In recent years, beauty marketing has undergone significant transformation. Consumer preferences have evolved; with authenticity, diversity, and sustainability now at the forefront of purchase decisions. Technology, too, has progressed, with artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality (AR), and social commerce changing the way that beauty products are marketed.
These forces are also transforming beauty creative, both in terms of how it looks and how it’s produced. Beauty marketers are having to adapt their creative strategies in a way that both reflects changing customer motivators and leverages the latest technology.
At Shuttlerock, our creative solutions help beauty brands achieve this.
In this post, we’ll explore these solutions, focusing on how they equip beauty marketers with the creative they need to overcome business challenges and maximize performance across digital.
1. Drive relatability with authentic content
Challenge
Consumers have become disenchanted with the idealized imagery and staged scenarios of traditional beauty ads. Instead, they crave authentic content that they can connect with. This is backed up by the fact that 88% of consumers value authenticity from brands.
The challenge here for beauty marketers is two-fold.
First, your creative needs to represent and reflect your audience by featuring realistic scenarios and relatable talent.
Second, creative should be designed with a platform-native, lo-fi ethos. The aim should be to speak the audience's language by drawing on visual and storytelling conventions from organic content.
Shuttlerock solution
At Shuttlerock, we enable beauty brands to remix existing content into authentic creative that customers connect with.
An example of this can be seen above in our work with Palmer’s. For this project, Palmer’s worked with our team to repurpose UGC creator footage along with existing product imagery. Our design team remixed and reshaped these existing assets, transforming them into a 15-second video optimized for TikTok.
The use of creator footage in a natural, unpolished setting helped to humanize the video and drive a sense of relatability. This was backed up by the use of platform-native copy, voice-over, and editing techniques to mirror organic TikTok content.
Beauty marketers can sometimes be hesitant to adopt a platform-native creative strategy. This is understandable; beauty is one of the strictest categories when it comes to preserving brand identity. At Shuttlerock, we understand this. This is why we work with beauty brands to strike a balance between producing creative in a lo-fi and platform-native style, while still maintaining key branding elements and adhering to brand guidelines.
2. Connect content to commerce
Challenge
One of the biggest changes for beauty marketers in recent years has been the increasing importance of ecommerce as a sales channel. Between 2015–2022, ecommerce beauty sales nearly quadrupled, now accounting for more than 20 percent of total sales – the most of any sales channel.
This ecommerce boom has been driven by multiple factors, including an increase in direct-to-consumer selling, growth of online retailers, and the arrival of social commerce.
To capitalize on the ecommerce opportunity, beauty marketers need to find ways to bridge the gap between content and commerce.
Shuttlerock solution
At Shuttlerock, we offer a range of interactive creative solutions that enable beauty brands to drive ecommerce sales.
An example of this can be seen below with the Instant Experience we produced for L’Occitane. The Instant Experience transported the viewer into an interactive landing page where they could explore L’Occitane’s different Christmas offerings, before being directed to a landing page to purchase products.
Another way we can support beauty brands looking to drive ecommerce sales is with our augmented reality (AR) capabilities. AR “virtual try-ons” are not only fun and immersive. They also enable beauty brands to replicate the in-store shopping experience, allowing customers to try products before buying.
3. Activate your omnichannel strategy
Challenge
Online engagement for beauty consumers is fragmented across a variety of different touchpoints. To capture and activate this engagement, beauty marketers require an omnichannel strategy supported by diverse creative variations.
To maximize omnichannel engagement, beauty marketers need to avoid matching luggage. Instead, they need to develop tailored creative for the different phases, platforms, and placements within the customer journey.
The challenge is being able to achieve this in an efficient way that doesn’t cost too much or take too long.
Shuttlerock solution
Shuttlerock’s streamlined production process – backed by dedicated technology (ShuttlerockCloud) – enables beauty marketers to efficiently produce all the creative they need to activate an omnichannel strategy.
An example of this can be seen in our work with Clarins above. Clarins were in need of a comprehensive suite of assets to launch their new Joli Rouge product. Our team delivered three sets of videos, each tailored for a different stage of the buyer journey: awareness, consideration, conversion.
Each set also contained optimized variations for Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, and Snapchat. Each of these optimizations were designed in a way that adhered to the best practices and nuances of the platform/placement.
4. Remove creative roadblocks with AI
Challenge
It’s common for beauty marketers to hit creative roadblocks where something is restricting your ability to execute your vision. These roadblocks come from a lack of resources, budget, or time.
The challenge for beauty marketers is finding methods to get around these roadblocks so that you aren’t slowed down or limited in what you’re able to achieve creatively.
Shuttlerock solution
AI is a gamechanger when it comes to avoiding creative roadblocks. It augments the abilities of marketers and allows you to achieve things that weren’t previously possible.
At Shuttlerock, we’re helping lead the way when it comes to leveraging generative AI to support creative production. We’ve developed a suite of AI-powered tools that assist marketers at different stages of the creative production process. This includes briefing, copywriting, image creation, asset enhancements, and voice-over recording.
An example of this can be seen above. Dermalogica wanted to quickly create some holiday-themed assets. Shooting new content was going to cost too much and take to long.
By using our AI-enhanced imagery service, they were able to develop a holiday-themed background for the product image. This process is facilitated by our design teams, who help craft the image and make sure that it’s high-quality and on-brand.
5. Avoid creative fatigue
Challenge
Creative fatigue is a major challenge that today’s beauty marketers have to contend with. The shelf-life of creative is becoming increasingly lower, especially on TikTok and Reels – two of the most important channels for beauty brands.
On TikTok and Reels, audiences are accustomed to endless streams of new content. If they’re repeatedly served the same creative within their content feeds, performance is going to see a sharp drop-off.
To keep engagement levels high, beauty marketers need to find solutions that work to combat creative fatigue.
Shuttlerock solution
Shuttlerock helps beauty brands tackle creative fatigue in two ways.
The first is through creative diversification. We work with brands to develop a range of creative variations with different visuals and messaging approaches. By running a diverse set of creatives in an ad set, it means that audiences aren’t over-exposed to any one asset.
An example of creative diversification can be seen above in a project for OPI. In these five video concepts, the copy remained consistent. But the visuals were diversified, using different assets and focusing in on different aspects of the product.
The second way we help tackle creative fatigue is by facilitating always-on production. Our streamlined technology (ShuttlerockCloud), combined with our fixed-cost pricing, enables beauty marketers to achieve this.
With creative production always on, it means that you have a steady supply of new creative. Therefore, if you have creative that is beginning to fatigue, you can easily replace it with a fresh asset.
Start producing high-impact beauty creative with Shuttlerock
If you’re a beauty marketer looking to elevate your digital campaigns with more authentic, effective, and scalable creative, please feel free to request a demo to further explore how our creative solution helps beauty brands. Alternatively, you can get in touch with one of our crew members.
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