LONDON — Diversity and individuality have become key in the beauty industry, and Max Factor is seizing the moment with a new campaign called You x Max Factor, which will feature mothers and businesswomen and will aim to cater to a broader range of customers.
Sheila Chaiban, global vice president of Max Factor at Max Factor’s parent Coty Inc., calls the campaign a commitment for the brand’s future, with products that are specifically designed to address a variety of needs and makeup artistry content that’s relevant to the consumer and the context of her life.
“We believe that beauty is about being who you want to be and that true beauty lies in the individuality of each and every person,” Chaiban said in an interview, “Max Factor’s new brand direction fulfills this purpose. We want to drive change and positively disrupt to create an inclusive world of beauty.”
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She said the plan is to champion beauty with depth and attitude, and speak to women who have, until now, felt they were underrepresented or even forgotten.
“We will ensure that this beauty and these women are represented, from our advertising through to our innovations. We want to shine a spotlight on this incredible group of women, celebrating how confident, inspirational and beautiful they are, all driven by their life experiences. We want women everywhere that feel underserved and underrepresented to find the products and inspiration that will help them amplify their unique beauty and confidence. We want beauty with depth to become the new normal — where the beauty of women all around the world is celebrated not by their age, but rather by who they are, by their varied and incredible life, and by who they have become.”
She said the wake-up call came after a beauty study. The brand spoke to more than 26,000 women worldwide and found that many women felt they were completely underserved by the beauty industry, and that not one of them saw herself in current beauty industry advertising.
The study also revealed how women perceive beauty today, and that life experiences and achievements are connected to beauty. According to the study, 17 percent of women aged 30 to 55 feel that current beauty advertising is aspirational, with the figures retreating to 4 percent in some countries including the U.K. and 6 percent in Russia. Ten percent think that advertising represents relatable women. Eighty percent note that beauty advertising fails to represent women’s character, a key aspect of their beauty, while 88 percent believe that beauty is a combination of appearance, personality and charisma, yet beauty advertising today focuses only appearance.
As a result, the brand’s focus has switched to creating new products that suit these women’s needs and wants, “such as addressing her skin concerns, by holistically integrating key ingredients into our products. We are also working with our makeup artists to make application inspirational, easy and relatable to her — ensuring that she has the access to this information when she needs it. It’s an exciting time for Max Factor and we can’t wait to continue to pave the way for these women to feel even more amazing about themselves, through their beauty and makeup.”
The You x Max Factor campaign is due out later this year and will launch globally, with the exception of the United States where the Max Factor brand is not present.
“Putting women in the spotlight is a part of our heritage (our founder Mr Max Factor did it in the golden era of Hollywood) and this is just the next step in our make-up artistry journey — putting this powerful generation of women back into the spotlight.” The campaign is also part of Coty’s overall mission to focus on inclusion and diversity, which was announced last October.