OLAPLEX’s Fraud Campaign at TikTok

Marketing activities on social media platforms have become an essential part of major brand marketing. Content marketing, social media advertising, real-time live streaming, influencer marketing, etc. are widely used. Brands often directly promote brand and product highlights through these forms to attract and persuade consumers to make purchases

However, OLAPLEX conducted a completely different social media marketing campaign by creating a fictional product called OLADUPÉ and attracting consumers to Oladupe.com through an unboxing campaign conducted by influencers. The top 160 registered consumers were able to receive a free bottle of OLADUPÉ (but it was actually OLAPLEX).

When I saw this news, this deceptive activity surprised me very much, as no brand had ever expressed itself through this form before. This is an extremely innovative social media marketing campaign, and the results have proven successful, but it is also very risky and may have a negative impact on the brand in the future.

Genius Marketing Campaign

Influencer marketing + Topic marketing

OLAPLEX chose to conduct this activity on the rapidly developing and growing TikTok platform, using influencer marketing and topic interaction to generate a lot of buzz. Influencers usually have a large number of fans, and OLAPLEX can collaborate with influencers to carry out unboxing activities, which can spread the event to a wider audience and quickly increase exposure. Consumers often tend to trust influencers’ evaluations and recommendations, and then follow them to purchase products. OLAPLEX successfully “duped” consumers and revealed the truth to them by taking advantage of this.

In addition, popular topics are promptly created on TikTok, allowing consumers to participate in discussions and interactions. Through this approach, the brand’s interaction and participation have increased, and at the same time, the brand can also receive real-time feedback from consumers about this activity. These two methods are effective. After the creator posted the content, the tag #OLAPLEXDUPE generated 69.2 million views, and the related #OLADUPE also received 44.4 million views.

Brand message delivery

OLAPLEX has a unique patent, ingredient, or bond-building technology. Through this deceptive activity — OLADUPÉ does not actually exist, to convey the advantages and characteristics of brand products, as well as the message that OLAPLEX cannot be ‘duped’. This helps consumers effectively improve their awareness and understanding of branded products.

Innovative forms to address “dupe” culture

The gradual popularity of “Dupes” in TikTok may result in the brand losing sales. Some brands may retaliate against Dupes through price discounts, but this will devalue the brand. OLAPLEX chooses to use social media to communicate directly with the audience who are purchasing OLAPLEX Dupes, using this opportunity to educate consumers about the brand’s products. It can effectively resist the dupe culture while not belittling the brand.

Besides, after revealing the truth, the brand offered consumers a 20% discount to purchase the product. While consumers are dissatisfied with the scam, brands quickly offer them discounts to stimulate them to purchase and try products, which has a great effect on improving sales and easing consumer emotions.

Bring some concerns

Reduce trust in the brand

OLAPLEX used influencers to spread fictional products and guide consumers to register and receive OLADUPÉ on another fake website. Although OLAPLEX later revealed this scam, this behavior may lead consumers to believe that the brand spreads false information through such activities, thereby reducing their trust in the brand and potentially affecting long-term user relationships.

Generate potentially negative feedback

When consumers participate in this scam and eventually find themselves deceived, they will experience anger and dissatisfaction. This emotion can shift to creating disappointment and negative impressions of the brand.

High risk

This is an adventurous marketing campaign. Spreading fictional products may lead to negative public opinion or public relations crises, and spreading false information may violate regulations and laws.

Thoughts

When I saw this news, I was very surprised by this event. I am very impressed by the creativity of this “dupe” activity, and it has been proven that there are indeed many consumers participating in the activity. The topic has a very high browsing volume on TikTok.

But I think this activity may also have a negative impact on the brand. In addition, in my opinion, this campaign does not leave a lasting impression on consumers that the product has unique advantages and characteristics, as consumers will only remember more about their participation in the marketing scam of this fictional product than the characteristics of the product. What’s more, after revealing the scam, OLAPLEX gave consumers a 20% discount to purchase the product, which would increase the sales of the product for a period of time at that time. But when there is no discount, consumers will not become loyal users. They may reduce their purchases of “dupes”, but they may still choose other cheaper products.