Unilever brand, Lux, and Wunderman Thompson have given themselves an ambitious goal. The Lux woman, the brand says,” isn’t afraid to be feminine”. The Lux brand, it adds, isn’t afraid to “power women with the strength to express their femininity without fear.” In a number of countries in Asia, expressing femininity is a bold stance for a woman and a brand to take.
The female dilemma
“The truth is the more a woman puts time and effort into her beauty, the more she tends to be judged, causing her to self-edit. A study Lux commissioned with Nielsen in 2020 across six different markets showed that no matter the country, women regularly face up to 17 judgements – from family, colleagues and strangers,” stated Severine Vauleon, global brand vice president, LUX.
“Nearly all these judgements (70%) are related to how she looks. She is either too selfish or spends too much time on herself, making her a negligent wife, mother, daughter-in-law, or conniving. Beauty rituals however can be a powerful source of strength for many women. This became particularly evident during COVID when self-care and wellness gained importance. We saw how women relied on their beauty routines. And this is where LUX can play an important role.”
Vauleon added, “Women are better off today; however, we would argue that we are still far from being seen as unequal. The truth is, today, 50% of women still face regular judgements about how they look. We believe we have the power to help change this.”
Supporting women’s wishes
As a brand that talks to women, its work has to begin by supporting women’s wishes. Often those wishes flout social norms and customs. Ultimately, its work has to change those norms and customs. It is not an easy job. Lux does, though, have a strong foundation to work with.
“Lux has always championed unapologetic beauty and femininity with a progressive and positive attitude,” Vauleon stated. “As a brand, we use role models who dare to express their femininity boldly to depict a modern vision of beauty around pleasure. We also advocate that every woman deserves to feel beautiful and glamorous. We have created campaigns in our key markets that ensure the conversation is in media – helping redirect conversation and perceptions around beauty. We aim to turn beauty into a source of celebrated strength vs a source of criticism so that women can express their beauty unapologetically.
Unapologetic creative for unapologetic beauty
Lux’ core campaigns for the past three years have all been around this idea of “smashing the labels”. It is the core of the brand’s TV and online communications as well as being activated in other ways, such as using the influence of a new generation of bold and purpose-driven pop artists, such as Dylan Xiong in China and Isyana Saraswati in Indonesia.
In Xiong’s fragrance campaign, the artist reinterpreted Kelly Clarkson’s hit single, Stronger, with new lyrics chosen from crowd-sourced judgements that women in China receive every day such as ‘materialistic’, ‘flower vase’, in other words, pretty but empty or scheming/manipulative. The music video spotlights strong, unstoppable women by showing their unapologetic beauty as they rise against this barrage of everyday judgements.
The track went viral instantly, reaching 324m women across North Asia. It inspired one of China’s most popular shows, Sisters who make waves, with audience of 334 million people. The approach is now being adapted for other markets.
In Indonesia, Lux launched a campaign promoting a kinder attitude on social media, featuring singer-songwriter, Isyana Saraswati, was unapologetic approach to her looks has made her the victim of online bullying. Her campaign ran on TV and digital, in press and on pack.
Lux’ work is not with challenge. “Our audience varies significantly in age. That’s just one difference. More importantly, we see how she is hugely different due to geography. We must acknowledge that disposable income varies and so does the standard of living,” Vauleon noted. “A one size fits all strategy therefore cannot work for a brand like LUX, which is why tailoring the approach to each of our key markets is essential.
Products that uphold the promise
“I remember doing country visits and meeting some of our consumers from parts of South Asia. A soap bar is one of the very few beauty products in her toolkit because she cannot afford much more. We must deliver on her beauty aspirations, in other words providing superior skincare and glow.”
The products themselves have to support women’s beauty aspirations so that the brand’s larger purpose can succeed.
“Therefore our efforts in these markets are centered around product superiority and improving the experience. Making soap bars with creamy lather and the best fragrances means we are making the experience better and more memorable,” Vauleon added.
“Equally, we tailor our approach to our marketing communication strategy. In India, we leverage the power of Bollywood and pop culture together with an aspirational, empowered vision of women. In China or Indonesia, we offer a more explicit expression of our purpose around smashing negative beauty labels embodied by the right, authentic brand ambassadors to make our communication stand out and hit a nerve.
“From a creative brand point of view, emotionally connecting with your consumer has always been critical to loyalty, but it has only grown in importance with today’s younger consumers. Brands that succeed show not just tell.” This includes sponsoring efforts that stand up for the betterment of women. In Indonesia, the Lux campaign runs in partnership with the Ministry of Communications to include a section on overcoming online bullying in their national digital literacy program, for example.
Teams that uphold the female gaze
Finally, Lux works with agencies and teams that have same drive, passion, and philosophy.
“An example of our shared passion and vision is our work with Wunderman Thomson and a project we started two years ago called the Female Gaze,” Vauleon explained. “It aims to promote women in front and behind the camera – writers, directors, producers, DOPs etc. We initiated this because we believe that to tell more engaging, progressive, inspiring and less sexist stories for women or about women, having women craft and tell these stories is imperative.
“Today I am proud to say that 9 out of 10 directors on Lux are female or female-identifying, and we are moving toward a healthy gender-split production crew ratio, currently standing at 60:40, which we hope to make 50:50, by making sure more female or female-identifying talent are a part of our production crew.”
