L'Oreal Creates Haircolor Tribes on Facebook, Pinterest

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L'Oreal has teamed up with marketing agency Campfire to encourage friendly competition and a sense of camaraderie among blondes, brunettes and redheads on Facebook, Pinterest and beauty blogs.

The campaign, which is for L'Oreal's Healthy Look Creme Gloss semi-permanent color, asks women to "Turn it Up," by identifing their hair color, becoming a part of their so-called hair color tribe and expressing their hair color identity by using new tools on its Facebook page .

Merrin McCormick, associate creative director at Campfire, says L'Oreal was not getting the traction it wanted with its creme gloss product in the U.S. and wanted to find a way to engage its audience and create evangelists for the brand. Thus the concept of the Hair Color Tribe was born as it is a fun and shareable concept, she said.

Because Healthy Look Creme Gloss semi-permanent color enhances natural hair color rather than altering it completely, McCormick says, "It's about embracing who you are. You really love your hair color and this product doesn't have a drastic change - it only makes your hair a few shades lighter or darker."

One main component of embracing hair color is L'Oreal's 2012 Hair Color Census. It includes an introductory video and questions about personality and beliefs about hair color, like, "What haircolor do you believe is most trustworthy?" and "What haircolor do you believe is the most spontaneous?"

L'Oreal will compile the results for ongoing marketing and PR efforts, according to Campfire. That will include graphics and a second video, which will appear ongoing throughout the campaign. McCormick expects it will wrap up in August. It launched about a week ago.

The campaign will eventually extend to Pinterest, in which bloggers will be encouraged to create "Turn It Up" inspiration boards. In addition, "Pin it" buttons throughout the Facebook app will allow users to integrate content via their Pinterest boards.

Pinterest content will appear when L'Oreal has infographics from the Census as a way to refresh the campaign, McCormick added.

Additional content in the Facebook app includes: content from beauty bloggers discussing what their color identities mean to them and documenting their color through 28 washes; a cover photo tool to help Facebook Timeline users express their color identity, as well as tools to create posters and desktop wallpapers; coupons, offers and contests; a shade guide and product tutorials; and a before and after photo gallery.

L'Oreal has also tapped "Hair Color Ambassadors" to represent each shade. They will talk about their hair color and encourage consumers to check out Facebook and their own blogs, McCormick adds.

The intention is also to take away some of the fear of at-home hair color. "It's more about adjusting to change," McCormick said.