L'Oréal pulls off illusion of V-shaped face for Chinese girls

Client: L'Oréal Professionnel

Agency: MRM McCann Shanghai

Market: China

Name of campaign: V Look styling service (小V脸造型服务)

Scope: Experiential events, WeChat, online microsite

Details:

In Asia, the popularity of the V-shaped face has become the third coveted aesthetic standard after big eyes and fair skin.

L'Oréal specially built a 'V Look salon' for the campaign while also signing South Korean celebrity Yoon Eun-hye (尹恩惠) as its first Asian spokesperson. The salon offers "V Look styling services", which are really a facial diagnosis and a hair trim that enable female consumers to experience an immediate, even if illusory, face-lift effect.

The entire marketing campaign will continue until the end of August.

From the press release:

"The traditional face-shaping methods are flawed in all aspects, and the new era of women needs to have more simple and effective ways to create their own perfect V face." 

Campaign Asia-Pacific's comments: 

At first glance, we thought that beauty marketing has hit a new low in China (by pandering to unrealistic notions of feminine aesthetics), but after considering that L'Oréal is in fact indirectly discouraging dangerous procedures like jaw bone surgery, a dye and a cut to accentuate the chin doesn't seem so bad.

What is also smart is the interactivity of the campaign through scanning QR codes with WeChat to receive trackable "styling coupons" and at the same time utilising LBS positioning functions on smartphones to direct consumers to the nearest salons stocked with L'Oréal Professionnel hair products.

CREDITS

Creative: Chen Liang 陈靓
Copywriting: Xuhua Li 许华丽
Art direction: Cai Quansen 蔡泉森
Account service team: Zangjing Yan, Song Xin Ran, Zhao Cen 臧晶艳、宋昕然、赵岑