INFEATURE
THE NEW LUXURY
MOMENTS OF TRUTH Haircare brands need to plan and activate around key trigger moments to connect and stay relevant with their audiences – the Oscars result in a significant uplift in haircare searches, heavily inspired by celebrities. Other top haircare moments include New Year, Valentine's Day, Spring, Summer Holiday, Festivals, London Fashion Week. In contrast, consumers are also more likely to be motivated by sporadic moments such as convenience, chill/ relaxation and bargains when searching for haircare, suggesting that intent is often spontaneous. Many brands in the fast moving consumer goods space take a ‘one size fits all’ approach with consumers, whether it’s brand messaging, campaigns or product packaging, however this approach is off the menu for haircare. Haircare requires clear segmentation across categories such as hair damage or dandruff, life profiles, key moments, sporadic moments, connected interests, top searches. Haircare problems, at the end of the day, index the highest, which indicates that hair longevity is a true concern and passion for many. Hair is a real trigger moment when it comes to confidence and signals that can be used to encourage loyalty and/or a first purchase.
Killer insight: Consumers searching around hair loss are over 286 times more likely to be searching for remedies. Female vs male in hair search sits at around 79.3 per cent versus 20.7 per cent.
The forever growing luxury market has undergone some significant shifts with the majority of growth (85 per cent) fuelled by Gen Y and Gen Z and the increasing spending power of this ‘millenial’ group. Traditionally, endorsement for luxury brands was a role reserved for celebrities but more influencers and consumers are being engaged with higher expectations and more interactive based marketing to justify the price tag. Personalisation is now key at this end of the market. Luxury haircare consumers are 2.3 times more likely to search for influencers than the mass market audience. The top problem searches around haircare are; dandruff, dull, and oily or greasy hair with the top three audiences of stay-at-home parents, parents of toddlers and family shoppers. Despite disruptor brands shaking up the market and driving new trends, mass brands continue to dominate overall share of search for haircare.
The top three demographics searching for luxury haircare are business travellers, millennials and city dwellers. Killer insight: Top searched luxury brands in other industries are Dyson (40 per cent), Jo Malone (39 per cent) and Champneys (15 per cent) ADVERTISING Hair is big in the world of social media . On Instagram alone there are more than 180 million posts with the hashtag #hair, 17.6 million with #hairstyles and another 18.8 million with #haircolour all across a wide spectrum of inspiration and influential tips, and the ‘girl next door’ is just as much in the spotlight as celebrities. We are using blogs, reviews and individuals for inspiration and people are more engaged with someone they can relate to.
From micro influencers (less than 10,000 followers) to middle to power influencers (10,000-250,000), they are often seen as more relatable and hold a greater weight of audience than ‘red carpet’ celebs. However, genuine content reigns supreme – more often than not they will have an #ad or #spon hidden amongst their carefully curated words than be a genuine fan and consumers are more savvy to this now too. So how long can influencer marketing last? One thing is certain, the real genuine consumers hold the power. Authenticity is key and companies need to remember this when building their campaigns. Consumers have already begun to lose trust in some influencers, so, whatever you do, genuine partnerships will reign supreme. So by now, whether in a highly saturated marketplace or just a crowded mind with information, at least having a better idea at what to champion on your social media strategy, who to target in google searches and what motivates the customer, knowledge will always be the most powerful tool in influencing consumer spend. There’s no one size fits all but every piece of information needs to be filtered down into the way you recommend a better solution to your customers in the forever elusive customer service and retail maze. May the knowledge give you power! INSTYLE 25