d. exPeriential PoP-uPs & PartnershiPs

Overview

When it comes to experimenting with new makeup, our primary research indicated that most of our respondents preferred in-person try-on experiences (66%). Experiential marketing is a great way for brands “to connect with consumers where they are” (O’Guinn et al., 2019). Hence, to create more opportunities for consumers to experience the Tower 28 brand in real life and celebrate #CleanIsInclusive, the third campaign tactic involves the integration of experiential marketing via pop-up shops.

As an e-commerce makeup brand, popup shops are a great way for Tower 28 to expand and gain exposure to new markets and new customers. It will allow Tower 28 to improve brand loyalty and communication with existing customers and attract potential customers to the brand by “[facilitating] face-to-face contact” (O’Guinn et al., 2019) and educating them about new products and Tower 28’s brand philosophy of redefining what the “clean girl” looks like and creating an inclusive, safe environment in the beauty space. Moreover, with the success of the pop-up shops, we also see this as an opportunity for Tower 28 to gain leverage when it comes to forming partnerships with major retailers such as Ulta and Sephora to get more of their products in stores. Similar to the college brand ambassador program, pop-up shops are also a great market research tool. It provides Tower 28 the opportunity to distribute product samples, engage with customers, and collect their feedback on their products.

Partnership with La La Land Kind Cafe

In conjunction with the pop-up shops, we also plan on forming a partnership with La La Land Kind Cafe. La La Land Kind Cafe is a local Santa Monica cafe whose mission is to promote and normalize kindness, while also giving back to foster youth. Tower 28 and La La Land Kind Cafe’s shared values of putting people before profits presented a strong brandbrand alignment. Furthermore, La La Land Kind Cafe’s aesthetic drinks coupled with its Instagrammable setup have led to an abundance of user-generated content on all kinds of social media platforms from Gen Z and Millennials across the United States. This along with their mission has gained them a huge social media following on platforms such as TikTok and Instagram. Considering their close similarity in terms of the target market, Tower 28 can extensively benefit from La La Land Kind Cafe’s wide audience reach.

At the pop-up shops, customers will be able to get a free La La Land Kind Cafe specialty latte of their choice with their purchase. Also, to further reinvent the clean aesthetic and create a more inclusive beauty space that defies classist notions about the “clean girl” aesthetic, Tower 28 will donate 15% of its profits from the pop-up shops to provide funding for resources for La La Land Kind Cafe’s We Are One program.

Pop-Up Locations

Pop-up shops will be located where our target market is most accessible. Additionally, we will first be launching the pop-up shops in the Los Angeles region as part of the trial period to assess areas of success and opportunities for improvement. The pop-up shop locations are as follows: College campuses (facilitated and organized by Tower 28’s college ambassadors), Malls, Flea markets (i.e. Melrose Trading Post, Silverlake Flea Market, Rose Bowl Flea Market, etc.), & Tower 28 in Santa Monica.

Activations & Incentives

At the pop-up shops, we will host meet-and-greets for our #CleanIsInclusive influencers to drive foot traffic and give them the opportunity to directly connect with their audiences and demonstrate how they have redefined and expanded on the “clean” aesthetic with the help of Tower 28. Additionally, the first 100 customers each day will be able to get free Tower 28 swag.

QR codes will also be distributed to customers. These QR codes will directly send customers to a Tower 28 website page that further explains the #CleanIsInclusive campaign and provide them with exclusive offers and incentives. To unlock these exclusive offers, customers can post a selfie at the pop-up shop on their Instagram story with the hashtag #CleanIsInclusive. Their selfies will then be reposted on Tower 28’s Instagram to show that truly everyone embodies the “clean” aesthetic, no matter your sex, race, body type, and skin type. These incentives will also allow Tower 28 to track their follower growth and mentions across their social media channels and see if it spurs an increase in the social share of voice among various platforms.

Measurement of Effectiveness

The effectiveness of the pop-up shops will be evaluated by the following metrics: Attendance and frequency of visitors, Number of sales / revenue-generate from product purchases & promo codes, Analysis of #CleanIsInclusive mentions & tags on social media platforms (social shares), Website traffic, conversion rate, & bounce rate.

e. kinder beauty subscriPtion Packages Overview

For our fourth campaign tactic, we plan on forming a partnership with Kinder Beauty Box, a certified vegan, cruelty-free, and clean beauty monthly subscription box, where Tower 28 products could effectively reach a wider audience of Kinder Beauty customers. We want to establish a partnership with Kinder Beauty as Tower 28 and Kinder Beauty have a strong brand-brand alignment, with a shared commitment to curating the best ethical beauty products for everyone. Based on our secondary research on Google Trends, Kinder Beauty also shares a similar target market to Tower 28. They share identical demographics of 25-44-year-old women, similar geographics in large urban states such as California, Texas, Florida, and New York, and even identical psychographic characteristics with affordable price ranges and product effectiveness.

This ideal partnership would help bring earned media and brand awareness to Tower 28, with word-of-mouth and features on Kinder Beauty’s Clean Beauty Blog. Ultimately, partnering with Kinder Beauty reflects the goals of our campaign by making Tower 28 more available to people, allowing them to try Tower 28’s products at a cheaper rate, and demonstrating that anyone could use Tower 28’s clean beauty products.

Measurement of Effectiveness

The effectiveness of the subscription boxes will be evaluated by the following metrics: Track word-of-mouth on social media platforms & reviews (customer feedback / satisfaction – social listening) & track product sales from Kinder Beauty’s marketplace.

Media strategy

Since our target market is composed of Gen Z and Millenials, our campaign’s media strategy consists primarily of new media. According to a Sprout Social article, Gen Z and Millenials are referred to as the “digital native” generations –extremely tech-savvy, brought up in the information age, and under the influence of the internet (Kim, 2021). As a result, to take advantage of these groups’ large spending power, Tower 28 must find ways to connect with them where they are largely present: social media.

Paid Media

As part of our media strategy, we will be using paid media for our influencer collaborations. This includes sponsored posts across our chosen influencers’ social media platforms (i.e. YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok). Examples of potential paid media posts are:

• An Instagram story and post promoting the #CleanIsInclusive pop-up shops and their meet-and-greet sessions at the pop-up shops.

• A TikTok video from Theo Turner showing how he achieved a glowy, beach look with Tower 28 products while discussing how he has redefined the “clean” aesthetic as a Black, gay makeup artist and SKINfluencer.

• A parody of Vogue’s Beauty Secrets videos titled “Pretending I’m in a Vogue Beauty Secrets Video – Mai Pham’s Guide to Sensitive Skincare & Makeup”, where Mai Pham will demonstrate how Tower 28 products and its ingredients have helped soothe her acne-prone skin and prevent it from irritation while trying to achieve the “clean” aesthetic.

• A sponsored blog post on Rachael Fuss’ Skincare Standard blog where she does a “Clean Beauty Picks | Spring ‘22” which will showcase many Tower 28 products, highlighting their benefits for all kinds of skin types and how it has helped her in her personal skincare journey.

Owned Media

We will also be implementing an owned media strategy as part of our

#CleanIsInclusive campaign. This will be seen through the promotion of our pop-up shops and college brand ambassador program on Tower 28’s social media channels and website. Additionally, TikTok posts created by the college brand ambassadors demonstrating how they have used Tower 28’s products to redefine the “clean” aesthetic, will also be posted on Tower 28’s official TikTok page and the company’s Instagram as a reel. A TikTok series in collaboration with La La Land Kind Cafe will also be featured as part of our owned media strategy. In this series titled, Drive-by Kindness, La La Land Kind Cafe employees and Tower 28’s college brand ambassadors will come together to compliment strangers, spread kindness, and ask them to talk about their favorite features about themselves. After, these strangers will be given Tower 28 swag and a Tower 28 product of their choice.

Earned Media

Last but not least, we hope that the campaign’s promotional tactics and messaging will spur an organic, positive movement on social platforms. One of the ways we plan on generating earned media is through the #CleanIsInclusive Selfie Challenge mentioned in our experiential pop-up shop tactic. We hope that by incentivizing customers to take part in this challenge, the #CleanIsInclusive hashtag will begin trending on all kinds of social platforms, piquing the interest of and reaching more consumers. Additionally, wordof-mouth facilitated and catalyzed by our college brand ambassadors and customer reviews from the Kinder Beauty Box subscription packages will hopefully foster overall brand loyalty and incite the creation of user-generated content (UGC). UGC will help further promote Tower 28’s #CleanIsInclusive campaign in which consumers can discuss how Tower 28’s philosophy and its products have redefined and expanded the way they view the “clean” aesthetic.