Understanding Your Audience - CoverGirl

Understanding Your Audience - CoverGirl 

Makeup has historically been a women’s art. For centuries, women have dominated the market of cosmetics and most, if not all, makeup brands tailor their products and ad campaigns to women. However, this has all seemed to change recently. The Los Angeles Times released an article about two years ago articulating how the taboos that have underlined societies for decades are fluctuating rapidly. The article sites that “56 percent of Generation Z knows someone who goes by the gender-neutral pronouns of "they," "them," or "ze." They are also rejecting the gender binary while shopping for clothes — 44 percent said they only bought clothes restricted for their own gender, and 70 percent support a move toward gender-neutral bathrooms.”

From a young age, girls are taught that it is custom for them to wear make-up. The same cannot be said for boys who are ridiculed for wearing make-up 

Clearly, something big is changing in culture and the way in which gender roles are typically perceived. There are huge implications for businesses concerning the more gender-neutral approach that has overarched society today. For instance, products that have strictly adhered to their male/female consumer basis, now have the opportunity to market in other avenues and even have the potential to gain larger market share.

One of the Rules of Engagement for a successful company is its ability to understand its audience. For a company to understand its audience, it must know how its products are being perceived, who they are being purchased by, and how they are used by those who purchase them. A company who has successfully performed this rule of engagement while capturing the change in its consumer market is CoverGirl.

CoverGirl is a makeup brand that has been in business since the late 1950’s. Their products are affordable and usually purchased in drug store settings. Powerful women figures such as Ellen DeGeneres, Tyra Banks and Taylor Swift have famously endorsed the products through ad campaigns. However, once CoverGirl realized that the makeup industry was no longer targeting solely women consumers, they began to change their ad strategies. In 2016, CoverGirl marketed makeup artist James Charles as their newest spokesperson in light of the changing consumer market.

James Charles as CoverGirl's 2016 spokesperson 

CoverGirl reports that there has been mostly positive feedback from their campaign. However, with such a controversial move, there was bound to be backlash from the more conservative end.

An example of one of the thousands of hateful comments

Despite the negative comments, there seemed to be mostly positive reinforcement of CoverGirl's strategic move. 

Aside from people’s moral and ethical qualms, there is no avoiding the rapidly changing world and society. CoverGirl was wise to be a representative brand for the young boy who is questioning his sexuality and has a desire to wear makeup. If a brand makes a substantial group of people feel more comfortable in their own skin and proud to be who they are, then they have achieved success by all means. By understanding their audience, CoverGirl realized there was a gap in the makeup industry and a channel that needed to be explored.

http://www.latimes.com/fashion/la-ig-wwd-men-makeup-20161019-snap-story.htmlhttps://cosmeticsandskin.com/companies/cover-girl.php
https://imabeautygeek.com/2016/10/12/covergirl-signs-first-coverboy-james-charles/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BLbN-CzAJsz/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wS_wDhnxSmE