The CMO at Roc Skincare shares how a 10-person study validating its eye cream works as a marketing tool in tandem with its clinical studies.
“Clinically proven” is a staple tagline for skincare brand Roc. The words are prominently display on its logo and thus all of its products. The brand claims that third-party measurement firms have clinically tested and proven the skin benefits its product promise.
This data is important to the brand, said chief marketing officer Hillary Hutcheson, but it doesn’t build a meaningful connection with consumers.
“When you’re marketing to today’s consumer, she’s very savvy,” Hutcheson said. “You need to build that longer term, more emotional connection with her.”
So Roc put its products to the test — it knows they work so there is little risk — and did its own transformational study. Through a casting agency, the brand selected 10 women of varying ages and demographics. As a baseline measurement, a dermatologist used a Visia skin analysis machine to determine the eye age of each participant, based on wrinkles, pigmentation and texture. It filmed this process and interviewed the women about their feelings on aging.
After eight weeks of using Roc’s products twice a day, the brand remeasured everyone’s eye age and filmed the results. Each woman’s eyes appeared younger, and they were all happy to hear the news
Roc took its filming and turned it into a documentary style spot. The ad brings the human element of having women try the product firsthand, and then discussing their feelings and confidence, Hutcheson said. Even though clinical studies validate its products, an ad that shows real women provides social proof.
“Our research showed that it was really interesting for the broader audience to see those results from a proof standpoint,” Hutcheson said. “They hadn’t seen it before, and they really welcomed a brand being so transparent about their product and seeing the results in action with consumers.”
Results of Roc’s new campaign
The video ad campaign debuted in May and will run through July. The video is available on YouTube, Connected TV, its own website and social media. Roc will measure the campaign’s success based on sales uplift of its eye creams, return on ad spend, increases in its marketshare and brand health on social media.
So far, sales have increased by double digits, and the brand is pleased with its return on investment, Hutcheson said.
“We weren’t really sure going into this if we would see a sales impact, because our broader goal was to really drive that emotional connection with consumers,” she said. “The fact that we have seen this double-digit sales growth on this campaign has been very encouraging.”
The comments consumers post about the video ad are positive, commending the brand for being transparent, she said.
“You’ll see that what we’ve done with this particular creative is we really struck a chord, with consumers around this idea of aging and taking control of the aging process and setting yourselves up for skin longevity in the long term by starting with your eyes,” she said.
Roc’s empowered aging initiative drives purpose marketing
This campaign is part of Roc’s larger initiative on empowered aging. Roc established a five-year donation with Brown University’s Center on the Biology of Aging for skincare research.
It also is providing resources to the SeekHer Foundation, a women’s mental health advocacy research and support group.
Roc is letting consumers know about these investments on its website, LinkedIn and Instagram.
“When we look at purpose-driven marketing and how it benefits us as a brand, No. 1 is the fact that it really helps us build these deeper, more meaningful relationships with consumers,” Hutcheson said. “It helps us build this emotional connection, because we want consumers to know that we’re genuinely invested in their emotional well being, and then also their long-term skin health.”
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