Colorista in Germany

5 questions for Eva Liehener-Stefan, General Manager for L’Oréal Paris in Germany.

Can you tell us what are the great trends in today’s retail targeted to general public in Germany?

Eva Liehener-Stefan: We can see a strong consumer shift in Germany into the drug market. Meaning that more and more consumers go to the very developed drugstores to buy their cosmetics. We can see an increasing number of brands and new launches attracting especially the younger age group below 30, those Millennials are constantly browsing the offer online and offline.
Since the makeup market is booming and there’s a lot of intensification, we can also see the appearance of real “colour junkies”. Those consumers think it’s boring to just be ordinary. They prefer to stand out from the crowd and love to make a statement by putting different colours into their faces and hair.

What is Colorista’s positioning in hair colouring targeted to general public?

E. L-S.: We positioned the brand Colorista in Germany to the 16 to 29 year olds “makeup junkies”. They are looking to experiment with their hair colour for individual looks, spending a lot of time online to look at tutorials and how-tos to ensure there’s always a way to achieve their own colour. And they are digital natives and they’re totally engaged, it’s all about hashtag #doityourway.

Why did you choose to sell those products in the makeup area vs. hair colour area?

E. L-S.: We decided to fish where the fish are! Therefore decided to go with an elective distribution strategy, that means in the makeup aisle only to target those “colour junkies”.
And a permanent high visibility secondary placement with our disruptive Colorista tower, providing inspiration with those big visuals and education about the range, the colour results and links to online education and how-tos.

What are the results, the conclusion from this original positioning?

E. L-S.: Within the first weeks of the launch we managed to create an overwhelming social buzz, leading to an ever high market share and becoming by far the biggest hair colour brand in the total market. These results can be drawn back to the elective strategy, a strong influencer campaign gaining over 6 million reach.

What is the next step for Colorista?

E. L-S.: In the future, as we are not the first mover anymore, we are planning on an even more consumer centric always on animation strategy, online and offline. Following the makeup model with complete looks. Colorista and makeup together creating inspiring looks.

Thank you very much!