Superdrug has entrusted award-winning creative brand experience agency, N2O, to bring back its ultimate brand experience in February 2023.

The follow-up event to Superdrug’s uber-popular 2019 health and beauty brand showcase will kick off at The Truman Brewery (Brick Lane) from 24^th – 26^th February. The three-day event – the ‘ultimate health and beauty playground’ and the UK’s largest beauty festival – invites attendees to enjoy free treatments, attend exclusive masterclasses with industry experts, meet with big-name beauty influencers, and immerse themselves in all things health and beauty.

Brands include: Bourjois, Marc Jacobs, BedHead, Ariana Grande perfume, NYX Professional Makeup, CeraVe, Glaze, Britney Spears fragrance, Feather & Down, Nivea, Pantene x Moschino and more. Superdrug’s own Superdrug Healthcare and Superdrug Beauty Studio will also feature.

Matt Walburn, Marketing, eCom, Digital, Customer Director at Superdrug, said: “We are excited to see the return of Superdrug Presents. We know the value of experience for our customers and being able to host an event that brings so many fantastic brands together is something we’re confident they will love. N2O share our vision when it comes to experiential and we can’t wait to see it come to life at the end of the month, it’s not to be missed!”

Clare James, Chief Operating Officer at N2O, said: “This massive event was such a big project for us to work on in 2019, and we’re in a great position to bring it back in this post-Pandemic landscape. It was incredibly well-received in 2019, so to be able to deliver it again and build on that excitement from fans is a fantastic thing. Our talented Creative Team have devised over 30 unique health and beauty experiences for customers to immersive themselves in and it’s bigger and better than ever before!”

Tickets and more information can be found at Superdrug Presents | Superdrug

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Jo Curtis, co-founder of Jackanory, shares how three Es (Experience, Environment and Engagement) lead to successful experiential activation in the beauty industry.  

When it comes to the beauty sector, social media, e-commerce and tech have brought huge changes to the industry and continue to play an important role. Yet, despite the convenience of shopping online, research suggests that 75 – 80% of consumers still prefer to buy their beauty products offline, through physical, face-to-face experiences. While other retail sectors are suffering closures and losses as footfall dries up, beauty remains a bricks-and-mortar stronghold.

Joanna Rogers, commercial director at Boots, says “Beauty is an industry you want to touch, smell and experience. Our latest research suggests that people treat beauty shopping as ‘fun time’, which means if you create an engaging environment, the customers will come.” Boots has done just this, facing the online challenge head on and completely overhauling its cosmetics offering to create a luxe and alluring experience with benefits you can’t access when online shopping at home. Trending zones, discovery areas and live demonstration areas have created a “beauty playground” where customers can touch, smell and try products in the flesh. Because when it comes to beauty, the ability to sniff, play and experiment with products beats online ordering hands down. IT Cosmetics’ CC Cream may look perfect online, but have you seen, in person, what it can really do for your skin?

High-end retailer Harrods has also redeveloped its beauty hall and hopes for it to become the “most exceptional beauty emporium in the world.” Annalise Fard, Harrods’ director of beauty, accessories, fine jewellery and watches, says, “We understand the importance of investing in bricks and mortar, as through our store we can offer an unparalleled experience and service that continues to keep Harrods at the forefront of retailing.” They hope to capture a larger share of the competitive and rapidly evolving beauty market through what Fard calls “the three Es”: experience, environment and engagement. She says, “The store can’t just be beautifully designed – it needs to be flexible for the future. The new beauty hall will bring trends to life and bring innovation, magic and theatre to Knightsbridge.”

The experiential marketing industry has, of course, been talking about the importance of innovation, magic and theatre for years. Experience, environment and engagement are key pillars of every successful experiential activation. Whether it’s a sampling campaign, a pop-up or an immersive event, if you get the experience and environment right, engagement will naturally follow. Throw in some innovation, a sprinkling of magic, a great deal of theatre, and consumers will not only remember the experience but share it with others. Through engaging experiences, beauty brands can kick-start a real-world connection with their consumers, going above and beyond a soulless online transaction. They can immerse consumers in their brand story – a story consumers can see, feel and hear – fostering a meaningful relationship through emotional connections that can in turn drive long-term advocacy.

Take Tiffany’s impressive 43ft scented Christmas tree at St Pancras last year. The tree featured hundreds of bottles of the brand’s eau de parfum, launched by Coty, as well as baubles and a giant robot made of Tiffany’s familiar blue boxes. The tree pumped out the eau de parfum scent, with the aim of creating a sensorial experience for shoppers, while a pop-up, located under the tree, offered fragrances and gift-wrapping services.

Or Elizabeth Arden’s visually impactful pop-up store to celebrate their artist-inspired limited-edition Eight Hour Collection. Multiple engagement points and dozens of Instagram-able details attracted a younger target audience, sharing the Eight Hour Cream story with a new generation of consumers.

Some might say that Clinique’s first ever pop up shop in New York earlier this year achieved the perfect combination of experience, environment and engagement. The shop immersed the customer into the Clinique iD story in a new and engaging way. A hi-tech consultation recommended the Clinique iD product best for the customer, before they followed a color-coded path to test the recommended product and then customise it with some Instagram-ready stickers. A green-screen photo wall with various props on hand and a virtual reality station generated the magic and theatre required and completed the brand engagement journey.

So, whether in-store or out-of-store, we echo the importance of Annalise Fard’s three Es, for the beauty sector in particular. By focussing on experience, environment and engagement you’ll create stories that consumers can see, smell, touch, hear and sometimes even taste. You’ll create meaningful relationships that will take your consumers on a journey, sparking emotional connections to not only drive trial and awareness, but also long-term brand advocacy, both on and offline.

We hope to see even more bold, brilliant and beautiful experiences from the beauty industry popping up over the next year. In the meantime, it’s 1pm and we’re off to Boots, our nearest beauty playground, for our lunchtime beauty fix. Perhaps it’s just as well we don’t work around the corner from Harrods. That would be dangerous…

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Female empowerment, activism, discovery and self-care collide in the latest event from The Body Shop. The free pop-up will take place on 9th and 10th March at the Truman Brewery in Shoreditch.

Created to celebrate women and featuring artwork by Laura Callaghan, guests will be able to enjoy free makeovers, express facials, massages and hair braiding, as well as a selection of inspirational workshops.

The space will include the ‘A She in Every Shea’ exhibition celebrating 25 years of the women behind The Body Shop’s Community Trade shea butter. There will also be a curated shop, offering 25% off and a free Goodie Bag worth £30 when guests spend over £25.

A selection of female role-models and activists will be speaking at the #empowHER talks and workshops, sharing insightful tips and life lessons. A range of topics will be discuessed, covering everything from body confidence, anxiety, finding your game face, everyday activism, carving a career your way to looking after yourself.

Speaking at the #empowHER sessions will be:

• Megan Crabbe, body positive activist and author
• Fearne Cotton, broadcaster and author of ‘Happy’
• Scarlett Curtis, author of ‘Feminists Don’t Wear Pink’
• Pixie Geldoff, activist and model
• Cat Meffan, yoga teacher and wellness blogger
• Sonny Turner, model and activist
• Deborah Frances-White, comedian and host of ‘The Guilty Feminist’ podcast
• Clare Amfo, Radio 1 DJ
• Laura Whitemore, presenter

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Elizabeth Arden’s cult multitasking beauty balm Eight Hour® Cream is celebrating the healing power of love this Christmas by teaming up with British muralist James Goldcrown to create the Limited Edition Love Heals x Eight Hour® Collection.

To celebrate this collaboration, Elizabeth Arden asked Jackanory to create a pop up store that would drive brand awareness and appeal to new customers. Taking place in Boxpark in London’s Shoreditch from Tuesday 23rd October until Sunday 28^th October, visitors to the pop up will receive a complimentary Oxygen Blast Facial, a personalised skincare consultation, an exclusive gift with purchase and much more.

Born in West London, James Goldcrown is a self-taught muralist and photographer based in New York and LA and is best known for his insta-famous #lovewall murals which can be seen throughout the US, Japan, South Korea, China and Brazil.

The pop up features original James Goldcrown artwork and visitors will be encouraged to take a selfie in front of his #lovewall for the chance to win an original canvas.  Those who purchase from the limited-edition collection will also have the opportunity to spin a wheel of fortune for discounts, gifts and more.

Marion Bloch, Brand Manager for Eight Hour said “We wanted to maximise visibility of our limited-edition Eight Hour collection amongst a younger target audience and we were confident Jackanory would create an eye-catching, visually impactful pop up store with multiple engagement points and instagrammable details.”

Lucy Gillions, co-founder of Jackanory said: “We’re thrilled to be sharing the story of the #lovewall collaboration between James Goldcrown and Eight Hour. We’ve worked hard to create a pop up that immediately captures the attention of passers by, raising awareness of the limited-edition collection and kick starting a younger generation’s relationship with this much-loved beauty balm.”

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The Body Shop have created an Enchanted Forest pop-up in Shoreditch, London. The pop-up is a sensorial journey designed to pamper, inspire and inform. Visitors can indulge themselves with makeovers, massages and treats, and explore The Body Shop’s new Christmas collection.

There will also be the chance to meet The Body Shop’s campaign partner, conservation charity The Woodland Trust, and discover how they are working to Re-Wild the World this Christmas.

Entrance to The Enchanted Forest is free of charge with no ticket needed, plus visitors can also enjoy shopping with 25% off and be treated to a free goodie bag, worth £35, when they spend £25.

The space will also host a number of talks, workshops and classes on everything from skincare and makeup secrets to candlelit yoga and how to ‘Re-Wild Your Home.’

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Live experiences agency WRG, a division of The Creative Engagement Group, has put together a luxury pop-up installation to celebrate the opening of the newly refurbished Selfridges Beauty Hall in Manchester’s Trafford Centre.

From 10^th to 14^th October, The Social Studio provided a bijou venue for events, workshops, and meet-and-greets. It also provided a private space where VIP social media influencers were able to record their own beauty content in style.

Selfridges’ Social Studio was divided into three sections. The largest was used as a flexible workshop area where influential insiders from the beauty industry were invited to speak to a select audience.

The other half of the pop up was divided into two comfortable spaces, one offering a small seating area that can be used to host more intimate talks, and the other providing room for two private recording booths.

WRG’s design was inspired by the look of the new beauty hall, embracing the trend for popular “instagrammable” spaces that use high end finishes and fresh, modern colour pallets to create a luxurious environment.

Mark Jackson, Head of Environments at WRG, said: “The rise of the pop-up store phenomena is giving brands a perfect opportunity to create agile experiences in a retail environment.  They capture and engage their customers, targeting moments in time that complement their wider marketing campaigns. We are delighted to be working with Selfridges on this opportunity.”

Selfridges has just opened its newly refurbished Beauty Hall in the Trafford Centre, introducing more than 80 new brands, 1500 shades of foundation and 3000 lipsticks. There will also be personal shoppers called Beauty Insiders on hand to guide shoppers through the space, and share the inside scoop on the latest launches.

Vicki Cain, General Manager at Selfridges Trafford, said: “We’ve put a lot of time and energy making the Beauty Hall a memorable shopping destination, and we needed the perfect space to showcase the new experience it provides. WRG’s pop up Social Studio provides a flexible and fun environment for customers and influencers to enjoy the surroundings, participate in events and make the most of everything we have to offer.”

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Revlon have appointed Jackanory to develop and implement engaging experiential activations to drive trial and purchase of Juicy Couture’s brand new fragrance pillar, OUI Juicy Couture. Tasked with bringing to life the OUI Juicy Couture concept centred around female empowerment and encouraging women to say “yes” to things they believe in, Jackanory have created an eye-catching and engaging sampling experience that will tour shopping centres nationwide.

The #PowerOfOui activity will be taking place in shopping centres nationwide from 24^th August to Sunday 9^th September.

In the centre of a boxing-ring style stand, is a punch ball where shoppers are encouraged to have a go at the ‘YES OUI CAN’ Power Punch game to experience the empowering and playful force of the new brand. Shoppers will be invited to beat the score with one punch and then encouraged to share their experience on Instagram using the hashtag #PowerOfOui for a chance to win OUI Juicy Couture merchandise.

Laura Byron, Brand Manager of Oui Juicy Couture said “We needed an activation that would truly resonate with our target market, leverage our positive brand statements and encourage trial and purchase consideration. We’re confident that Jackanory’s #PowerOfOui activation will do just that and help to generate strong word of mouth around the new fragrance.”

Jo Curtis, co-founder of Jackanory said: “We’re delighted to be working with Revlon to kick start the story of their new OUI Juicy Couture fragrance.  We love the playfully provocative and unstoppable nature of the brand and can’t wait to see the concept come to life through our shopping centre activations. By leveraging the positive OUI statements through our activity, we hope to drive trial and purchase of the fragrance, all the while underscoring the importance of female empowerment.”

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Benefit Cosmetics ran an activation at London’s Southbank Centre earlier this week featuring an Extreme Brow Bar – a cosmetics counter experience on a scissor lift truck which gave consumers the chance of a complementary brow wax, style and pamper brow 65 feet up in the air, with views over the River Thames and London skyline.

The Extreme Brow Bar was open for one day only as part of a promotional experiential activation to support the launch of GimmeBrow+.

Consumers with a problem with heights were offered the same treatment from the ‘BrowMobile’ brow bar on wheels, parked alongside the scissor truck.

Benefit is also running a 15% discount offer off any brow service or product for consumers who trade in their tweezers at any standalone Benefit Boutique until 22nd April 2018.

Benefit Cosmetics was founded in San Francisco in the 1970s, It now has 2,000 BrowBars in 41 countries worldwide and claims to be the world’s number one brow brand.

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‘Natural beauty’ brand L’Occitane celebrated the launch of its new multi-sensorial flagship store on London’s Regent Street last week with a series of PR stunts and give-aways.

To raise awareness of the new opening and to drive traffic to the store, experiential marketing and staffing agency Ambient was commissioned to run a sampling campaign, featuring the brand’s bestselling hand cream, around London, including an attention-grabbing experiential activation at Tower of London. Consumers were also offered complimentary rides to the new store in L’Occitane-branded London taxi cabs.

Another activation ran near the new flagship store, where shoppers were given small golden keys – they were then invited to visit the new outlet and find out if their key unlocked a beauty hamper worth £250. The golden key activity ran for three days, starting on January 31st.

L’Occitane en Provence, usually referred to as L’Occitane, is an international manufacturer and retailer of cosmetics, toiletries and home products based in Provence, France. Products and made from local Provencal ingredients and materials ethically sourced from elsewhere in traditional ways and the company does not use animal testing. Many of its products are organic, while the company supports the traditional cultivation of scented and aromatic plants through partnerships.

The brand’s new London flagship store has been designed to provide customers with a unique, sensory experience.

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The Body Shop has partnered mobile marketing specialists Urban Airship to launch a mobile wallet pass with the latest news and signature counts for its Forever Against Animal Testing campaign.

The campaign will use mobile wallet passes to deepen ongoing engagement with supporters and help grow the 2,800,000+ signatures already collected online and in-store.

Launched in June alongside Cruelty Free International, The Body Shop’s Forever Against Animal Testing campaign aims to end cosmetic animal testing worldwide through a petition that will be taken to the UN.

Harriet Williams, Chief Digital Officer, The Body Shop, says: “Mobile wallet passes offer us the perfect vehicle to spread the word and grow support for our efforts to end cosmetic animal testing globally once and for all. The ease of creating, distributing and updating mobile wallet passes, combined with the high rate of social sharing, will help finish what The Body Shop started when we began campaigning against animal testing in the 1980s.”

On signing the petition online, people will be directed to a landing page where they will have the option to add the Forever Against Animal Testing wallet pass to their device. The wallet pass will also be linked in a thank you email, promoted by The Body Shop on social media channels and will provide regular news updates direct to users. Those receiving the pass from friends sharing it will automatically get a link to where they can sign the petition. Supporters can also use the campaign hashtag #ForeverAgainstAnimalTesting on social media to raise awareness of the issue.

A recent Urban Airship study of one million Apple Wallet coupons and loyalty cards of major retail brands found that more than three-quarters of passes installed were the result of sharing rather than being distributed through a brand’s channels. Apple Wallet coupons had the highest rate of sharing, each one being added to 4.3 other devices on average, which The Body Shop’s cause-related campaign is expected to eclipse.

“We’re proud to be lending our expertise and mobile wallet engagement solution, Urban Airship Reach, to this largest and most ambitious attempt to put an end to cosmetics animal testing globally,” said Brett Caine, CEO and president, Urban Airship. “The Body Shop’s effort will offer a textbook example of how easily and flexibly mobile wallets can be used to inform, inspire and activate audiences for a limitless range of purposes.”

Urban Airship (www.urbanairship.com) is used by thousands of businesses to drive growth with mobile. Every day, the company’s technology delivers billions of personalised, interactive notifications that inspire interest and drive action. Urban Airship clients include Adidas, Alaska Airlines, The Home Depot, NBC Universal, Sky Media and Zillow.

Founded in 1976 in Brighton, England, by Anita Roddick, The Body Shop is a global beauty brand. The Body Shop seeks to make a positive difference in the world by offering high-quality, naturally-inspired skincare, hair care and make-up produced ethically and sustainably. The Body Shop pioneered the philosophy that business can be a force for good and this ethos is still the brand’s driving force. The Body Shop has more than 3,000 stores in more than 60 countries.

The Body Shop was the first international beauty brand to campaign against the practice of animal testing in cosmetics in 1989, leading the way to a European Union-wide ban on animal testing in 2013. Its Forever Against Animal Testing campaign, in partnership with charity Cruelty Free International, was launched in June 2017 and achieved 2 million signatures in its first two months.

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