Group final project for Advertising Problems at LSU. Had to essentially create a mini campaign from the 2014 NSAC competition brief.

1. Mary Kay Campaign
Insomnia
ollectiveBy

2. Table Of Contents

3. 3
Executive Summary 4
Situation analysis 6
Marketing Objectives 12
Media Objectives 20
Media Strategy 24
Advertising Flowchart 26
Creative Concepts 28
Concept Testing 34
Creative Approach 36
Creative Brief 38
Advertisements 40
IMC Elements 46
Promotion Strategy 48
Copy Testing 52
Evaluation 53
References 54

4. Executive Summery
Insomnia’s goal is to create a new advertising campaign that will establish Mary
Kay as relevant and appealing to female consumers aged 18-25 (Gen Y). Our
challenge is encouraging consumers to view Mary Kay as a sophisticated, cool
brand for younger users rather than have the perception that Mary Kay is a
product meant only for older women. Insomnia will work with Mary Kay
to continue to embrace the brand’s history, values and mission statement
while creating a campaign that attracts new, younger consumers.
There is a number of critical factors to consider with this new campaign.
First and most importantly, is that there is a strong association with
older women and the Mary Kay brand. Second, Mary Kay relies on its
unique independent beauty consultant (IBC) model to sell products.
This contrasts with the majority of Gen Y consumers who purchase
their cosmetics from inside stores, 96% according to our research.
Finally, Mary Kay has a high quality product, and consumers who
have tried the brand’s products have a very positive reception to
the product’s quality and performance.
To achieve our goal of increasing market share, brand awareness and
brand perception, we propose a new campaign titled “City by Mary
Kay” that emphasizes the sophisticated, classy, yet youthful appeal
of the brand. Along with this, we will introduce an app – a platform
proven to be receptive with millennials. Furthermore, we will have
a promotional event, “The Beauty Bus,” where we will have a
Mary Kay mobile beauty salon touring the country and offering
product samples. Users will be encouraged via social media and
traditional ads, to “follow the Mary Kay Beauty Bus around the
country” as it tours from city to city.

5. To further help promote our new campaign, we propose a variety of
IMC tactics. To begin, we’ll introduce a new program of hiring college
representativesandambassadorsinmajorcampusesthatwillberesponsible
for promoting Mary Kay products and spreading brand awareness. Second,
we will host a sweepstakes where users can enter their email for a chance
to win a trip to New York for the “Ultimate Project Kay Experience,” where
they will attend a Project Runway episode filming and be featured as a Mary
Kay model.
Based on our research results and logical reasoning, we concurred that
this campaign will be effective in reaching our goals. This new campaign
will establish a positive brand perception among Gen Y consumers along
with drastically increasing brand awareness and market share. To evaluate
our results, we will thoroughly use Google Analytics, market tests and
periodically conduct copy-testing and post-testing.
5

6. Situation Analysis

7. Marketing Problem
Mary Kay has a 7.6% market share in beauty & personal care, 16% in skin, 10% in
color and 9.0% in fragrance. Respectively, this sets it as #2, #6, #9 and #12 in
the market – an impressive statistic. Furthermore, the beauty industry’s sales are
projected to only grow further in future years. However, Mary Kay’s problem is
that it relies on its unique Independent Beauty Consultant program, which does
not have a large following among Gen Y consumers, who most commonly shop in
stores. Because 80% of beauty products are store based, Mary Kay has struggled
to compete. If Mary Kay wants to stay relevant during the beauty industry’s
projected sales increase, they must compete with stores that are capitalizing on
store-based experiences who provide more innovative in-store experiences.
7
in Millions
in Millions

8. Situation Analysis
BRANd ANALYSIS
MaryKayInc.isaprivatelyheldcorporationheadquarteredinDallas,Texas.
Products are sold in over 35 countries with global wholesale sales of $3
billion. Mary Kay has over 3 million Independent Beauty Consultants
that bring products into the consumers’ home. In terms of seasonality,
Mary Kay’s sales are relatively consistent year-round. However, there is
a slight increase during holiday seasons. Mary Kay has a high following
inWashingtonandNewYork.AreaswithhighCDIbutlowBDIinclude
Detroit and Boston. Other areas with room for improvement are
Dallas (surprisingly), Houston and Atlanta.
In addition, Mary Kay has seen significant improvement with
its digital presence in recent years. Compared to the rest of
the beauty industry, it ranks second in Pinterest, tenth in
Instagramfollowers,andtenthinYouTubeSubscribers.

9. 96% of cosmetics users buy
them IN A STORE
37% of our study participants
said they had used Mary Kay
63% had not
Average ranking by our participants
of IMPORTANCE when buying cosmetics
1
2
3
4
5
6
QUALITY OF A PRODUCT
PRICE OF A PRODUCT
BETTER THAN A COMPETITOR
CULTURE OF THE BRAND
EVENTS OR PROMOTIONS
CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENTS
MOST were VERY DISSATISFIED with the
EASE OF ACCESS to Mary Kay but were
VERY SATISFIED with the QUALITY
of the products and VALUE RECEIVED
Only 26 PARTICIPANTS
use MARY KAY Products.
Neutrogena
Clinique
Maybelline
Cover Girl
Sephora
Urban Decay
ALL had over 60 USERS
9

10. Situation Analysis COMPETITOR ANALYSIS
Secondary Competitor: Sephora
A French brand and chain of cosmetics stores, Sephora
opened its first United States store in 1998, and
launched its online store in the U.S. in 1999. They sell
to the single female 18 to 34, whose annual income is
more than $50,000
Strengths
- Diverse brand and product choice
- Good in-store service (try before buy; beauty advisor)
- Good customer loyalty program
- Privately owned company
- Sell their product both online and off line
Weaknesses
- Geographic limitation
- Unsanitary tester’s in store
- Higher price than others for some product
- Little television promotion, billboard advertisement or printed ads
Opportunities
- Rise of Gen Y’s income
- Increased demand of male products
- New international market
Threats
- Strong competitors
- Cosmetic shop opening near Sephora
- High cost due to high inflation, raw material cost increase
- Picky customers
High BDI: Boston; Chicago; Detroit; Miami; Philadelphia; San Francisco
Low BDI: Cleveland; Dallas; Houston; Los Angeles; New York;
San Antonio; Washington

11. Primary Competitor: Avon
Avon is an American international manufacturer and direct selling
company in the beauty, household, and personal care categories.
The demographics of Avon’s audience are females aged 18 to 24
and those older than 65 years old. Avon’s users tend to be married. Their
annual income is no more than $40,000. Avon’s consumers are
busy, modern, working women who have little time to purchase make-up.
Strengths
- World’s largest direct seller (143 countries, 6.4 million Sales Representatives)
- Well established, high caliber reputation
- Diverse sale model
- Owns its own major manufacturing and distribution centers
- Association with younger woman
Weaknesses
- Poor brand loyalty
- Weak brand image
- Misleading representatives
Opportunities
- The growing trend of “green” products in the cosmetics industry
- Enormous growth opportunities in Asian counties
- Demand for cosmetic products normally remain constant and unaffected by economic distress.
Threats
- Competition
- Sales representative rejects internet selling
- Rising cost of commodity
- Decreased earning opportunities
High CDI High BDI
High CDI Low BDI: Washington 118, 0 Detroit 113,0 Boston 144,0
Low CDI High BDI: Atlanta 73,205, Los Angeles 94, 112, New York 81,148
Low CDI Low BDI: Dallas 90,, Houston 58,0, Chicago 97,26, Cleveland 27,0, Dallas 90,39,
Miami 64,4, Philadelphia 54,93, San Antonio 51,26, San Francisco 71,1
11

12. Marketing Objectives

13. Weaknesses
- Lack of scale
- Associated with older women
- Not currently stocked on inventory, must collect first then deliver product
- Hard to feedback customer information
- Misleading IBC
- Can only buy from IBC
swot analysis
Strengths
- Diverse portfolio
- Well established high caliber reputation
- Core company values
- High quality product
- Doesn’t have geographical territories
- Direct sell model (try before you buy, IBC, high customer service)
- High brand loyalty
Opportunities
- Demand for Herbal and Ayuvedic product
- Social Media’s influence
- Gen-Y are potentially good IBC
- Demand for cosmetic products normally remain constant and unaffected by economic distress
Threats
- Innovation of traditional retail
- Impact of online retail
- Powerful competitor
- Gen-Y’s shopping behavior
13

14. Marketing Objectives Marketing objective
From our research, we found that only 37%
of Gen-Y participants had used Mary Kay
before.Ourmarketingobjectiveistoincrease
this to over 50%. Among Gen-Y consumers,
we hope to increase market share by 10% in
2016 – and at least 5% by consumers overall.
Furthermore, we hope to increase Gen-Y
customer retention by 30%. We also found
that 96% of consumers only buy cosmetics in
stores – we hope to reduce this percentage and
increase the amount of purchases made through
IBCs.

15. advertising objective
Mary Kay has made solid improvements with their digital
presence, increasing their digital IQ by 30% in the
last year. We hope to continue with this momentum
and increase digital IQ by another 35% in 2016.
Furthermore, we want to increase Instagram
followers, a platform popular among Gen-Y, by
35,000, and Pinterest followers by 25,000.
With our launch of the beauty bus, we hope to
increase traffic to Mary Kay’s digital platforms
by 40% and social engagement by 35%
within the first few months.
In addition, we hope to increase brand
awareness among Gen-Y by 30%.
Along with this, we hope to drastically
improve positive brand perception among
consumers. Through market analysis, copy-
testing and post-testing, we will periodically
check our results.
15

16. Marketing Objectives
Demographics
- Females aged 18-25 years old
- Wear makeup 5-7 days a week.
- Most shop in stores
- Most are single and have never been married
- Annual income is $20,000 or less
- Students and Young Professionals
Psychographics
- They mainly consider price and quality when buying a product. They most
commonly buy products under $25 and very rarely over $50.
- They value convenience and accessibility when shopping for cosmetics, and
most commonly buy their product in stores.
-Most of them define their age group as unique and distinct.
-They value self-respect and fulfillment, but still have fun and enjoy life.
-They like good customer service.
-They are hesitant to try new brands and stick to the ones they are loyal to.
-They do not mind to being exposed to new products and information.
-81% of them have social media accounts. They are masters at networking.
They enjoy warm relationships with others and value their social life.
-They value shopping as a social experience.
-They hate to be sold anything.
-45% of them spend more than an hour a day looking at
retail-oriented websites.
target audience
Based on the market analysis, our primary target audience will be 18 to 25 year old
females who live in Detroit, Boston, New York, and Washington. These cities have
high BDI or high CDI and have some established advantages. Our secondary target
audience will be the 18 to 25 year old females who live in other districts of United
States. For both audiences we additionally advertise nationwide.

17. Media Use Habit Analysis
Social Media-eg. Figure 1
- Facebook is their primary choice.
- They also love to use Instagram and Twitter.
- Pinterest and LinkedIn are not that popular in Gen-Y, than in other demographics groups.
Magazine
- Our target audience loves to read Cosmopolitan (112) and Seventeen (110).
Mobile App- eg. Figures 2 & 3
- They are heavy mobile app user.
- They spend 37 hours per month on mobile apps.
- Facebook, Pandora Radio, Instagram and YouTube are the four apps they spend most of their time on.
Television
- Our target audience does not like to watch Television in prime time.
- They love to watch TV early & late at night. (quintile: 142/94/106/130/35).
- They love to watch America's Next Top Model(170), Cold Case (My networking ktv) (165),
Scandal, Empire and House Of Cards.
Radio
- Our target audience are heavy radio users. (quintile: 212/74/10/21/117).
- They enjoy listening to the radio when they are driving. (quintile:186/149/25/63/66)
17
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3

18. Marketing Objectives
Karly is 22 and just graduated from Louisiana
State University with a degree in Business.
She is headed to Chicago for an internship
at her dream company. She was a leader
on campus and enjoys a good book and an
occasional drink on the weekend with friends.
Shopping is her favorite past time, and always
wants the best quality products for the best price.
She's the kind of girl you want as your best friend
because she always seems to have it together and
knows how to be classy and fun at the same time.
Karly is the girl who inspires you to be better.
Meet Classy Karly
target profile

19. She DOESN’T tend to venture outside the brands
and products she TRUSTS, but is still open to
NEW PRODUCT information and exposure
She enjoys WARM RELATIONSHIPS with others
and values her SOCIAL LIFE
PRICE and QUALITY are the main things she
considers when buying a product. She buys most
products UNDER $25 and very rarely OVER $50
She values CONVENIENCE and ACCESSIBILITY
when shopping for cosmetics, and most
commonly buys her product IN STORES She values SELF-RESPECT and FULFILLMENT,but still has fun and ENJOYS LIFE
Her friends and family TRUST
her opinion about brands
19

20. Media Objectives

21. Our media objective is to establish a 65% reach with a frequency
of 4 among females aged 18 to 25 in the fiscal year of 2016.
Therefore, our gross impression will be 40,591,000
We, as an agency, believe that our proposal will help us achieve our marketing
and advertising goals. Because we want to explore a new market, we will
automatically be helping reach our objectives. We will use an aggressive
strategy and target the people who live in the high BDI, low CDI and high CDI,
low BDI areas as our primary target audience, and the people who live in high
BDI & high CDI as our secondary target audience.
Therefore, our primary target audience will be the 18 to 25 female who live in
Detroit, Boston and New York. And our secondary target audience will be the
people who live in Washington.
Based off who, how, when, and where we are targeting our Gen Y consumers,
it will help increase market share of Mary Kay. We will focus more on
accomplishing the advertising goals stated through additional IMC and
promotional elements.
21

22. Media Objectives
We choose to use PULSING as our scheduling strategy
based off of the following two reasons.
1. First, our target audience regards Mary Kay as an old woman’s product,
To change our target audience's awareness of the brand, we need to have
high reach and take use of the special time for young girls. For example,
the beginning of each semester and summer break. We will also consider
using the fourth quarter of the year, which covers the holiday season. The
holiday season for it generates an average 25% of the industry's annual
sales.
2. Secondly, our products are frequently used. Therefore, we need to keep our
frequency each month.
seasonality
& scheduling
Diagram showing Seasonality
Diagram showing Reach & Frequency

23. regionality
Our primary target region is the low BDI & high CDI and high BDI & low CDI regions. This means:
NEW YORK, DETROIT AND BOSTON. We chose them as the primary target regions because we
want to establish Mary Kay in the new market and increase market share. Therefore, we will use
aggressive strategies and choose them as the primary target region.
Our second target region is the high BDI & high CDI region: WASHINGTON DC.
Based on our advertising objective, we will also advertise nationwide and use social media, maga-
zine, outdoor media and others for the whole nation.
23

24. Media Strategy
Television
Our target audience does not like to watch television during
prime time. They love to watch TV early & late at night. (quintile:
142/94/106/130/35). They love to watch America's Next Top
Model(170), Cold Case (My networking ktv) (165), Scandal, Empire
and House Of Cards (170). From 4:30pm to 7:00pm and
11:30pm to 1:00 am.
Radio
Our target audience are heavy radio users. (quintile: 212/74/10/21/117).
They enjoy listening to the radio when they are driving.
(quintile:186/149/25/63/66) From 7:30am to 8:45am; From 4:40pm to
6pm weekday which could allow our target audience to listen when they are
driving.
Outdoor
Our target audience love to read the advertisement from outdoor media
210/48/ 26/ 75/ 124
Social Media
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter.
Mobile App
Facebook, Pandora Radio, Instagram and YouTube
Magazine
Cosmopolitan (112) and Seventeen (110).
Media Selections
& Rationale

25. Media mix
The following shows where we would place each type of media during the year.
It shows both seasonality and media selections made for this proposal.
25

26. Ad Flowchart

27. 27
By spending more of our budget in the high pulsed months, we hope to
gain more brand awareness for Mary Kay. Additionally, during every month
of the year the target will be reached through different media. This will
allow potential consumers to constantly see Mary Kay in their everyday lives
without being bombarded with advertisements.

28. Creative Concepts
Product User Positioning Strategy
Mary Kay is currently using the use of application
positioning strategy with the “Discover What
You Love” campaign. This campaign focuses on
emphasizing the better quality of the product.
But it does not respect or consider the unique
characteristics of Gen-Y and it doesn’t dispel young girls’
misunderstanding of Mary Kay’s brand. It does little to
express that Mary Kay is not only for older women.
Thus, our first recommendation is to use product user
positioning. The product user positioning approach is used
to associate a product with a specific user, class of users, or
personality.
The user positioning strategy Insomnia conceptualized is
titled “Not Your Grandma’s Makeup”. This strategy is rather
straightforward. It immediately positions members of Gen-Y
as the core Mary Kay user.
Creative concept 1

29. PROS:
Straightforward – directly associates Mary Kay with young people.
Humor piques the interest of Gen-Y consumers
CONS:
Reminds users that Mary Kay is commonly perceived as an “old lady brand”
May alienate older customers
Some may find the humor distasteful
EXPECTED OUTCOME:
Although this strategy provides a straightforward solution to Mary Kay’s
positioning problem, we believe that Mary Kay would suffer backlash from older
customers, which makes the brand suffer overall. Overall, this option does not
provide a direct way to solve the objectives.
29

30. Creative Concepts
Product Class Positioning Statement
To women aged 18-25 who want to look classy and sophisticated
without buying overpriced products of the same or inferior level
quality. Mary Kay is the brand that let’s you have it all. That offers
the high quality products you want for a reasonable price. After all,
there’s a reason Mary Kay has been around for over 50 years and is
used by over 3 million customers worldwide.
Creative concept 2
YOU DON’T HAVE TO
HAVE A MILLION BUCKS
To Look Like It

31. You Can Have It All
PROS:
Emphasizes the affordibility of Mary Kay’s high quality products.
Appeals to Gen-Y’s who are in college and/or have a low income.
Showcases Mary Kay’s product quality.
Lets women know they are in control.
CONS:
Could be seen as “Cheap.”
Message may miss our target audience and instead appeal to everyone with a low income.
Affordability downplays the brand’s value.
EXPECTED OUTCOME:
Gen-Y will start to think of the Mary Kay brand more positively. They will identify
Mary Kay products as high quality, yet reasonably priced. Sales will go up within the
target audience and brand awareness will increase. Mary Kay will begin to be a relative
competitor with other brands that are already in the minds of young consumers. Finally,
Gen Y consumers will retain less loyalty to competitors as they start to branch out and
be exposed to Mary Kay. While we think this concept could create a great campaign, the
con’s still might outweigh the pro’s.
31

32. Product User Positioning Statement
We propose a campaign titled “City by Mary Kay”
that introduces a new product line and ad series
that establishes a new appealing image to Gen-Y.
The product line will be implemented in between
“Entry Level” and “Core” categories and will create a
sophisticated, trendy look with a hint of edginess. This
creates an appealing, “socialite” image that resonates
with younger consumers. There will be multiple IMC
tactics that run in conjunction with this campaign to
ensure the effectiveness of our message.
Creative Concepts Creative concept 3

33. 33
PROS:
Creates a sophisticated, fashionable look that has a slight edgy appeal to it. Gives Mary Kay
a new, unique and attractive look that differentiates itself from previous marketing imagery and
messages. The correlating IMC tactics we propose have a high level of expected effectiveness.
CONS:
May alienate consumers who don’t associate with “city girl” look.
Message may be misinterpreted or misunderstood.
EXPECTED OUTCOME:
Based on thorough pretesting and research, we are confident that “City by Mary
Kay” will achieve our marketing and advertising objectives. Gen-Y consumers will have
a positive reception to our new campaign, and the perception that Mary Kay is solely
meant for older consumers will begin to dissolve. Mary Kay will begin to be a prevalent
cosmetics brand with Gen-Y consumers, and consumer retention levels will drastically
improve.

34. Concept Testing

35. 35
We conducted ten one-on-one interviews and twelve online surveys to gauge the
receptiveness of our three potential creative concepts. The questions revolved around
the viewers’ emotional response, understanding and persuasive appeal of the ad. We
discovered that participants clearly resonated the highest with creative concept option
three (City by Mary Kay), based on emotional response and persuasive appeal. It did
not have the highest response in understanding, which is something we took into
consideration in order to make sure our message is more clearly comprehensible.
“I can definitely see myself and my friends buying cosmeticswith this kind of edgy style. I’m not sure if others willunderstand the appeal of the ‘City’ look though.”
“City by Mary Kay looks awesome. Doesn’t look like
an old woman’s brand at all. I’d definitely be more
persuaded to buy from them with this product line.”
“Love the new look of Mary Kay City… Looks
a lot cooler compared to what I expect to see
from Mary Kay.”
"Love how unique this is. I like how different
and edgy it is than other cosmetics”

36. Creative Approach
After choosing concept 3, we decided to dive
further into our theme’s campaign, City by Mary
Kay. To achieve our advertising and marketing
objectives we decided to create a new product
line titled “City By Mary Kay.” This would fall in
between the entry and core product levels. It not
only fits the style of our campaign, but it also takes
all of our research feedback into consideration.
Ultimately, this new category exemplifies what
Gen-Y looks for in the makeup they purchase.
Within the theme of “city”, we have a corresponding
product for major cities around the world, [i.e. New
Orleans: a dark purple eye shade, NYC: a light gold nail
polish, Chicago: a dark blue foundation.] This will help
us achieve our marketing and advertising objectives by
giving Mary Kay a new stylish identity that resonates
with Gen-Y audiences automatically increasing market
share and brand awareness.

37. 37
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38. Creative Brief

39. OBJECTIVE
Our campaign’s objective is to establish Mary Kay as a sophisticated,
fashionable brand that’s appealing to female Gen-Y consumers. Our goal
is to change the perception that Mary Kay is an “older women” brand and
make it attractive to younger females.
AUDIENCE
Our target audience is Gen-Y consumers (aged 18-25). Most are single,
have never been married or divorced, and are students or young
professionals with an annual income of $20,000 or less. They mainly
consider price and quality when buying a product. They value convenience
and accessibility when shopping for cosmetics, and most commonly buy
their product, in stores. They are active on social media and are heavy app
users.
STRATEGY
Mary Kay has a high quality product for an affordable price that fits our
target’s budget. Furthermore, Mary Kay is a brand that’s founded on its
owner’s principles and ethics and has a set of core company values that
guides its business practices.
CHANNELS
We will use all forms of traditional media (magazine, TV and billboards)
with a special emphasis on vehicles such as Cosmopolitan and America’s
Next Top Model that have high index ratings with our audience. We will
also talk to them through each of the major social media platforms.
Furthermore, we hope to drive consumers to Mary Kay’s website and new
digital app that we will create.
TACTICS
Our message tone will be classy and tasteful with a hint of edginess. We
hope our message is received as sophisticated and glamorous, but with a
spirit of youthfulness and fun.
39
COMPETITION
Our primary competitor is Avon, an American international manufacturer
and direct selling company in beauty, household, and personal care
categories. It’s the world’s largest direct seller (143 countries with 6.4
million sales representatives). Our secondary competitor is Sephora, a
French brand and chain of cosmetics stores. Sephora is beginning to offer
innovative in-store experiences that make it especially appealing to Gen
Y consumers who resonate more with shopping in stores. Mary Kay is
unique in that it is a company grounded on its values and principles, while
offering a more high quality product than its competitors.
ENGAGEMENT
We will have related social media posts that run concurrently with our
campaign. In addition, we will frequently post about our Beauty Bus
IMC tactic and motivate consumers to follow along either on our digital
platforms or through the digital app. Consumers will be encouraged
to comment and interact with the Beauty Bus posts as it tours the
country. Furthermore, users will engage with us through our Project Kay
sweepstakes.
EXTENSIONS
We hope through the innovation and uniqueness of the Beauty Bus
tour and Project Kay sweepstakes that Mary Kay users will interact
and continue to extend our campaign long after its launch. Furthermore,
we hope that media outlets will cover our campaign, helping to extend its
lifespan.

40. Advertisements Commercial 1
“Tour the City”
An attractive young professional/socialite is seen
interacting with prominent landmarks. A smooth, jazzy
hip-hop beat is playing in the background. As she and
the camera flow through more recognizable landmarks,
her outfits become more glamorous and the beat gets
more energetic. As she finally ends up in New York’s Time
Square, the camera zooms out before getting a shot of the
starry New York skyline as the new Mary Kay slogan and
logo appear on the screen: “Tour the city with Mary Kay.”
This commercial captures the tone and style we’re going for:
sophisticated, trendy, a tad bit edgy, and very appealing to
young fashionable adults.
Commercial Budget
$787,500
When: January - August;
5:00pm to 7:00pm,
or 11:30pm to 12:30am
Where: Primary in Detroit
Boston and New York, then
in Washington DC

41. Beauty Bus
Personal Selling
We will have a mobile cosmetics shop
in the form of a “Beauty Bus” that will
travel across the country, stopping at
major cultural cities and campuses. At
stops, the Beauty Bus will serve as any
other Mary Kay hosted party, where
consumers can sample cosmetics and
receive expert advice and feedback. In
addition, consumers will be encouraged
via social media and the digital app to
“Tour the country with Mary Kay,” as
they keep up to date with photos, videos
and stories of the Beauty Bus’s stops.
This will coincide with the launch of our
campaign and will help us garner extra
earned media attention. Furthermore,
the concept of a traveling beauty shop,
especially when employed by younger
consultants, helps aid the idea of Mary
Kay as a more youthful brand.
Main IMC Element
41
Beauty Bus Budget
$180,000

42. Advertisements

43. Commercial 2
“Beauty Bus”:
Skylines of prominent cities are seen as the Beauty Bus travels on the highway. The female narrator explains
that the Beauty Bus is traveling across the country showcasing its products. The next scene shows a group of
attractive young females, possibly on a college campus, trying on and comparing beauty products. As they
exclaim that they like a certain type more, the Beauty Bus strolls up and informs them that they’ve been using
Mary Kay products. “Wow!” they exclaim, and share their surprise over the affordability and quality of Mary Kay.
The commercial ends as the Beauty Bus strolls down another highway and the narrator encourages viewers to
follow the bus’s adventures on social media and elsewhere. The new Mary Kay Logo and slogan is seen at the
end. This commercial promotes our IMC Beauty Bus tactics and also helps give an appealing image of younger,
possibly college students, associating themselves with Mary Kay.
Commercial Budget
$787,500
When: January August; time 5:00pm to 7:00pm, or 11:30pm to 12:30am
Where: Primary in Detroit Boston and New York, then in Washington DC 43

44. Advertisements Magazine ad &
Mobile ApP
“Tour the country with Mary Kay…”
This print ad shows a pink silhouette of America with dots
that visualize the route of the Beauty Bus. In the bottom
left of the page, the main screen of the app is shown. In the
bottom right, copy is included that explains the benefits and
features of downloading the app. This ad will run as soon as
the Beauty Bus begins its tour. This ad helps promote the
Beauty Bus tactic as well as the app.

45. Magazine Ad Budget:
$1,350,000
Where: Cosmopolitan; Seventeen
When: the whole year
App Budget:
$450,000
Where: Facebook; Pandora Radio; Instargram ;
Pandora Radio; Youtube; and Mary Kay App.
When: January; April; May; June; July; August;
October; November and December
45

46. IMC Elements
College Reps/Ambassadors
Personal Selling
With the launch of our new campaign, we will introduce a
program of hiring college representatives/ambassadors in major
college campuses who will be responsible for promoting Mary
Kay products and spreading brand awareness. Each college
representative will promote Mary Kay products via social media,
connect with local clubs and organizations, and host at least
two Mary Kay-sponsored events throughout the semester.
Furthermore, by associating the brand with young college
students, this will help negate the image of IBC’s only being
older women.
College Rep Budget
$135,000

47. Project Kay
Sweepstakes/Event Sponsorship
Users can submit their email for a chance to win a trip to New
York for the “Ultimate Project Kay Experience.” The Project Kay
Experience stems from Mary Kay’s recent partnership with the
popular fashion design show, Project Runway. In the show,
designers compete against each other in design challenges and
then show their work on the runway with models at the end of
each challenge. The show has a high index rating in our target
audience as well.
Thewinnerandthreeoftheirfriends,willhavetravelandlodging
expenses covered to attend the filming of a Project Runway
episode. Additionally, they will have the opportunity to be a
model for the challenge that week. They will be featured on the
show, get hair care and a makeover in the Mary Kay makeup
salon. This will begin in July, as the season premiere of Project
Runway begins late that month.
47
Project Kay Budget
$180,000

48. Promotion Strategy
Branding & Packaging
We recommend that Mary Kay create a new product category to
attract and target Gen-Y females.
Mary Kay’s Current Packaging & Branding
Mary Kay’s current branding is centered around their “Discover What You
Love” campaign. The campaign invites women to “discover” what they
love about Mary Kay in order to feel beautiful and empowered.
Discover What You Love’s packaging consists of a primarily pale pink palette
with black accents and features their current logo. It appears outdated and
lacks the edge necessary to attract Gen-Y consumers.
What’s Trending
From researching our competitor’s packaging (Sephora, Mac, and Avon), we
discovered that packages that are primarily black and minimalist attract Gen-Y
consumers the most.
Re-Branding & New Packaging
To attract our new demographic, we created a new product category titled “City by
Mary Kay”. We will introduce a new slogan as well: “Take On The City with Mary Kay”.
New and on-trend products among Gen-Y consumers will be developed for this new
category.
The new brand will consist of primarily black packaging, a new edgier logo, and skylines
from famous or popular cities across the United States (New Orleans, New York, Chicago,
Los Angeles). Limited edition products will be named after those cities.
“City” will embody the type of consumer we are targeting. She is confident, classy, a little
edgy, and ambitious.

49. 49
New Packaging Budget
$135,000

50. Promotion Strategy
As a part of City by Mary Kay's launch, we will plan promotional
events in select cities around the United States. Events will be hosted by Gen-Y
IBC representatives in or around large campuses. Limited edition versions of City
products will be presented and given out at said events. For example, Mary Kay
would host a product launch event in New Orleans on the University Of New
Orleans’ campus. The “New Orleans” version of City products will be given out.
Participants will be given a tour of the Mary Kay Beauty Bus. Participants will
enter their name in an on-site sweepstakes and one lucky participant will be
given a free makeover, in which beauty consultants will demonstrate how the
products work to other participants.
We hope to generate significant
social media buzz with these
promotional events.
Participants will be
encouraged to take
pictures, tweet, and post
using the hashtag
#CityWithMK while
attending the
product launches.
Promotional Launch Event
Special City Packaging Budget
$135,000

51. Our earned media campaign ties in with our “Project Kay”
sweepstakes. By promoting Mary Kay in Project Runway, we’ll be
receiving broadcast exposure. In addition, we hope that we can
find a colorful, humorous personality to win our sweepstakes that
will help us generate extra media exposure. We will also be running
a social media campaign in conjunction with our main campaign.
Our posts will encourage people to post selfies of themselves with
City by Mary Kay products with the hashtag “#CityWithMK.” Posts
will also promote our Beauty Bus tour, sweepstakes and digital app.
Earned Media
owned Media
We propose a Mary Kay app where consumers can receive
discounts and stay up to date with Mary Kay products. In
addition, our app will have a special feature that follows the
Mary Kay Beauty Bus while it travels across the country. Users
will be able to view videos, pictures and stories about the
stops the Beauty Bus has made, and essentially “tour the USA
with Mary Kay.” Our social media posts will also concurrently
promote the Mary Kay Beauty Bus journeys and encourage
people to download the app. We will additionally update Mary
Kay’s current website with a new supplemental site revolving
around the “City” product line. This will be a place consumers
can come get more information about the new products.
51

52. Copy Testing Once our campaign is approved and carried out, we will begin
conducting thorough evaluation methods during and after to
determine the success of our campaign. We will begin our copy-
testing two weeks into our campaign, and then repeat through each
quarter of our campaign’s duration. Afterward, we will begin our post-
testing a month after the end of our campaign. We’ll be conducting
these tests in each city that’s being most aggressively targeted by
Mary Kay.
Our copy-testing will focus on affective and behavioral elements,
because our objectives are concerned with brand awareness, perception
and product purchase consideration. The primary technique we are
conducting will be attitude tests, because evaluating the change in
brand perception by Gen-Y is one of the most important factors to us.
In addition, we’ll be doing ad tracking research to compare our campaign
competitors and evaluate our ads’ effectiveness. We’ll be conducting ad
tracking measures for likability, brand awareness and purchase intention.
We’ll be doing this to make sure our campaign is running smoothly and to
see if we should make any urgent changes.
We will conduct testing in all cities in our primary and secondary target
audience. Additionally, we will do testing behind where the Beauty Bus goes
to see how effective it was. Our results gathered and the increase in both sales
and media traffic and usage will help us know if our objectives were met.
FOCUS GROUPS
GOOGLE ANALYTICS
TEXT-MINING
MARKET SHARE
BRAND AWARENESS

53. After our campaign has ended, we’ll be conducting a variety of post-testing methods to
determine if we met our marketing and media objectives. Our most important test will be
comparing the difference in likability, persuasion and emotions compared to attitudes before
our campaign. Research has shown that ad effectiveness is significantly influenced by
likability, so if that’s increased well enough, we can be sure to expect an increase in sales,
therefore accomplishing our objective. In addition to this, we’ll be conducting memory
tests to see how well our ads left mental residue with our target and to gauge brand
recall. Finally, we’ll be conducting inquiry tests to evaluate how many people visited
our social media sites, website and entered into our sweepstakes. Just like copy
testing, We will conduct testing in all cities in our primary and secondary target
audience. Additionally, we will do testing behind where the Beauty Bus goes to
see how effective it was. We believe if the majority of the feedback we receive
from post campaign testing is positive that we were successful. Additionally an
increase in market share and brand awareness will be noticed in both sales and
social media and website traffic.
Evaluation
53

54. References

55. 55
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56. Insomnia
ollective