How This Beauty Brand Perked Up Sales with OOH

November 5, 2024

Need to perk up your day? Hair brand amika shared the results of its latest out of home campaign results last month at the DPAA Global Summit and they were too good not to pass along!

“In a market increasingly crowded by more serious professional brands, amika definitely stands out and we’re winning,” said Kelley Martin, amika’s SVP of Global Marketing and Creative, during her keynote presentation. “We’ve actually jumped 11 ranks in the market in the past couple of years, so it’s been an incredible trajectory.”


amika had set some very clear objectives for its latest campaign, one in support of the brand’s newest product – Perk Up Ultra, an oil control formula within its iconic dry shampoo family.

Kelley articulated those goals. “We obviously wanted to support our number one franchise, but we also launched a new formula within the range… so it was really important to reinforce the fact that we now had three formulas and educate the consumer on which was right for them.”

The next goal was to broaden social reach and build brand love through amika’s loyal community – after all, amika is the Esperanto word for friend. “Our brand purpose, our why, is to be a friend,” said Kelley. “We’re devoted to caring for your hair while cultivating community and empowering self-expression.” To walk the walk and live its values, the brand tapped four influencers to serve as models for the campaign.

 
Their presence also sought to address two audiences whose level of awareness of the amika brand offered the most upside: women 18 to 34 and New Yorkers.

“Driving awareness is something that threads through to our marketing strategies and investment choices,” Kelley continued. “We really wanted to think about how we can grow market share in this very important market.”

So amika partnered with OUTFRONT to brighten the streets of New York with a multi-faceted campaign that delivered over 61 million impressions across transit media, a hand-painted wallscape, and two Station Dominations strategically chosen based on their proximity to two landmark Sephora locations, one of which hosted a pop-up event (SOURCE: Geopath).

 
“Out of home tapped into a broader 360° marketing campaign support strategy, which is really critical to everything we do,” Kelley said. “[The pop-up] gave us a chance to have our customers try all three formulas. They got hair touch-ups, they got to take photos with their friends, and then walked away with free samples – so, a great way to bring that high-touch engagement parallel to the out of home campaign.”

Why was out of home the natural choice to help amika accomplish these goals? “We know that OOH is the most-liked and trusted medium for our very important Gen Z and Millennial customers,” said Kelley. Placements in high-visibility, high-reach locations allowed the brand’s colorful creative to stand out against the backdrop of NYC’s grey concrete jungle, while the ads’ proximity to key retail points helped drive in-store sales. “We could do high-reach, on-the-ground, high-impact moments to capture and attract busy New Yorkers while they were on the go.”

 
amika’s out of home advertising was a core success driver of the overall omnichannel media plan. “We increased brand awareness by 4 points compared to the prior quarter,” shared a thrilled Kelley. “We were the number one Sephora brand in-store during Q2. And the Perk Up category for us outdrew the broader dry shampoo market by 1.5x.”

“Most importantly, we did perk up our sales with OOH – Manhattan and Williamsburg [Brooklyn] stores experienced a 37% year-over-year sales lift,” Kelley reported. That’s more than double the lift the brand saw nationwide (SOURCE: amika). “It really helped drive the awareness and impact and buzz that we needed in this important area.”

You too can perk up sales with your next ad campaign. Let’s discuss adding OOH to your media strategy!

Author: Liz Rave, Vice President, Marketing @ OUTFRONT
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