VML Qais makes stains desirable

To highlight the product, each shade was featured with an everyday-use object with that tint, that was instantly identifiable

Stain removal may be what the entire detergent industry has been built on, but how do you market a product which calls itself, well, a lip stain? Following on the heels of Lakme's launch of Absolute Pop Tints and preceding that of Maybelline's Baby Lips Lip Balm, products similar to lip stains, the ad agency, VML Qais (VML), has been trying to answer just that. The agency, along with Y&R Advertising, is part of the Y&R family within the WPP Group. VML has tried to rework the pejorative sense in 'stain' for Revlon's range of Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain.

Revlon has been increasingly using the digital medium in its communications. It launched its lip stain line on the Internet, with the help of VML. Tripti Lochan, CEO of VML Qais says, "Revlon has been doing quite a few digital-only campaigns of late. It has been using the digital medium primarily for its launches. We have done both digital and store-push communication for them."

The product in question is a tinted balm which can double as lip colour, depending upon the number of times it has been layered on. But VML, which has run online studies for Revlon on cosmetics usage, also found out that the use of 'stain' led most women think it would be tougher to remove.

VML decided to appeal to the rational thinking of its target audience. It devised a tagline which went as 'Twice as Good', to encompass the dual use of the product as well as the portrait of a likely woman using it. Additionally, it would also reinforce a positive association with the new product through such imagery. "We did not want the imagery to reinforce stereotypes but be empowering," says Lochan.

VML created content around eminent Indian female personalities such as the boxing champion, Mary Kom, and curated posts about regular women who essay dual roles in their daily lives. These pieces were picked up online and from articles, allowing the brand's fans to easily connect with the campaign. The content featured Revlon's brand ambassadors, distinguished women and regular women juggling many roles to tie in the content emotionally.

Seeding Facebook and Twitter with the various aspects (contests, shares, badges) of the campaign, it also spoke of daily-use products used to serve a dual purpose such as a pendrive cum pendant.

To highlight the product and make stains seem more friendly, VML featured each shade of the line with a visual of an everyday-use object with that tint, that was instantly identifiable. It helped push each shade as an individual product rather than let it fade into a line of many shades.

Social campaigns need their fans as much as they need their influencers, ie. bloggers. Revlon wrote to top beauty bloggers in India asking them to review the product, and their feedback armed the brand with testimonials to promote the product.

One of the contests with a photo app had over 700 entries. VML claims that during the recent campaign, Revlon's engagement rate had gone up by as much as 86 pre cent.