Earlier than-and-after makeover advertisements are nothing new. However add in TikTok, with its potential to leap lower from bedhead to shiny blowout over an unique DJ beat, and it’s not a shocker that hair care model Olaplex pulled off three billion hits on the platform in simply three days.
Olaplex, which launched in 2014 making premium hair care merchandise, was content material with rising its biz purely by phrase of mouth amongst stylists on-line.
However when it began investing in paid media earlier this 12 months, the model turned to TikTok primarily for model constructing reasonably than gross sales elevate, stated Charlotte Watson, who was employed in January as its first CMO.
This summer time, the model launched its greatest paid social media marketing campaign, the hashtag problem #OLAFLEX, in late August, which inspires followers to “flex” before-and-after clips of their hair utilizing their favourite product.
Olaplex began advertising and marketing on TikTok in April 2020 with natural content material made by influencers. Through the early days of the pandemic, it made sense to shift concentrate on a platform with a powerful status for engagement.
However when content material tagged #OLAPLEX hit 24 million views on TikTok simply shortly after launching, the model noticed potential to place actual cash into the platform. August is when it made its first main advertising and marketing funding on TikTok, Watson stated.
There’s a conversion part to this marketing campaign – the corporate will nonetheless be monitoring gross sales, Watson stated – however the focus is drawing in new customers to the model.
#OLAFLEX is now as much as six billion hits. (For reference, the final #OLAPLEX tag is at one billion.)
And the marketing campaign is unique to TikTok.
“Each social platform has its personal [brand] relevancy and its personal place in our media administration technique,” Watson stated, noting that the model tried its hand at Twitter and Fb first, adopted by YouTube.
Olaplex has run efficiency advertising and marketing campaigns on different social media platforms, too, she stated, however on TikTok it’s solely performed model constructing to date.
The place TikTok stands out is its “velocity” in drawing in new audiences – particularly Gen Z, Watson stated.
Beneath the affect
Since Olaplex began out as a model really helpful by stylists, it made sense to promote on one other influencer-driven platform.
The #OLAFLEX marketing campaign consists of content material created by 400 influencers and stylists, a few of whom have been paid. And Olaplex is constant to work with these influencers all through the autumn to maintain viewers engaged within the hashtag.
Continued momentum for this marketing campaign will depend on “sustained help” from creators and influencers, Watson stated.
In any other case, she added, it’ll simply be a “one-hit surprise.”
And Olaplex goes past simply paid media. A neighborhood engagement staff responds to direct messages [on social media] in actual time.
“Our advertising and marketing technique is rooted in a social neighborhood between prospects and stylists,” Watson stated.
Is that this an advert?
Although TikTok is an indication Olaplex is getting severe about paid media, the model doesn’t contemplate a paid technique a pivot as a result of it’s nonetheless centered round one-to-one relationships with creators and stylists.
Olaplex determined paid media was one of the best ways to amplify its current natural presence and attain, Watson stated.
The corporate is testing out programmatic shopping for on digital show and search to maintain diversifying its income, Watson stated. However as a precedence, based mostly on how rapidly the model is in a position to attract in new viewers, TikTok “seems like the appropriate place to be.”
Olaplex is measuring its TikTok brand-building marketing campaign with a model elevate research. Engagement is decided based mostly on distinctive views, click-through charges and follower progress, together with the person engagement ranges of every of the 400 collaborating influencers’ personal content material.
Primarily based on the outcomes of the hashtag problem, Olaplex will plan one other TikTok-only marketing campaign centered on driving conversions. Particularly, it plans to retarget distinctive viewers of the #OLAFLEX marketing campaign with advertisements in-platform for related merchandise, transferring from model constructing to driving product gross sales.
