There's a lot of talk in the industry these days about the ROI of Facebook and what community engagement really means for businesses

Going social with Estée Lauder

Estée Lauder had not traditionally invested in digital strategies, but they were introducing their products to younger women and wanted to become the leading luxury makeup brand online. Our competitive research and analysis showed significant brand preference peaks concentrated around Estée Lauder's new product releases, but low brand awareness and engagement in between above-the-line campaigns. Consumers clearly recognised the esteem and luxury of the brand, but they were having trouble connecting with Estée Lauder on a personal, everyday basis.

"It was clear that we needed to sustain Estée Lauder's brand experience between product launches," says Dave, Reborn co-founder and managing director. "Given their new audience targets, existing audience behaviours and technical requirements, building a Facebook community was the right answer—even for a brand as large and luxurious as Estée Lauder."

Estée Lauder's Facebook debut

Reborn developed a series of audience personas based on the brand's target market and their known preferences for digital platforms and technical devices. Our original 12-month strategy kicked off on the heels of Estée Lauder's Pleasures Bloom fragrance release with a Facebook competition. The campaign generated significant attention and generated new consumers. Activities over the following months in line with the brand's Pure Colour makeup launch had similar impact, and by June 2011, Estée Lauder had surpassed their financial year goal of Facebook fans.

The return on community engagement

Estée Lauder has made that all-important shift from building a social community to embedding their social community into marketing efforts across channels and platforms, and there's no better example of this than their recent Even Skintone Illuminator launch.

Reborn knew that the concept of 'Real Women' wouldn't create a point of difference for Estée Lauder in and of itself, but by engaging women through a well-established and trusted community, real stories would emerge that would be critical in further personalising the brand. So we tapped Estée Lauder's Facebook community to engage women, unearth brand stories and gather the materials to support a fully integrated launch campaign.

We produced a series of videos featuring eight Estée Lauder consumers, each with a unique skin care concern and product experience to share. These women and their stories formed the backbone of Reborn's integrated campaign for Estée Lauder, which included two, two-page spreads in Marie Claire and Australian Women's Weekly, as well as a weeklong in-store event at Myer locations nationwide.

Responsible for the whole—videography, photography, event planning and digital strategy —Reborn ultimately tied all elements of this successful campaign together online and used Facebook to form a hub of activity. The concept of woman-to-woman recommendation and identification through shared, similar experiences has taken off, with more than 34,000 Estée Lauder consumers continuing to tell their stories today.

"'I've used Estée Lauder products and only Estée Lauder products my entire life.' 'My mother used Estée Lauder, so it's the only makeup brand I'll consider.' The stories that women are willing to share, and the trust they show in Estée Lauder is powerful," says Dave, Reborn's Director and Co-Founder, quoting posts and comments from the brand's Facebook page. "That's the ROI of community engagement."