The onset of spring has brought signs of growth for the retail sector, however, footfall levels were 15.7% lower on the second anniversary of the UK’s March Covid-19 lockdown than for the same week in 2019. Retailers, including Clarins, have been eager to ramp up the pace of recovery. They have been looking to entice customers back to their shops with experiences that can only be enjoyed in store.
Clarins know their customer-base has been feeling life’s many stresses which is one of the reasons why they offer nine complimentary treatments at their express skin service. Not only does it demonstrate their expertise, but it also drives footfall. An elegant response to answering the needs of the consumer and solving challenges for the retailer.
To maximise the effectiveness of this initiative, they needed a campaign to promote their in-store experiences. After more than a decade of an integrated production partnership, Clarins knew they could trust LEAP with this important campaign, from ideation through to production and delivery.
Capitalising on their 65 years of experience, Clarins established the ‘We Know Skin’ campaign. This was the starting point for LEAP’s creative team and beauty account directors. Having gained an understanding of the brand’s challenge, the team set to work. Using a small selection of supplied imagery, LEAP’s creatives grew the seed of an idea around unplugging from the chaos of life and combined this with our in-depth experience of the Clarins look, feel and values.
LEAP’s creative team crafted the brand assets and campaign messaging into an eye-catching collage. Featuring editorial style layouts with a contemporary look and feel, its vibrant spring-toned colour palette complements the in-store environment. Photographs of three example sessions – eye make-up application, facial treatment and gentle arm massage spark the desire to experience human connection and care from a Clarins Skin Expert.
Acknowledging the ever presence of digital devices in our daily lives, the ads drive bookings through QR codes or buttons to the Appointments webpage. The social campaigns emphasise the selfcare call to action with the juxtaposition of a photo of a smartphone above the ‘book now’ button and the gentle reminder to ‘Unplug. Recharge your Skin.’
The collaborative approach of our integrated teams enabled our digital studio and video editors to work closely with our lead designer. This meant we could work in an agile way, pooling our expertise and making sure our process was not only efficient but producing work of the highest quality. Thus, our creative and production teams could make the best use of the campaign design within the technical constraints and user behaviours associated with each media channel – optimising the arrangement of images and text to stand out on websites and editing the pace of animated elements to grab and hold the attention of social media scrollers. Within a tight turnaround time, LEAP created a suite of digital display banners, a D6 OOH asset, as well as sponsored social assets including static and video ads for Meta platforms.
Clarins’ brand managers were so impressed by LEAP’s creative design that their e-commerce and point-of-sales teams decided to roll them out across their website and in-store displays. As retail footfall continues to recover, LEAP’s ‘We Know Skin’ campaign for Clarins is a step in the right direction.
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