small have been working to establish signature products which not only represent the transition that they themselves have gone through but also that of China.

Huawei has bought into their government’s rhetoric about innovation fully, investing $9 billion into research development last year alone, which was far more than even Apple. The Chinese upstart now has over 76,000 employees tasked with research and development in 21 centers around the world.

“We are discovering China very quickly, mainly by electronic devices,” said Bogdan Goralczyk. “Previous items and goods that were coming were T-shirts, bags, and shoes that were not so good, but this is top quality and we are starting to realize that.”

Last week I walked into an electronics shop in Tallinn, Estonia and saw that their feature rack was an even mix of Huawei and Samsung. The salesman spoke positively of the Huawei's.

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“But Huawei used to be really bad,” I commented. “Why are they so good now?”

“They’ve just grown up,” he spoke simply.

Huawei’s transition appears to be working out. The company reeled in $5.7 billion in profits last year, a 33% year-on-year increase, is now ranked 228th on the Global Fortune 500 list, and was recently named to Interbrand’s 100 best global brands — the first Chinese enterprise to obtain this distinction. In two or three years Huawei aims to topple Apple and in five years be the top smartphone brand in the world.

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2. ARTICLE B. “L’Oréal targets men for the first time as it evolves strapline to embrace diversity”.

SUMMARY.

L'Oréal released a new campaign, targeting men and minorities to embrace diversity in the cosmetic market in order to expand its appeal to new customer segments and become part of their daily lives.

In fact, this campaign is innovative as it includes a man in the advertisement to show that more men are using make-up and they must be included in the world of cosmetics and beauty.

On the other hand, L'Oréal is promoting its products to ethnic minorities, who, are not properly represented in the specific case of foundation. So, they pay much more to match the colour of their skins, and this campaign, solves this issue as “TrueMatch foundation will match 98% of UK skin tones of all ethnicities”.

As a final point, L'Oréal is aware that the brand has been perceived as cold and not connecting with all customers. That's why this campaign focus on creating a deeper connection to the brand.

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As has been noted, the second article is useful to note the market research of L'Oréal to determine the segmentation, which, includes targeting and positioning of the new L'Oréal products. For this reason, it will be analysed the market research and segmentation in the new campaign of L'Oréal.

2.1. Market research.

Market research is the process of obtaining, interpreting, analysing and informing the organisation of the opportunities that the market offers regarding customers' needs and tastes in order to design particular goods or services to satisfy those needs (Dibb et al, 2012: 259).

Furthermore, it can be conceptualised as the systematic and objective search for relevant, information to solve any problem in the field of marketing (Green, Tull and Albaum, 1993, as cited in Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nation, 1997).

As has been noted, the two concepts focus their attention in obtaining relevant information from customers.

Now, in the reading, the market research element is evident as a previous study to initiate the L'Oréal campaign when it is mentioned that “the brand found that 61% of women in the UK have not been able to find their foundation match, while ethnic minorities often end up paying 70% more for foundation” (Gee, 2016). Therefore, it is noteworthy the market re-search that L'Oréal did was a qualitative and quantitative study before releasing the new campaign to fill this gap in the cosmetic industry.

As a final point, the story of the marketing campaign of L'Oréal is a good example of the good use of the market information to release a new product, aiming at satisfying the needs of customer's. Indeed, the ability to use the market information “in a meaningful way [...] leads to enhanced organizational performance”(Jaworski & Kohli, 1993, as cited in Keszey, 2015: 45) and better marketing campaigns.

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2.2. Segmentation.

Segmentation is explained as the identification of target markets to differentiate segments according to their “needs, wants and interests” (Dibb et al, 2012: 212).

Therefore, segmentation is dividing customers in smaller groups to offer precise products to satisfy their needs, defining the variables that characterised the segment like race and gender, which, are essential for the segmentation that L'Oréal did in the reading.

To further analyse the segmentation process, it will be discussed two concepts: positioning and targeting.

2.2.1. Positioning.

Positioning is “the act of designing the company's offering and image to occupy a distinctive place in the target market's mind” (Burnett, 2003: 47).

On the other hand, it is also defined as “arranging for a product to occupy a clear, distinctive and desirable place relative to competing products in the minds of target consumers” (Kotler et al, 2005: 391) and the “process of creating an image for a product in the minds of target customers” (Dibb et al, 2012: 251).

Notably, all the concepts are very similar and they focus on the perception of the brand in the chosen segment and what makes the brand image desirable for the targeted customers.

Following this, the article mentions that the new campaign of L'Oréal is “featuring a man in a cosmetics ad for the first time” (Gee, 2016), which, is sufficient to position L'Oréal in a good place in the men segment of customers. In fact, as it is still innovative, L'Oréal is positioning itself as a segment leader after guiding its marketing campaign to other segments apart from the traditional ones in the cosmetic and beauty industry.

Equally important, the article states that L'Oréal is prioritising racial minorities to reach a new segment of the population, offering foundations specially design for them, which, is positioning the brand as one of the first to do this in the UK, when previously, L'Oreal was perceived like cold and not associated to minorities.

Therefore, positioning theory is relevant in the articles because it is essential in the men segment and racial minorities segments.

2.2.2. Targeting.

Targeting is “knowing to whom and when to market your product or service” (Cohn, 2015). Besides, it can be understood as the group of people “for whom a company creates and maintains a marketing mix that specifically fits the needs and preferences of that group” (Dibb et al, 2012: 806).

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In other words, targeting means that the promotion of the product or service to a specific segment, not just a general advertising for all customers as it narrows and prioritise some groups.

Now, the reading explicitly points out the targeting strategy as it emphasises the importance of targeting products to racial minorities in order to match their skin colour and including men as an unexplored segment. That is why L'Oréal based their advertisement of the campaign in the image of a man and racial minorities as these segments can relate easily to the L'Oréal products.

In effect, targeting in the reading is linked to the targeting's theories due to the similarity of the L'Oréal example and what has been said conceptually about targeting of creating products for a specific group with especial needs and preferences.

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CONCLUSIONS.

The analysis of the second marketing article has been useful to link the theoretical base of market research and segmentation with the real life marketing practices, in this case, the marketing campaign of L'Oréal.

Particularly, establishing the relationship between the market research done by L'Oreal and the segmentation of its customers, the market research made completely sense because “61% of women have not been able to find their foundation match” and they paid much more for it (Gee, 2016) and after interpreting the figures of the research, L'Oréal decided to release a new campaign to satisfy the needs of this segment, offering products for diverse skin colours.

To conclude, it is evident that the marketing theory is related to the practical marketing environment described in the article as the theories like market research helped L'Oréal determine “to whom and when to market your product or service” and being aware that men and racial minorities segments were unattended.

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LIST OF REFERENCES.

Burnett, J. (2003) Core Concepts of Marketing. 2nd edition. USA: Wiley.

Cohn, C. (2015) Steps to Identify your Target Market. Forbes. Online at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckcohn/2015/02/06/steps-to-identify-your-target-market/#72bbac932a8f [Accessed: 11th September 2016].

Dibb, S. Simkin, L. Pride, W. & Ferrell, O. (2012) Marketing: Concepts and Strategies. 6th ed. Andover, United Kingdom: Cengage Learning.

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (1997) Role of Marketing Research. Online at: http://www.fao.org/docrep/w3241e/w3241e02.htm [Accessed: 11th September 2016].

Gee, R. (2016) L’Oréal targets men for the first time as it evolves strapline to embrace diversity. Marketing Week. Online at: https://www.marketingweek.com/2016/08/26/loreal-targets-men-for-the-first-time-as-it-evolves-strapline-to-embrace-diversity/ [Accessed: 11th September 2016].

Keszey, T. (2015) The Role of Market Researchers in Managerial Use of Market Research Information. Trziste / Market. Vol. 27 (1) pp. 43-56.

Kotler, P. Cawong, V. Saunders, J. & Armstrong, G. (2005) Principles of Marketing. 4th

European Edition. Harlow, England: Pearson Education.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY.

Constantinides, E. (2006) The Marketing Mix Revisited: Towards the 21st Century Marketing. Journal of Marketing Management. Vol. 22 (3-4) pp. 407-438.

Garg, S. Singh, H. & De, K. (2016) Direct and Indirect Effects of Marketing Mix Elements on Satisfaction. Academy of Marketing Studies Journal. Vol. 20 (1) pp. 53-65.

Romaniuk, J. (2012) Five Steps to Smarter Targeting. Journal of Advertising Research. Vol. 52 (3) pp. 288-290.

Wesley, K. & Chowdhury, F. (2015) Market Research. Defense AT&L. Vol. 44 (4) p. 40.

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APPENDICES.

Appendix 1.

L’Oréal targets men for the first time as it evolves strapline to embrace diversity.

25 August 2016.

Rachel Gee.

L’Oréal Paris is featuring a man in a mass market cosmetics ad for the first time, as it looks to broaden its appeal and become part of consumers’ daily lives.

L’Oréal is featuring a man in a cosmetics ad for the first time as it focuses on a new tagline which aims to ‘celebrate diversity’. The campaign, created by McCann London, includes celebrities Cheryl Fernandez-Versini, Katie Piper and a list of influencers and bloggers. L’Oréal’s first male blogger and makeup artist Gary, aka ‘The Plastic Boy’, has been chosen to reflect the fact that more men are wearing makeup.

Speaking to Marketing Week, Adrien Koskas, general manager at L’Oréal Paris UK said: “We are very aware that the cosmetics market is growing and that more guys are using makeup and making makeup blogs. This campaign shows we are listening to everybody, different characters with very different stories.”

The move comes after the brand found that 61% of women in the UK have not been able to find their foundation match, while ethnic minorities often end up paying 70% more for foundation. The brand’s latest campaign aims to address these issues as it claims its TrueMatch foundation can match 98% of UK skin tones across all ethnicities.

L’Oréal has also evolved its famous ‘Because you’re worth it’ tagline for the campaign to ‘Because we’re all worth it’, something Koskas says relates to the diversity in beauty and the fact the foundation can be used by all.

The #YoursTruly campaign will be rolled out through cinema, TV and social media. It will launch this Sunday (28 August) at 11am on the influencers’ social media channels before running through traditional media. Koskas believes a greater focus on influencers’ YouTube, Twitter and Instagram platforms is important for the brand, as he says that audiences have become “sceptical” about traditional marketing methods.

“Traditional consumers are not connecting in the same way these days. Whether

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that is with TV or traditional media, they have become sceptical. We think it is much more important to use influencers who consumers can relate to on a daily basis, in a genuine and sincere way,” he said.

Though Koskas believes L’Oréal customers value the brand for its “quality of products and quality of research”, he says the company has also noticed “scepticism” in regards to audience perception of the brand, with some saying “L’Oréal is a bit cold as a brand, it is not connecting with me” or asking “what does it have to do with my daily life?”. He says that in order to address this L’Oréal wants to bring more warmth and to create a deeper connection to the brand in this latest campaign.

Success will be determined through the sales that are generated, along with engagements with the campaign and the reactions L’Oréal gets from the communities following the selected influencers and celebrities.

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