L’Oréal: Kiehl’s Since 1851
The first global social-first strategy, and a style guide that had to work in more than forty markets.
In-house, Head of Global Social Marketing, 2014–2017.
The engagement
One system, forty-plus markets
I built the global strategy that set and raised the standard for Kiehl’s ongoing content — integrated product launches, brand heritage campaigns, evergreen social, how-to video, influencer programming, and the global style guide underneath all of it. Every part of it was informed by retail data, semiotic analysis of our own and competitors’ content across global and local markets, and supplemental consumer, category and cultural research.
The How-To framework
I built a test-and-learn approach to global How-To video, tied to what people were actually searching on Google and YouTube. It produced a set of best practices and a streamlined creative process, so a How-To could be made for every product launch, ingredient story and skin concern rather than one-off. Those videos went well past social — onto Kiehl’s own e-commerce product pages and retailer sites including Sephora.
The style guide
Distributed to all forty-plus local markets, the guidelines covered art and copy direction together — branding treatments, and the do’s and don’ts for product, heritage, customer service, influencer, lifestyle, ingredient and texture imagery. It is the piece of this work that outlasted the campaigns.
The campaigns
Kiehl’s Act Any Age
Webby Award Winner
Kiehl’s Space Face
Webby Award Winner
Receipts
What it moved
25% increase in global engagement. 40% boost in organic reach. Two Webby Awards, and a L’Oréal Beauty Shaker semi-final. Kiehl’s crossed $1B in global sales during this period.
The New York Times on Space Face →
Fast Company on Act Any Age →