Marcela D’Ávila, director of L’Oréal Luxo brands, shares details about the luxury fragrance market and Lancôme’s communication
Founded in 1935 in France, Lancôme’s main focus is women’s happiness. The traditional brand reaches out to a younger audience through social media and partnerships with influencers and celebrities, but without neglecting environmental and social concerns that are particularly important to Generation Z.
Betting on a narrative to generate a true connection with consumers, Lancôme has highlighted influencer marketing in its communication strategy, incorporating themes such as sustainability and diversity in a genuine way, in addition to offering high-quality products.
In the following interview, Marcela D’Ávila, director of L’Oréal Luxo brands, shares details about the luxury fragrance market and Lancôme’s communication.
Has there been any change in the luxury fragrance audience in recent years?
In Brazil, we have a portfolio of nine brands at L’Oréal Luxo: Lancôme, Yves Saint Laurent, Prada, Giorgio Armani, Ralph Lauren, Azzaro, Cacharel, Mugler and, more recently, Aesop, and all of them are present in the fragrance category.
When it comes to women’s fragrances, one of the main trends today is the search for floral fragrances, as is the case with the launch of La Vie Est Belle Rosa Extraordinária. And when we look at male consumers, we see that they have been venturing more into beauty products. This audience, which previously preferred lighter fragrances, has now explored more intense options, as evidenced by the increase in demand for Eau de Parfum Intense and Parfum.
How do you bring younger generations closer to the brand?
Consumers from younger generations are hyper-connected: with values, but also with social networks. When it comes to values, new generations look for brands and products that are aligned with their environmental and social concerns. To win them over, brands need to not only offer high-quality products, but also incorporate thematic agendas such as sustainability and diversity in a genuine way.
For example, at the L’Oréal Group level, we have invested heavily in how to accelerate sustainability in the fragrance category. Highlights include refillable bottles, as well as a new technology that allows the extraction of the exact scent of an ingredient, preserving its integrity, without using water and with low energy consumption.
In addition, influencer marketing is also an important pillar of our strategy to connect with new generation consumers, and collaboration with influencers and celebrities, both global and national, plays an essential role. We look for personalities who are not only aligned with the essence and values of our brands, but who also serve as a source of inspiration and connection with our consumers. In addition, the issue of fit with the narrative we want to tell is also essential. We need it to be a real, genuine story. Only then will we generate a true connection with the consumer.
And speaking of genuine connection with consumers, one of the social networks that Gen Z consumes the most is TikTok. Emerging during the pandemic as the dance network, the channel has been strengthening and expanding its representation within the digital strategy of many luxury brands thanks to its relaxed, authentic language that generates a lot of connection with people. Much more than the number of followers, what matters to the platform is the quality of the content, whether it generates entertainment. In Brazil, we see potential for all beauty categories on the platform.
What are the main points that Lancôme takes into consideration for a marketing campaign and when running campaigns with influencers or celebrities?
The brand always has a positive, but not innocent, outlook on the world. And, as it is a 100% feminine brand, it always seeks to address issues that touch women, with a very close and careful tone, almost “eye to eye”, even though it is a luxury brand. The brand gravitates around conversations that make sense in women’s daily lives.
Influencer marketing is a very important part of our strategy, in which partnerships with global and national ambassadors are essential. As a global brand, we look for big international names, such as Julia Roberts and Zendaya, as well as national faces such as Sandy, Rafa Kalimann, Michele Passa and Preta Gil, names that not only identify with the soul and values of our brands, but also help us connect in a meaningful way with the Brazilian public. This way, we are able to tell even more powerful and locally relevant stories, always seeking to highlight Brazilian diversity.
Furthermore, authenticity and connection to the narrative are essential. A real and genuine story generates a true connection with the consumer. The number of followers is not the only factor that leads to the choice of an ambassador.
What are the brand’s most emblematic campaigns in Brazil?
Lancôme’s most iconic campaign was “Happy Now”, from September 2023. At the time, we discovered through research that Brazilians, despite being considered the happiest people in the world, had a reference to happiness that was very much linked to the past or to projections and expectations for their future. The entire campaign, which took place partly in Brazil and partly produced in France with Brazilian creators, made a strong call for Brazilians to seek happiness in the present moment, hence the motto “Happy Now”. At that time, we had the highest engagement with the brand and the highest brand recall, in addition to having recruited new consumers for the brand.
What are Lancôme’s main moments in the country?
The brand’s greatest moments in terms of business were the launch of the iconic fragrances La Vie Est Belle and later Idole. With these two products, which enchanted Brazilian women and had a great fit with the olfactory taste in the local market, the brand reached new business levels and developed even further in the luxury market.
You recently released a Mother’s Day campaign with Sandy and Noely. What was the strategy?
Lancôme’s great territory as a brand is feminine happiness. 12 years ago, we created La Vie Est Belle with the aim of being the fragrance that represents and inspires women to follow an essential mantra: happiness is not a destination, but a journey, and when we share happiness with others, it only grows.
For Mother’s Day, our big launch was the new La Vie Est Belle Extraordinary Rose, the first floral from this iconic line. Our challenge was to create a campaign that spoke about the extraordinary nature of motherhood, while maintaining the optimistic tone that is so characteristic of Lancôme. Given this, we began to ask ourselves what makes a mother extraordinary and what is common to so many narratives, regardless of social class, privilege, etc.? Our insight was that for her children, every mother is extraordinary precisely because she is their mother. With this in mind, we appropriated a trend that already existed on TikTok and created the tagline: behind every woman there is an extraordinary mother. This was the common thread throughout the campaign.
The choice of characters to star in this narrative arose from the challenge of choosing spokespeople who brought a touch of novelty, but who at the same time were references on the subject of motherhood. In view of this, we chose three mother-daughter duos who are aligned with Lancôme’s essence and values, but also serve as inspiration and connection with our consumers.
Sandy and Noely are a reference for Brazil in terms of family. Brazilians have closely followed this relationship and still have a strong admiration for the duo and what they represent. In the campaign, they shared their perspectives on the relationship they have with each other. Noely talked a little about her experience with motherhood, raising her children before fame, and Sandy opened her heart and got emotional when talking about her mother. A mother who has always been behind the scenes, accompanying her daughter and taking care of her well-being, in addition to being the artist that everyone knows and admires.
We also invited the brand’s spokesperson in Brazil, Rafa Kalimann, and her mother, Genilda, who says she always dreamed of having a baby girl. Rafa and Lancôme have a long-standing relationship and she masterfully represents essential values, such as generosity, a strong connection with the consumer and a light-hearted approach to life. In the campaign, Rafa highlights how her mother is a safe haven, where she does not feel judged, only loved and that if today she dreams of being a mother it is because her whole life she has had an extraordinary mother.
To round out the trio, we brought in Michele Passa, a digital influencer. Alongside her daughter, Zahara, they star in happy moments of love and complicity. Michele was chosen on purpose to reinforce the diversity aspect, which is so latent in Brazil, since 56% of the population identifies as black and, of these, 18% are in classes A/B. As a brand, we increasingly want our consumers to feel represented in our campaigns. Furthermore, it is an honor to be one of the first luxury brands to believe in and invest in Michele’s potential.
