‘YOUTUBE: CHANGING THE FACE OF BEAUTY’

CEW hosted its second joint Business Breakfast with Google, one of the first events to be held at Google’s incredible Town Hall location near King’s Cross. Discussing how YouTube has revolutionised the beauty industry, CEW and Google gathered a host of experts from the digital world to inform and educate the 170 strong CEW member audience.
The breakfast session was opened by Tua Sloor, FMCG Industry Leader, an expert on all things YouTube – from viral videos, to consumer campaigns that really work. While the global FMCG industry has changed dramatically in recent years, with technological changes and advances compromising the traditional business model, one thing that isn’t changing is the needs of the customer. Brands must evolve how they talk to and reach their customers and YouTube can play an integral role in this. While YouTube started as a means to ‘broadcast yourself’, in the past 10 years it has evolved to create a new generation of entertainers and influencers.
With 45.3 billion total beauty views and over 123 million total beauty subscribers, YouTube remains the world’s leading online beauty video consumption platform. Aileen Dalisay, Head of Health & Beauty, explained how beauty has transformed from beauty aisles, shop assistants and beauty editors to a largely online experience. Perusing the beauty aisle has been replaced with Google searches, YouTube is the new beauty counter and content creators are the new editors. YouTubers now attract much larger audiences than traditional print media and even television channels and these viewers are not just millennials. Audiences are more diverse than ever, with growing numbers of 30-50 year old women tuning in.
The UK is leading the way for beauty content, growing faster than the rest of the world and is home to some of the biggest names in beauty. Three of the ten top content creators in the world are from the UK; Zoella, Pixiwoo and Bubzbeauty all have huge followings and are extremely influential when it comes to sales.
Aileen believes that brands take inspiration from these hugely successful YouTubers and learn how to better communicate with their audiences. She recommends:* Showing consumers the finished product. Seeing the looks that can be created with a product can greatly enhance the customer experience and drive sales* Creating content to align with popular search terms and seasons. Whether it’s back to school or summer hairstyles, people are constantly searching so it’s smart to leverage this* Building and reinforcing your brand at all times* Interacting with your fans to create authentic relationships. For bloggers and vloggers, social media and comments are key to keeping their audiences engaged* Don’t forget the user experience. Be sure to link your videos to related topics or retailers, these annotations will make the experience easier for your audience and will drive traffic* Share your style. Collaborate with other brands that share your passion to reach new audiences
Ludovic de Valon, Regional Client Partner, took a closer look at YouTube user patterns and behaviour. Through careful analysis, YouTube have identified two main types of browsers – those who know what they want to watch, and those who scroll through and take advantage of targeted algorithms. Considering the different types of users, the team have created a number of different ways in which they are targeted via advertising. Those who browse generally want to be entertained and so their routine needs to be disrupted with some sort of emotional content. Those who search respond better to topics aligned with that they’re looking for. As such, there are three types of advertising hosting on YouTube: Hero, Hub and Help.
Hero ads are large scale movements designed to broaden awareness and are typically done less frequently. They include longer, more in-depth adverts that look at a wider campaign message. Hub ads are regularly scheduled content that is targeted towards customer passions and interests. These could be rolled out weekly and are generally entertaining and cool. Help ads are always-on pull content that is optimised to help users find what they need. Typical examples include brand endorsed blogger videos and they are generally natural and very subtle.
Jacqui Owens, UK Client Partner, delved into the different types of advertising on YouTube and how each brand can tailor this to suit their needs and audience. Depending on what stage a given campaign is in, adverts can be created to tease, amplify or echo other activities. Brands will often run a campaign on YouTube to measure efficacy before debuting on television to ensure they connect with their customers.
The YouTube Planning Framework for beauty marketing falls broadly into three categories; Awareness – for brands who want to get noticed, Consideration – to connect brands to their core consumers and Targeted – reaching more niche markets and relevant consumers. Within each framework are a range of different types of advert that work across mobile and desktop, including snappy six second ‘Bumper’ campaigns, Google Preferred, TrueView In-Stream and more.
Measurement is also of huge importance to brands so they can understand how successful performances have been. YouTube use an AB test for brand advertising to show how effective each ad has been and how it has aligned with campaign objectives to ensure both users and brands are having the best possible experience. 
This was a fascinating look at YouTube and how it has truly revolutionised the beauty industry for good and an invaluable tool for brands to ensure they are using this tool to their utmost advantage. CEW would like to thank Google for kindly hosting the breakfast briefing.
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