At first, I was a bit outraged. Are we not trying to turn a new leaf in marketing beauty products to give women a more empowering marketing message by telling them they are beautiful just the way that they are? Well yes, but sometimes that attitude just doesn't pay the advertising bills. Don't forget the commotion about Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty in which they produced gigantic billboards and unveiled TV and print tactics that exposed real women with curves and cellulite and big boobs. Of course these women were beautiful, they just didn't look like the stick skinny photoshopped women of magazines past. Dove's controversial short film in which they tracked an image of a model's face through all of the stages of retouching for a billboard ends with the woman looking completely different than her natural state - shocking to people who don't understand just how retouched women are in the media. There is a sense of mourning when the exposure of something like this happens and shatters our ideals. We find out that what we have always wanted to be isn't real and that is a low blow.
However, as I took a step back and a deep breath I realized that this could in fact prove to be a huge success for Estee Lauder. Aside from still being unsettled when the occasional friend's mom comments on my Facebook status, this definitely helps to give this target a pep in their online step. After all, this isn't a brand that is made for girls, and it isn't trying to impose their idea of beauty on young minds. For Estee Lauder, this is a unique way to get their consumers to interact with the brand on a "social" level and enhance their experience with the brand online. I would be that most of these women have never taken the time to get a makeover done at a department store, not to mention have their photo taken afterwards. It might not be the perfect opportunity for the mother of three who is slinging a 2 year old in her arms as she pushes a stroller full of shopping bags, but it is still a good fit for the Estee Lauder consumer. These women will be able to enjoy an experience they may never had before, or just a new encounter with the brand. And have a photo to show for it.
Estee Lauder has put their own interpretation on how to get involved in social networking and give consumers something different beyond a fan page or cheesy online giveaway. As they have let their consumers interact with the brand they saw an opportunity to use their products in a new way for consumers online. They will invite these women to have an experience that exists offline, yet will carry through to their online social interactions with the brand and other consumers. Consistency is so key. It is not often that brands are trying to think of new ways to combine the real and virtual worlds in ways that are productive in successfully spreading their brand message. Makeup, something that we use to make us feel and look more beautiful is the perfect match with this desired image that we try to portray online. Facebook, MySpace, Blog, Twitter, etc are all social places where we still try and keep up the images that we portray offline. We don't want to display a profile picture that is offensive, or ugly or weird because we still care about how we are perceived online in the same ways that we are offline. For the same reason that this campaign initially bothered me, is the same reason that it will be effective. No matter how much we know that it is the inner beauty that really matters - it is still the outer beauty that determines how we are treated and how we are perceived, especially in social spaces online.
In Estee Lauder's case, a picture really is worth a thousands words.
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