Are NFT’s The New Instagram Story?
Our role of marketers is to allow brands to meet the consumer where they are. While we have seen many technology advancements in the past decade, we have now reached a new level- or rather planet- the metaverse. So just how does this fit into a marketing strategy?
L’Oréal Makes the Leap
With every emerging technology comes the opportunity for growth and adaptation in the marketing industry. As the metaverse makes a leap into reality, marketers are eager to determine how and where this new concept fits into a brand strategy. As most brands are still dipping their toes in the metaverse and NFT world, international makeup brand L’Oréal Paris demonstrated their support for female digital artists by debuting NFT’s inspired by the brands product launch. The initiative is part of a marketing strategy for the brands new lipstick collection, ‘Red of Worth’ by Color Riche. L’Oréal Paris collaborated with female artists Amber Vittoria, Arina BB, Hueman, Lili Tae, and Puks to create NFT art that is inspired by the lipstick collection. The art pieces were then auctioned on the NFT auction site OpenSea.
An Ode to Their Mission
L’Oréal Paris is a brand rooted in its mission to inspire change, balance, and equity for women. In addition to being a company driven by innovation, the inspiration for the NFT campaign aims to address the gender inequality in the NFT market. A recent report shows that women only make up 5% of all NFT sales, and account for only %16 of the NFT art market. L’Oréal Paris venturing into the NFT space with an initiative that supports and welcomes female inclusion aims to help promote women in technology, while simultaneously attracting consumers to the brand’s new Reds of Worth lipstick launch. This effort demonstrates L’Oréal Paris’ commitment to staying authentic to their brand mission, and highlights the scope of opportunities and growth for females in the NFT space.
“Through this program we want to attention to the gender disparity in the NFT space and hope that we can shine a light on the women already working within the sector while attracting more women artists and buyers”- Maude Brunschwig, SVP Marketing L’Oreal Paris USA
A Worthwhile Endeavour for L’Oreal Paris
By integrating NFT’s into their marketing strategy and aligning the mission with brand values, L’Oréal Paris is demonstrating the potential to incorporate emerging technologies seamlessly into a brand. This effort can also be seen as a means to staying competitive in the industry. Beauty industry brands have been quick to implement emerging technologies such as using Virtual Reality to allow consumers the chance to virtually try on makeup products. More specifically, the past 8 months has seen many competitor brands have leveraged the use of NFT’s in their marketing efforts. Estee Lauder is one of L’Oréal’s primary competitors, and their brand Clinique recently launched an NFT campaign tied to its loyalty members.
More Than Just Marketing
There are many unknowns that still remain regarding the NFT space and its role in brand marketing. While this initiative demonstrates how L’Oréal is joining brands such as McDonald’s, Pepsi, and Nike in creating its own one- of-a- kind digital collectible art, they chose to differentiate themselves through their efforts to bring attention to the lack of female representation in the burgeoning NFT field. L’Oréal Paris demonstrated the potential for brands to integrate NFT’s into their marketing efforts, while also using the concept to highlight important causes and raise awareness.
