Media Buying and Planning

Introduction

Lush Cosmetics was founded in 1994 by

Mark Constantine. Mark had previously

worked as a product developer for the

Body Shop. The company has headquarters based in Poole in the south of England and now

have over three hundred and fifty stores as far afield as Japan and Australia. Despite being

an international company all of the stores are owned by Lush.

Lush relies on their USP of hand making all their products with fresh and natural

ingredients; these include skincare products, bathing and hair care products. All ingredients

sourced by Lush come from sustainable sources with all of their products being suitable for

vegetarians and many are suitable for vegan use. As a company Lush are committed to

sustainable trading using fair trade ingredients as well as making efforts to reduce their

carbon footprint. It is this friendly and caring method of doing business which has helped to

ensure that Lush has become an internationally recognised brand synonymous with superior

products and admirable business practices.

In the UK almost all major towns and cities have a Lush store located in the high street

however in Northern Ireland there is only one store located in central Belfast. This means

that many of the Northern Irish sales occur through the shopping feature on their website.

This digital method of sales affects the likely customer base which must be taken into

account when devising the media plan.

Media Objectives

It has been proven that for an ad to be effective it must be seen at least three times over

a short period of time by the targeted audience (Sissors and Baron 2002). This rule is true of

any advertisement shown across any media vehicle. Each ad to be shown by Lush must

conform to these guidelines to guarantee that maximum reach is made across the target

market. In order to ensure that this is the case the target market must be fully understood.

There are some generalisations that Lush can make about the demographics of their

target audience in order to better identify them. The first of these is that the majority of

Lush customers will be women. Usually the person who purchases the product will be the

end-consumer but this varies around Christmas time when many pre-packaged gifts become

available. Most products produced by Lush are designed with women in mind including

make-up and bath bombs. However Lush does cater for male customers with products such

as shaving cream, it is more likely that these will be purchased by women for male relatives

or spouses as gifts. Those women who do purchase Lush products are likely to be between

eighteen and thirty-nine. This targeted age group suits Lush as they offer specialised age

products including skin moisturisers at a premium price.

In addition to these demographics Lush can further target the most appropriate market

through psychographic means. Lush products are often expensive so those women who buy

them are likely to set aside some of their extra disposable to purchase luxury products. By

realising that these consumers are willing to pay a premium for products it can de deduced

that they the consumers are appearance conscious. In addition to these Lush business

practices ensure that many customers have an interest in both ethical and environmental

issues. Lush addresses these issues by using a minimum of packaging on all products and by

sourcing ingredients such as palm oil from sustainable sources.

Current Marketing Mix and Strategy

The marketing mix is a group of

elements that a company uses to sell

its products; the marketing mix

consists of the 4P’s;

Product

Price

Place

Promotion

As stated previously Lush’s product is fresh handmade cosmetics made from entirely

natural and ethically sourced ingredients. Lush products are well reputed for being high

quality and range from bath bombs, skincare products to shower gels.

Lush products are charged at a premium price with the cheapest items being bath bubble

bars which sell for around £3.00 while the more expensive skincare moisturisers can be as

expensive as £25.00 for a small sized pot. Lush can charge these prices as customers are

willing to pay slightly more to ensure that all of their products are high quality and have

been responsibly manufactured.

As mentioned before in Northern Ireland there is only one store located in Belfast so

many sales here are conducted through the website or through the postal order form that

can be requested. However Lush has stores all around the world with each of these sourcing

local ingredients from which they make their unique products. Many of these countries have

Lush stores located in high streets of large towns as well as in busy locations such as airports

guaranteed to have high foot-fall traffic.

Unlike many other beauty product companies Lush has never invested in any formal

advertising in the UK or throughout the rest of the world. Lush relies on positive-word of

mouth reviews from satisfied customers and features in the pages of several respected

women’s magazines. Lush uses email newsletters as well as the ‘Lush Times’ mock up

newspaper which is sent to existing customers through the post. The ‘Lush Times’ advertises

the latest products as well as gives product reviews from other customers. This allows Lush

to communicate their latest news including charity events, information on forth-coming

products and when the products will hit stores. The paper also includes a list of all products

and an order form allowing customers unable to access the internet or get to stores to make

purchases. This paper can be considered a form of direct-mail however Lush produce it in

such a way to ensure most customers will not recognise it to be advertising encouraging

them to believe any message it contains.

Lush ensure that the ‘Lush Times’ is only delivered to customers who have already

purchased products from the internet, from stores or have signed up to receive it. This

means that the budget allocated towards producing it isn’t wasted by only exposing it to

consumers who would be interested in making a purchase and not to those who wouldn’t

purchase products. The paper is made out of recycled paper ensuring that it is in keeping

with Lush’s ethical business stance. This allows for the very media vehicle itself to add value

to Lush’s media objective.

Lush make use of free web sites on social networking sites with profiles on Facebook and

on Twitter. These profiles allow Lush to make a personal connection with their customers

and offer special deals as well as exclusive online competitions. Again these profiles aren’t

always recognised by customers to be advertising by potential consumers. These profiles are

available free to the company meaning that Lush doesn’t have to dedicate any of its budgets

towards maintaining these sites.

Competitors Media Profiles

Lush faces many competitors within the health and beauty market in the UK however

their largest competitor is the Body Shop. The Body Shop offers products of a similar USP

with charitable and responsible business practices. The first Body Shop store was opened on

the 26th March 1976 with franchises opening across the world ever since. Like Lush the Body

Shop has always committed itself to fair-trade practices as well as animal rights issues. The

two companies have very similar unique selling points however the two companies have

very different branding strategies. Lush has a brand that encompasses fun and youth while

the Body Shop holds a more grown up and sophisticated brand.

Similarly to Lush the Body

Shop gains some publicity

through their ethical practices.

It is well known that the Body

Shop has always had an anti-

animal testing stance and their

recent partnerships with

animal and other charities has

cemented their place in the news. This guarantees the company a share of free advertising.

Unlike Lush the Body Shop do spend a portion of their budget on dedicated advertising.

This advertising in the UK includes print advertisements shown across magazines and

newspapers. The above image illustrates the Body Shop’s latest ad campaign that

encourages celebration of women of all shapes and sizes. This ad campaign has been

launched throughout the world using various media vehicles but has been most apparent in

the press particularly in weekly and monthly editions of glossy women’s magazines.

Lush also faces competition from premium companies such as Clarins and high-street

skincare companies like Dove and Nivea. Despite being different these brands all use similar

methods of targeting potential customers. All of the brands use magazines as their main

media vehicle as

shown by the

example on the left

produced by Dove

in their campaign

for Real beauty.

The majority of

these brands also

use television as a

secondary media vehicle as it allows them to illustrate the benefits of the product in a more

visual way. These ways of communicating with potential customers work for the brands as it

allows them to demonstrate their products to best show of the potential benefits for their

target market.

Budget

The budget of this campaign has to be considered thoughtfully, despite being a large

international company Lush has never spent vast amounts on its advertising before and so it

would be foolish to start with a high budget and high profile campaign. Such a campaign

wouldn’t fit in with Lush’s home-grown image. It is also important to remember that this

campaign is exclusive to Northern Ireland and has such doesn’t require an overly large

budget.

A large budget campaign may make potential consumers wary of Lush products because

of the sheer volume of advertising that already exists in the beauty product market.

Furthermore a percentage of Lush profits are given to various charities including animal

protection charities and homeless charities, any large budgeted advertising campaign would

impact on the amount of money that was available to these causes. If Lush were to spend

this money on advertising instead of the charitable causes many existing customers would

become dissatisfied and possibly move to competing brands such as the Body Shop.

These reasons mean that any advertising activities that Lush should carry out within

Northern Ireland should not exceed a budget of £5000.

Creative Strategy

The main creative strategy behind the campaign is to make more people in Northern

Ireland aware of Lush and the products that they sell. The tone of the adverts should remain

the same as the overall friendly tone of the company. The ads will be delivered through

social networking sites and through direct mail.

The majority of the ads will be shown through social networking sites in particular

Facebook. Facebook has been chosen has Lush already has a presence there with several

profiles dedicated to the different countries in which the company operates. Furthermore

many Lush customers both potential and existing are likely to have their own Facebook

profile and access it at least once per day.

Adverts shown through Facebook will allow targets to easily click through to the Lush UK

website to make purchases. The ads will contain images of Lush products and the Lush logo

as well as information about special offers, new products and information about the

company. The adverts will be run over a ten week period and will only be shown to

Facebook users a maximum of once per day to avoid over exposure and irritation.

The other half of the campaign will be made up of direct mail. Direct mail has been

chosen as Lush already use this form of advertising so it fits with the company image.

Furthermore it also allows Lush to create a personal relationship with existing and potential

customers. The direct mail will consist of a leaflet and a free sample of a Lush product

handed out by a member of Lush staff in busy shopping centres across Northern Ireland.

Leaflets will include information on Lush as a company, special offers and new products. The

leaflet will also contain the Lush UK website address as well as the address of the store in

Belfast. The free samples and leaflets will be limited to one per person per day. The leaflets

will be handed out during the busiest times in the shopping centres where the footfall is

highest. This will include peak times such as Friday evenings and Saturday mid-mornings and

afternoons.

This plan will accomplish Lush’s goal of raising awareness of their products in Northern

Ireland through personal and internet means. Ensuring one point of human contact allows

the Lush brand to take on a personality which is more likely to make them successful.

Geographic Weighting

This campaign will be run exclusively in

Northern Ireland and so all the adverts run within

the campaign must be exclusively targeted to

consumers based in Northern Ireland.

The nature of this campaign lends itself well to

a small and local geographic setting. The adverts

run in the social networking site Facebook are only shown to people who are listed as

currently living in Northern Ireland. Because the adverts are run on a pay per click basis it

ensures that money is not wasted advertising to people in the wrong places. Furthermore by

using leaflets and free samples handed directly to potential customers Lush are able to

apply some selectivity so that the leaflets will be most likely given to those who will go on to

make purchases from the company.

The adverts shown on Facebook will be delivered to users all across Northern Ireland as

these consumers are most likely to make purchases through the Lush website without

having travelled to the store. Those consumers exposed to the leaflets and free samples are

more likely to travel to the Lush store in Belfast to make a purchase as they may not have

access to the internet. Leaflets and free samples will be handed out in shopping centres

such as Foyleside in Londonderry and the Fairhill centre in Ballymena. A lesser amount of

leaflets will be handed out in centres in Belfast including Victoria Square and Castlecourt;

however the campaign is a national campaign focusing mainly on purchases made from the

website so does not need to be centred in Belfast.

Reach and Frequency

The reach of this campaign can be measured in two different ways across this campaign.

Firstly the reach can be accurately measured through the adverts shown on Facebook

through the dedicated measuring tool provided by Facebook. Facebook will provide Lush

with the number of those who click through the advert to Lush’s website. If anyone exposed

to the ad clicks to close it Facebook provides a feedback survey which will provide Lush with

information on why the advert was unappealing to them. If the advert is found to be

unappealing to many it can be easily changed to suit the needs of the target market. The

Facebook advertising operates on a pay per click system which will guarantee a minimum of

sixty-three clicks per day. The campaign will run for a total ten weeks which will secure a

total reach of 4410 clicks through to the Lush website.

Secondly the reach of the leaflet part of the campaign can be measured in terms of how

many leaflets and samples will be handed out. Throughout this campaign it is anticipated

that the Lush staff will hand out 20,000 leaflets throughout busy towns and cities across

Northern Ireland. If half of those given leaflets and free samples visit Lush website this will

increase web traffic by 10,000 hits. If half of those people go on to order from the site it will

see Lush’s orders rise by 5,000 across the province. The direct mail campaign will take place

over the same ten week period as the Facebook adverts are running ensuring that the two

will back each other up.

As stated previously by Sissors and Barron (2002) for an ad to be effective it must be seen

at least three times by the intended audience. Obviously with the direct mail campaign

people will only be exposed to the free sample once throughout the campaign. This means

that those handing out the leaflets as well as the information contained in the leaflet must

act as the second and third part of frequency. The staff can reiterate the information

contained on the leaflet. The leaflet is designed to be kept hold of so that potential

customers can look at it again at a later time; this also increases the frequency of exposure

to the company.

The adverts shown on Facebook are only to be exposed to customers once per day over

the ten week period to avoid over exposure and annoyance. However because the ads are

only to be shown to the smaller population of Northern Irish Facebook users it is guaranteed

that the ad will be shown repeatedly to the appropriate audience. This repeated exposure

will ensure that the ad is seen at least three times by the targeted audience.

Furthermore both parts of the campaign will be carried out over the same ten week

period. This means that there is likelihood that the targeted audience will be exposed to

both forms of the campaign at some point throughout that time.

Media Comparisons

Before deciding on the chosen two media vehicles many others were considered and

dismissed. These various media vehicles were deemed to be unsuitable for a various

number of reasons.

The first media vehicle that was considered but

ultimately dismissed was advertising on television. Adverts

would have been broadcast on terrestrial television

channels 3 and 4. Television was dismissed however

because of the huge costs that it would have involved.

Producing a suitable ad would have cost well over the

allocated budget and then buying screening space would have further added to these costs.

In addition to this television advertising wouldn’t have allowed for accurate targeting of

customers, the audience would have been from the entire UK not specifically from Northern

Ireland meaning the ads would be exposed to many people who weren’t relevant.

Another media vehicle that was considered but rejected was magazine advertising.

Adverts would be shown in the beauty sections of women’s

glossy weekly magazines including Heat, Gratzia and Look.

This form of advertising was dismissed as like TV it didn’t allow

for specific targeting of the correct audience. While it targeted

the right psychographic audience members the magazines are

distributed across the UK with some being sold in Europe, this

is far greater than the required Northern Irish audience

meaning that many would be exposed to the advert

unnecessarily. There are some magazines for women that are

exclusive for Northern Ireland however these were also deemed to be unsuitable as many of

the target audience were unaware or didn’t purchase them regularly. Magazines also do

not offer the potential to build the brand loyalty and interactivity that many other media

vehicles can give.

Outdoor and billboard advertising were also decided to be unsuitable for advertising Lush

products across NI. Adverts would be placed on billboards on public transport or in high

profile places. This method of advertising would give Lush the visual element that they

require to show off their product. However advertising on a large scale on buses and trains

doesn’t fit with the environmentally green brand image that is presented by Lush. This form

of advertising would undermine the message of Lush as a company as well as making

consumers suspicious of any other message presented by the company.

The final media vehicle that was decided to be unsuitable was radio advertising. Lush

relies heavily on the pretty visual elements of their products in order to sell them. Radio

only offers an audio element that is unsuitable to the product.

The two media vehicles chosen for the campaign are Facebook and direct mail. These

methods were chosen as they best fit with the company for different reasons. Adverts

shown across Facebook were chosen as the majority of the target market are active

Facebook users giving access to larger numbers of potential customers. Facebook also

allows for instance click through to Lush’s website giving potential consumers easy access to

Lush products. Facebook ads can also be accurately targeted based on keywords and

selection material so the ad only goes to the specific target market preventing waste

showing it to uninterested consumers.

Direct mail is currently used a as means of advertising by Lush so the campaign is a logical

extension of this. By handing out free samples with the leaflets consumers are more likely to

hold on to it and look at any information provided. By having the leaflets handed out by

Lush staff ensures at least one point of human contact throughout the campaign giving Lush

a friendly human face and some brand personality.

Media Costs

The costs of this campaign are relatively easy to measure. Firstly the Facebook advert is

created through the pay per click option. A daily budget for this was set at £15.00; the ad

will be running everyday for a period of 10 weeks. This brings the total cost of the advert up

to £1050.00 for this portion of the campaign. The bid per click cost of the advert is 24p for

the company which guarantees a minimum of 63 clicks to the advert per day. This totals

4410 clicks across the 10 weeks meaning that this will ultimately increase web traffic on

Lush’s UK website. This cost is relatively low compared to the costs of other media vehicles.

Furthermore this cost is only spent reaching the exact target audience required by Lush.

The cost of printing the leaflets totals £650.00 for 20,000 leaflets printed by a company in

Londonderry. These leaflets are gloss finish with all relevant pictures and text contained.

This is the most cost-effective part of the direct mail campaign. The free samples attached

to half of the leaflets can be produced at cost to the company however will incur the second

highest cost of the whole campaign. The highest cost of the campaign will be the staff costs

for handing out leaflets. This could be reduced if Lush staff were not used however the

value and sincerity they add to the campaign is worth the extra cost.

The total cost of materials for the campaign comes to £1700.00 which leaves a total of

£3300.00 for producing the free samples and staff costs.

Constraints

Despite the best efforts the campaign does have a few constraints. The first of these

being that the only Lush store is based in Belfast. This means that the campaign relies

heavily on internet orders, while this shouldn’t be a problem as the majority of the target

market are internet users it should not be overlooked.

The budget of the campaign has been carefully thought out however it could benefit

from being increased. Many more media vehicles could have been considered as well as

more free samples being produced. However a large budget wouldn’t be suitable for such a

local campaign so the budget has been deployed in the most efficient way possible. The

constraint of the budget however can be seen to be an advantage to Lush. The less that they

spend on their advertising means that the more that is left to be spent on the charitable

causes that they value so highly.

The suitable media vehicles were also held back due to the locality of the campaign. A

more national campaign could have been advertised through more exciting and interesting

media vehicles. However this doesn’t lend itself to a small campaign, all media vehicles

chosen had to be specific to Northern Ireland limiting the choice available.

Recommendations

In the few weeks after this campaign has run it is important that Lush conducts some

form of market research to measure how successful the campaign has been. This research

should include analysis of brand awareness before the campaign has run throughout the

targeted market and awareness levels both during and after the campaign has run. It is

expected that brand awareness levels will increase throughout and after the campaign.

If this campaign is successful it could lend itself to Lush beginning a more structured

form of advertising in the future with similar adverts being rolled out across the rest of the

UK. Furthermore if the adverts are successful it would be worth considering a more long

term advertising plan within Northern Ireland and throughout the rest of the UK.

Conclusion

The overall aim of this media plan is to raise awareness of the Lush brand name and their

products throughout Northern Ireland. This will be achieved through the use of the two

most appropriate media vehicles. In this case the most appropriate advertising is through

online means using Facebook adverts and direct mail using leaflets and free samples handed

out by Lush staff.

The media plan is designed to be low budget and environmentally friendly to fit in and

highlight the brands charity

work and green business

practices. The plan is also

engineered to fit with the

locality and standard of

Northern Ireland with

advertising with the non-

invasive ads.

References Books Used

1. Sissors J.Z. and Baron R.B. (2002) Advertising Media Planning, sixth edition, McGraw Hill

Websites Used

1. Company information, http://startups.co.uk/667884291113970894/lush-cosmetics.html (accessed on 20/04/2010)

2. Company information, http://www.lush.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6289&ltemid=112 (accessed 20/04/2010)

3. Body Shop company information http://www.thebodyshop.co.uk/_en/_gb/services/aboutus_history.aspx (accessed 24/04/2010)

4. Body shop advert, http://dsandler.org/erinmak/diary/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/supermodel-small.jpg (accessed 1/05/2010)

5. Dove, campaign for real beauty advert, http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://benbarry.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/dove1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://benbarry.wordpress.com/2010/01/17/age-is-beauty/&usg=__VrJeyG7M-lp99i_s9XoW-Ore4PA=&h=1293&w=2500&sz=323&hl=en&start=7&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=7TnGCwriIo0CXM:&tbnh=78&tbnw=150&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcampaign%2Bfor%2Breal%2Bbeauty%2Bdove%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26sa%3DG%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-GB:official%26tbs%3Disch:1 (accessed on 1/05/2010)

6. Creating a Facebook advert, http://www.facebook.com/ads/create/ (accessed on 1/05/2010)

7. Pricing information for leaflets, http://www.londonderryprint.com (accessed on 1/05/2010)

Images used

1. Lush company logo, http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.blogthecoast.com/runway_ready/archives/LUSH%252520Cosmetics.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.blogthecoast.com/runway_ready/archives/2009/08/product_review_2.html&usg=__pUKHFIavakGQDIExC2FizIvdqas=&h=126&w=278&sz=8&hl=en&start=7&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=0Jvtrp0dNqyXhM:&tbnh=52&tbnw=114&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dlush%2Bcosmetics%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-GB:official%26tbs%3Disch:1 (accessed 20/04/2010)

2. Lush products, http://blog.onebook.northwestern.edu/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/lush-cosmetics.jpg (accessed on 23/04/2010)

3. Map of Northern Ireland http://www.broadbandsuppliers.co.uk/uk-isp/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/acc_map.gif (accessed on 05/05/2010)

4. Image of TV http://www.papermag.com/blogs/television1.jpg (accessed 05/05/2010)

5. Magazine cover image http://www.anorak.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/img004.jpg (accessed on 05/05/2010)

6. Lush store image, http://www.248am.com/images/lush2.jpg (accessed on 05/05/2010)