With around three billion people now classed as gamers, and an almost equal divide of men and women, cosmetics giant L’Oréal is coming to play as it ramps up its engagement strategy through influencer and platform partnerships to grow its brand’s resonance with worldwide communities.
Speaking from VivaTech, Alexandra Bolten, global head of social and content marketing at L’Oréal, discussed the company’s burgeoning gaming strategy and how that would help champion inclusivity and representation in gaming, which has included a freshly renewed partnership agreement in esports with Team Vitality having named Garnier Fructis as its first hair care partner.
Highlighting the various gaming partnerships and the potential for global community games such as Animal Crossing, The Sims and Roblox, Bolten claimed that the brand had already seen these communities “over index” in terms of their devotion to the titles. She revealed that the same was true for brands Urban Decay and NYX Professional Makeup which also held communities that were fans of those games.
“We know that our consumers are there,” she said, explaining that the strategy was about onboarding those consumers and then directly showing them the company’s products by tapping into streaming communities.
“In that gaming space, we talk about self-expression and about boundless creativity. Well there’s a lot to offer in the gaming space and only in a way that L’Oréal can do it because in gaming, too, we will be driven by our sense of purpose, which is creating the beauty that moves the world.”
Supporting representation and developing communities
That sense of purpose saw the brand wish to be representative in gaming. “We believe that stronger [companies] and stronger communities are created when people of every culture, background and lifestyle are accepted and valued,” Bolten said. This is reflected, she claimed, by the products produced by L’Oréal from all around the world and in all walks of life. “We want to ensure that our products meet the needs of every single form of beauty and every culture. And this same approach we can [use to] break into gaming.”
An example of this desire came through NYX where, as part of its Pride Month activation and partnering with The Sandbox metaverse and Crypto for Pride, the company launched a diverse avatar collection sporting various makeup looks in order to improve online representation, helping gamers to access a variety of styles that allow them to showcase who they are as individuals.
8,430 avatars were put up for sale via The Sandbox’s metaverse and were designed by female NFT artists briefed to tackle gender disparity, representing Black and brown women, people of color and LGBTQ+ creators and developers.
The insights were driven from a global study by the Institute of Digital Fashion which canvased 6,000 people around body types, gender identity, disabilities and the types of clothing and makeup they want to see online with avatars. 60% of those people said that there was a lack of inclusivity in virtual worlds, explained Bolton.
Discussing what she believes consumers want, Bolten highlighted four elements: Entertainment, connection, creation and self-expression and immersion, adding that marketers now know that the customer journey is “no longer linear” and describing gaming as “the perfect match” when it comes to engaging with Gen Z consumers.
This explains why esports has become a go-to for the company which also had NYX target the gaming community by sponsoring the five-time world champion women’s esports team Dignitas as its official beauty partner. This saw the team give live makeup tutorials and share product content information with each of their streaming fanbases.
“These women have their very specific communities, they have their very specific fans. So, by partnering with them, we’re finding the way to speak to their consumers,” Bolten explained of the partnership.
Another esports partnership, this time targeting male consumers through grooming label L’Oréal Men Export, saw a tie-up with Fnatic, with its branding appearing on the team’s shirt as they competed in tournaments for games including FIFA and the League of Legends World Championship. This aimed to reach the team’s 35 million fans through its various channels as well as the brand’s own social platforms as well.
There was also the co-creation of the #PrepToPlay docuseries, involving Fnatic’s team as they played their way throughout the tournaments.
“Esports is like an actual sport: how do we connect this with people who really aren’t into gaming but want to express their beauty comp beauty needs?” she continued.
As for the latest two-year agreement between Garnier Fructis and Team Vitality, it will pick up from the previous “V For Veuch” campaign work and continue its alien invasion story with a new theme, “The Force Returns.” It will see the two organizations work together on brand activations while offering fans events involving the team’s players and the opportunity to win experiences through Team Vitality’s social channels.
Garnier Fructis will gain visibility across all of Team Vitality’s gaming roster, including Valorant and League of Legends, with players championing the brand through their own content and digital assets.
Developing virtual influencers
The company isn’t just teaming with gamers; it’s developing its own influencers as well. In November, the company released its virtual “muse” named Candy to promote its fragrance, Prada Candy. Candy was designed to interact with the fragrance and learn about it, creating content in turn.
“She’s continuously questioning, trying to connect with her environment. When she meets the fragrance, she gets extremely creative. And she’s trying to expand to another existence through the power of technology,” outlined Bolten. “She’s absolutely free from constraints. Her curiosity grows, she sees new creative perspectives. And with them, she’s totally open to rethinking reality.”
The launch video for Candy, directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, has been viewed over 2.8 million times since October as the brand aimed to capture the attention of Gen Z consumers for its relaunch.
Despite all this work, Bolten added that L’Oréal is still in a “test and learn” phase with its gaming strategy as it continues to tap into online communities and develop brand loyalty and engagement.
“As brands, we need to think about how to engage with these people, but also how to engage with the makers—the people who are going to work within the metaverse—because they have a very specific creative power,” she said.
