CASE STUDY: Pond's drives credibilty of PAM ageing cream online

Aim

Pond's Age Miracle cream (PAM) repeatedly scores above prestige brands in clinical trials. But in the cluttered and competitive Chinese skincare market, where premium status matters, PAM was not reaching its full potential.

The task was to strengthen the credibility of PAM as the best and smartest anti-aging solution, driving Chinese women to switch from their current prestige anti-aging creams. As online conversations rank as the highest influencer for beauty product purchases among Chinese female internet users, it was essential to use China's online platforms to generate excitement and credibility for PAM.

Execution

Working with Ogilvy, Pond's developed a bold strategy to convince influential bloggers to experience the trial and spread the story through blogs and popular social media. The 'PAM China blogger trial' was born, an online peer-to-peer recommendation campaign that used a blind-test mechanism to generate product credibility and online buzz.

The brand recruited150 influential female beauty bloggers who use prestige skincare brands and asked them to try the 'mystery cream' for seven days. They were instructed to blog about their perceptions and results with the product throughout the campaign. All blog results where aggregated on a designated mini- site, which allowed the bloggers and readers to view conversations about the trial in real time.

At the end of the period, the PAM brand was unveiled - a product costing less than half the price of the prestige brands used by the bloggers.

Results

Nine out of ten participants claimed they would switch their existing prestige product to PAM and recommend it to friends, stating that it had helped to reduce wrinkles and fine lines.

While anti-aging sales grew in China by an average of 13 per cent in 2009, Pond's Age Miracle sales skyrocketed by 42 per cent.

This article was originally published as part of the 2010 Top 1000 Brands report.