Love, The Ordinary.

Overview

During my final year at university, I was tasked with conducting an in-depth, research-led investigation into a problem area of my choice within the fashion and beauty industries, followed by a solution-focused visual report. Driven by my passion for beauty and my future aspirations in the sector, I chose to explore the toxicity of the online skincare industry and its impact on Gen Z consumers.

The result was Love, The Ordinary: a 107-page, self-devised visual report that repositioned skincare giant The Ordinary as a brand using its platform positively and inclusively - normalising all skin types and celebrating real, unfiltered beauty.

The overarching concept explored how The Ordinary could evolve its branding to promote self-love and empowerment for Gen Z, breaking away from filtered, perfection-driven beauty standards.

The solution stage culminated in a fully integrated marketing campaign for a limited edition Valentine’s Day launch, featuring a video advertisement, photography campaign, a retail activation event with Boots, social media strategy, PR rollout, and more - creating an immersive, consumer-first experience across multiple touchpoints.

My Creative Approach

Before developing my ideas for my visual report, it was essential I gained substantial research. I utilised secondary resources like LSN Global and Mintel, as well as conducting my own primary.

After creating a 15 minute research presentation as stage one of the project, I condensed the wide array of knowledge I had developed into a few main pages for my report. I discussed global drivers of the problem, key insights, and did a shortened version of a case study of the Dove, Real Beauty campaign, a movement that heavily inspired this project.

This prior knowledge allowed me to finalise my concept (shown on left). I ensured to be as detailed as possible, highlighting visual direction inspiration for my primary video and photo outcomes, created a colour palette as well as texture inspiration, and additionally developed a lexicon and font list. The in depth concept meant I was going into the outcome section as prepared as possible.

Primary Outcomes - Photography & Video Campaign

During the outcome stage, I had the extremely exciting opportunity to collaborate with Chelsey, a first year photography student during the photoshoot.

I decided to collaborate with another creative not only to further the photography skills I already have from my A* in photography A Level, but also to allow me to take more of a creative direction role in the shoot. Since I had planned the imagery I wanted in so much detail in my concept, I felt it was necessary that I had the technical help to aid me so that I had full control over the outcomes, and ensured they were created to the best of my ability, and complemented my big idea correctly. Together, we created imagery and a video campaign.

Overall, I am extremely pleased with the outcomes of this project. After months of research to back up my problem statement and concept development, I feel as though the final imagery and video portray exactly what I wanted them to: the idea of feeling confident in your own skin, and advertising skincare for everyone, eliminating unrealistic expectations from the industry.

Secondary Outcomes -Marketing

For the final part of the brief, I was tasked to create a fully integrated marketing campaign for the launch. In response, I developed an event concept ‘The Love Lab’ using SketchUp - an event in collaboration with Boots, inviting influencers and members of the public to a live skin-care demo, as well as to give them the opportunity to write a love letter to their skin, and receive an exclusive goodie bag.

I utilised a RACE model to ensure my marketing campaign allowed the launch to gain the most consumer attention. This was extremely helpful when considering my marketing options. As well as the event, I developed social media teasers and story mock-ups, TikTok posts using clips of the video, a PR box and leaflet to be sent out to influencers, a drinks menu for the event and much more. Since my campaign was aimed towards a Gen-Z audience, I felt it was essential to develop my digital marketing as far as possible, due to the presence of this consumer group online.

Skills: