Skincare, hair care, nutraceutical, and cosmetics brands rely on customer acquisition to survive and grow in today’s dynamic and competitive marketplace. But even the best branding and marketing have very little value if you don’t first have a product that works and quality digital content that proves it.
this post is sponsored by Media Lab Science
That’s it! That’s the whole secret to customer acquisition in beauty: a product that works and quality content. But how can brands across skincare, hair care, nutraceuticals, and cosmetics show product benefits—that a product actually works—before consumers buy it and try it? And what’s need to develop digital assets that beauty consumers resonate with? That’s where the strategy comes in.
Science and Strategy convert shoppers into customers
Media Lab Science is the latest venture from beauty industry visionary Ameann DeJohn. Established in 2020 and acquired in 2021 by ALS Global, this is the company that Editor Rachel Brown of Beauty Independent says “Brings Clinical Testing into The Social Media Age.” And, Media Lab Science is unique in the clinical testing sector in so far as it combines the expertise and rigor of instrumental assessments, software, and expert graders, with the capabilities of an L.A. - based media production studio.
Historically, clinical testing has been done only to substantiate product efficacy and claims. And the photos and data that result are, well, clinical—illustrative of laboratory science as well as unemotional and detached.
Now, I am not suggesting that cosmetics and personal care brands forego the rigor of conventional clinical testing. But I do believe that there is a tremendous opportunity to update how testing results are documented and shared with beauty consumers, whom we know expect high levels of both product efficacy and brand transparency.
Like all reputable clinical testing labs that partner with skincare, hair care, nutraceutical, and cosmetics brands, Media Lab Science employs expert skin grading, high-tech software, and advanced instrument testing to measure and quantify product benefits. Unlike conventional clinical testing providers, Media Lab Science documents those data and benefits with expertly produced and eminently shareable digital photography and video content.
Making clinical testing meaningful for beauty consumers
In the cosmetics, personal care, and wellness industries, visible clinical results are much more valuable when they are easy to understand and when they are easy to share with beauty consumers.
With this in mind, Media Lab Science produces content that shows the processes and progress of beauty benefits over time. The lab recruits trial participants that look like your consumer profile. As Ameann DeJohn emphasizes in an expert opinion item about skin tones, data gaps, and clinical testing that she published on happi.com earlier this year, “Soon nearly half of the US population will belong to a non-white racial and ethnic group and beauty brands must account for this shift with an expanded commitment to diversity and inclusivity in their claims testing.” And the lab’s resulting before-and-after photos don’t simply help validate product efficacy, they tell a story that today’s diverse and discerning beauty consumers resonate with.
At the start of a clinical trial, expert graders visually analyze the skin of each participant. And this analysis is repeated at regular intervals over the course of the trial. The Media Lab Science team also makes use of in-house instrumental testing capabilities to gather and interpret data. And all of this can be put to good use developing marketing claims and showcasing product benefits.
Additionally, Media Lab Science produces consumer-perception and testimonial videos. Following relaxed and candid interviews with clinical trial participants, the team at Media Lab Science curates marketing gems and authentic insights from those interviews, turning them into scroll-stopping, sharable content—think social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube; think website and ecommerce content; think video and livestream shopping.
What Media Lab Science does differently, what this L.A. - based team does best, is to help brands provide beauty lovers with a look behind the scenes at clinical testing, while also creating digital assets that somehow feel like UGC from your best girlfriend who just happens to have learned a thing or two from pros working in the world’s biggest film and TV industry.
For best results, combine media production and clinical trials
According to the team at market insights and forecasting firm BeautyStreams, “Clinical and serious skin care brands are under the microscope when it comes to their claims, and they are increasingly collaborating with academic and research institutions, as well as third-party testing to develop, affirm, and prove the validity of their claims. Consumers are especially hungry for information they can trust since the pandemic, especially in a world of fake news and misinformation online. Serious scientific credentials empower them to take a leap of faith in a new product or service.” This concept of Clinical Kudos was one of only ten trends the BeautyStreams team featured in the 2023 CosmoTrends Report, a sought-after industry resource published for attendees and exhibitors of Comoprof Worldwide Bologna.
What it all comes down to is this: to get new consumers to buy your brand, you must first must get their attention. And in the highly competitive, global beauty market, the right combination of product efficacy and brand transparency can do just that. Which is why brands looking to make skin beauty, skin health, anti-aging, cosmetics, and/or hair health claims partner with the testing and content team at Media Lab Science.
this post is sponsored by Media Lab Science
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