Clinique and Teen Vogue sought out their shared target audience this fall with a college tour that spanned 10 markets—including Los Angeles, New York, and Orlando—and gave young women the chance to emulate the brands' respective images by sitting for makeup styling and a professional photography session.
The nearly two-month event series required the creation of a mobile beauty studio, designed and produced by Mktg. But to get extra life out of the Fresh Faces initiative, the brands wanted a compelling online tie-in that would keep the event on participants' minds long after it ended.
"We continue to educate young women on beauty in interesting and receptive ways that resonate with them," said Clinique vice president of North America marketing Denny Downs. "The digital community is a great way for us to reach them."
Bridging the gap between experiential and digital outreach can be problematic, so to ensure attendees would make the trip to Clinque's Web site, event staffers uploaded each attendee's headshot directly to the the Fresh Faces page, where a panel of judges would select the top contenders. Participants could keep checking for updates to see if they were one of the 25 finalists and then vote for their favorite three.
To find the highest concentration of their young demographic, Clinique and Teen Vogue chose markets based on proximity to colleges and universities, working directly with schools such as Ohio State, Rutgers, and Texas A&M to ensure maximum participation. Across the 10 markets the tour brought in 3,559 attendees willing to wait in line for a chance at modeling, or, often just to pose for a good Facebook picture—many of which they posted from a laptop-equipped lounge.
Media partner Teen Vogue did its part by bringing on beauty director Eva Chen. The editor blogged from each tour stop, sharing photographs and inviting readers to visit the truck.
Fresh Faces reaches its climax on January 14, when the three winners of the modeling competition are announced. Each will be flown to New York to tour the Teen Vogue offices, meet with editors, and sit for an advertorial that will run in 2010.
