2010 Winners & Shortlists

Results and Effectiveness

For the first time ever, young females started blogging about Max Factor and wondering how they could get free samples for themselves. We were able to capture 1500 participants in the first week of the competition. Our activation attracted 30,000 participants. As clients at Joelle’s salon started asking for the Max Factor products, Joelle requested to start selling Max Factor products inside her salons.

Creative Execution

Max Factor identified Joelle as the most popular make-up/make over expert in GCC and the decision was taken to sponsor her show on MBC1 – but not in the traditional sense. We ensured branded integration within the show where she used Max factor products exclusively for the make-over. To give the integration a fresh angle, we created a first-of-its-kind competition in the region where the host directly asked the viewers to participate in an online competition. We created online takeover and banners on MBC.net which helped us to reach even more young females. Winners were entitled to a free make-up pack and digital cameras ultimately leading to a free full day at the spa as a grand prize. By sponsoring Joelle’s show, we were also able to benefit of the program endorsement, to the extent that we began to include “As seen on Joelle” on all media touch-point such as TV, print and in-store, without even having Joelle herself as an official endorser.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

Max factor had a problem. The new generation saw it as “my mother’s brand. This, coupled with low distribution, meant that competitors, who rely on celebrity endorsements, were perceived as trendier and had higher penetration levels. Simply put, the Max Factor brand needed a makeover. Our challenge was to reconnect with youth by giving the brand a more contemporary feel. To do this we would need to build affinity and encourage people to willingly ask for the Max Factor products, without compromising creative elements. Focus groups and quantitative research provided two key insights. The first was that young women were heavily influenced by product trial (sampling). The second was that they were able to relate to local celebrities far easier than international celebrities. Therefore our strategy was to increase youth aspiration by creating a partnership with an Arab make-up artist, who actively encouraged product involvement, brand experience and word-of-mouth.