A Case Study for

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Kaplow’s Holistic Planning Process

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Whatchange do we want to create?

Howwill we

be able to measure this?

Whoare the target audience(s)

Whydoes each

audience do what it does

today

Whatwill convince

our audiences to change

their behavior

Whatis the

communication idea?

Howwill we convey our idea to our

audiences

Howwill we know

if our program is working?

OBJECTIVE MEASURES TARGETS MOTIVATIONS INSIGHTS IDEA PROGRAM REPORTING

In this new media landscape, successful programs should communicate one insight-driven Communication Idea holistically across traditional and digital channels to create change in the target audiences of our

clients.

This allows us to develop a deep understanding of our target audiences and communicate with them in an effective dialogue that will motivate them to take action that is aligned with the objectives of

our clients.

Challenge

How do you give voice to a founder’s vision,

empowering women everywhere to embrace

their unique beauty?

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Communication Idea

The artistic heritage of Laura Mercier helps you to bring out your natural classic beauty by accentuating your unique qualities.

This is “the art of the flawless face”.

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360˚ Holistic Program Overview

The Art of the

Flawless Face

Social MediaExperiential

Laura Inspires Influencers

Standing Out in the Crowd

Content Creation & Distribution

Deep & Rich Media

Relationships

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Communications Strategy

Build and amplify brand awareness globally through PR initiatives that elevate the brand’s profile in the industry

Spotlight and leverage brand founder and ambassadors to “story-tell” brand message

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PR Overview

Create and implement a comprehensive global strategy and roadmap for the brand

Partner and align with media, influencers and strategic alliances to communicate brand positioning and increase brand awareness

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•Partner with media through strategic and relationship-building events

•Showcase brand’s artistic inspiration and product portfolio through strategic media outreach

•Flawless Face

•Solidify red carpet glamour positioning

•Target select influencers to begin building network of ambassadors

•Develop strategic brand alliances

•Partner and support other business channels to amplify reach (i.e. digital, sales)

• Identify outside events that reach target audience

Showcase Product Portfolio

Influencers of Artistry

Consumer-Facing Artistry / Events

Where It All Begins: Laura Inspires Influencers

Develop a Red Carpet-centric program that builds relationships and allows Laura Mercier to develop a leadership position around celebrity beauty which targets two groups:

• Celebrities who embody the Laura Mercier aesthetic

• Key gatekeepers (agents, managers, publicists, makeup artists)

Create and offer exclusive product selection that targets select influencers to build a network of ambassadors and strategic brand alliances which serves to:

• Showcase the product portfolio through curated product gifting

• Generate on-site pre-event, live red carpet and post-event buzz

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Results That Continue to Deliver

• Red Carpet programs outreach resulted in more than 85 million media impressions

• Emmy’s influencer seeding to Kathie Lee and Hoda resulted in TODAY Show features & invitation to participate at their exclusive “Favorite Things” event

• Brand has been on Today Show 8 times since December 2011

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Gwen Flamberg, Beauty Director of US Weekly magazine tweeted about Claire’s gorgeous Laura Mercier lip colour.

Leading beauty sites showed their readers how to recreate Claire’s

look.

Makeup artist, Brett Freedman, turns Julia Stiles into a modern-day Veronica Lake with Laura

Mercier.“I applied Laura Mercier’s Lip Pencil in Plumberry all over

Julia’s lips to give them a matte, old-Hollywood feel,” said

Freedman.

Deep and Rich Media Relationships• Leverage Laura Mercier’s visit to New York to educate and excite a select

group of top-tier media about Laura Mercier’s history, philosophy and key seasonal collections via intimate and small-scale events that allow for genuine brand story-telling and emotional connections• Most senior-level media attendance

• Immediate buzz-building via live, on-site tweets

• Laura speaks to each, individually, to gain insights and knowledge

• Kaplow then works to develop customized stories relevant to each of reporter’s outlet

• Results: Ongoing proactive and impactful dialogue with influential media that reaches the target audience to help drive deep coverage around the product portfolio showcasing brand artistry and expertise

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Standing Out In the Crowd

• Elevate brand profile and enhanced brand positioning through targeted and strategic brand alliances with select influencers to build a network of brand ambassadors consisting of tastemakers, celebrities, personalities, and gatekeepers

• Backstage at Fashion Week (Jenny Packman, Pamela Roland)

• Showroom seeding programs with Marchesa

• Results: More than 80 million impressions

• Social Media: 846,000 impressions (Twitter), 18,000 Fashion Week video views, Behind-the-scenes photos reached 30,000 fans.

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Impressions

Total Laura Mercier Impressions:

More the 1 Billion (no multiplier)

A 171% increase Year-over-Year (so far)

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Content Creation & Distribution

Extending The Story Through Laura’s Brand Ambassadors

Make-up Artist Videos

Details: To engage Laura Mercier fans with original content, we created 26 videos for use on all of the brand’s social media channels and LauraMercier.com

Videos included Global Makeup Artist bios/Q&A’s and various packages from Fashion’s Night Out and Flawless in Manhattan events-extending already existing traditional outreach

Immediate Results: YouTube video views increased by 10,000 new subscribers increased by over 400 14

Video Production & Distribution

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Examples:

Laura Mercier: Flawless in ManhattanConsumer Activation

Laura Mercier: Jerry Johnson on Laura’s PhilosophyLaura Mercier: How to Achieve ‘the Smoky Eye’Social Media Content

Social Media Overview

We engaged consumers in a conversation about the Laura Mercier brand, accentuating natural beauty, art, culture and the Art of the Flawless face.

We also asked them to share their secrets to a Flawless Face along with Laura and her Makeup Artists to drive engagement, brand love and advocacy.

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Begin With Listening To Glean InsightsThis study examined what consumers were saying about the brand and its competitors as well as how often they were being mentioned. It ensured we had a full grasp of the beauty landscape in order to inform our social media strategies and content for Laura Mercier. We recommend conducting these on a quarterly basis.

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What We Learned:

•Conversations about Laura Mercier occur mostly on microblogs (such as Twitter), blogs and other websites involving skincare, health, and nutrition

•The term “flawless face” is included in 6-10% of the total Laura Mercier mentions each month

•Conversations about Laura Mercier change from quarter to quarter. Between Oct-Dec, the discussions grew about saving money on products, likely due to holiday sales and promotions. This year, the talk is mostly focused on emotions connected to the brand, with words like “love,” “kiss,” and “passion,” and home-connections, with words like “house,” “bathroom,” and “bath” mentioned often

• A consistent brand voice helps us better relate to our consumers and ensure that our conversation and content is authentic and relatable.

• Utilizing our knowledge of the brand and insights data, we created a document detailing our recommendation for the Laura Mercier “voice” on all social channels as well as content themes that would engage our fans

Who is Laura Mercier online?: The voice of Laura Mercier is sophisticated and refined.

Inspirations: Laura Mercier, Carla Bruni

Develop Brand Voice

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She is:•Discrete•Epicurean•Poised•Authentic•Expert•Wise•Self Accepting

• Chic• Feminine• Accessible• Cultured• Inspiring• Creative• Discerning

Develop Content Strategy

We engage our audiences with conversation around the following topics, combining brand-appropriate topics that our target is interested in with “The Art of the Flawless Face” messaging to stimulate discussion and build brand advocacy.

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Laura Mercier Social Media Content Strategy

Facebook & Twitter

Live Updates from Events

Award/Hollywood Glamour Call-Outs

Partnerships with Key Influencers

Open-Ended Questions

Fill in the Blank

Promotions/First to Know Invites

Quotes/TipsInspiration from

Laura

Key Media Placements

Tips/How-To’s from MUAs

Quotes from Inspiring Women

Product Highlights/ Recommendations

Fan Recognition/Reviews

Lifestyle Tips

Sensory Experiences (art

and culture)

Secret Questionand Answer

Holistic “Secret Share” Campaign

Details: Took a holistic 360˚ approach to create a fluid

Secret Share campaign across social media channels showcasing the fall ad messaging. This allowed us to delve into Laura Mercier’s story and voice while empowering women to own their individual beauty

• A default Facebook tab created to mirror the fall ad went live the day September magazines were shipped. The tab invited new visitors to share their beauty secrets before we shared Laura’s and asked provocative questions to elicit responses. The campaign built anticipation and helped us learn what our fans love about beauty

• Created a unique hashtag, #secretshare on Twitter with secrets directed not only to followers, but to well-known figures in the beauty world, calling attention to editors, celebrity fans,influencers and bloggers

Immediate Results: • Facebook engagement rose 60%, • Likes increased 58%, post views increased 36%• Gained 823 Twitter followers, earned 700 mentions and

158 retweets20

Emerging Platforms

• Pinterest is the fastest growing social media platform for our target and allows us to reach her where she is already spending her time; it is also the highest driver for website traffic for many large brands, above Facebook, Twitter and YouTube

• We know how much fans love learning about Laura and Pinterest offers us the opportunity to tell Laura’s story in a highly visual manner.

• We are establishing a presence for Laura Mercier on Pinterest by building boards that highlight not only her story, but those of the Makeup Artists and the brand’s extensive array of available products

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Making it all Work Together: Flawless in Manhattan

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Strategy: Execute events to educate editors and consumers about the brand’s founder, heritage and the Art of the Flawless Face

Execution:• We coordinated and message-trained 26 brand ambassadors to interact with consumers in

Manhattan and drive them to retail • To leverage integrated events across 24 Laura Mercier retailers, drive in-store traffic and

build buzz, Kdrive live tweeted from Flawless in Manhattan Global Makeup Artist locations throughout the day

• Tweets included event announcements, images and tips, and promoted a planned Twitter Chat with Alexis Comforti

• Video footage was also shot and edited for future content seeding

Results:•PR outreach resulted in 62,000 short-lead/online impressions for one evening event

•Gained 105 Twitter followers, earned 142 mentions and 42 retweets

Holistic Program Results

Overall Results

• Credited for a 30% increase at counter, in-store sales

• Coverage resulting in more than ONE BILLION media impressions (no multiplier used), a 171% increase over PY

• Increased Facebook fan base by over 165%

• Grew Twitter followers by over 350%

• YouTube subscribers increased from 0 to 1,106

• Launched initial 4 boards on Pinterest garnering over 1000 Total followers in 4 weeks

• 60% overall increase in engagement on all platforms

• Nearly 30 ongoing influencer relationships with key high-profile decision makers, tastemakers and gatekeepers including Kathy Lee and Hoda, A-list celebrity artists and influencers and high-profile fashion leaders

• Feature coverage of “Flawless Face” messaging which highlights product images and positive tonality with brand ambassadors/spokespeople (100% positive tonality, 90% visuals, 98% key message pull-through, 98% link to purchase) 23