Innesfree - Brand strategy

Experiential marketing
Experiential marketing is the company’s ability to tell authentic stories based on its unique
origins, creating a digitally driven store with powerful visuals and rally around sustainability-related
causes, all without relying on traditional marketing campaigns. The South Korean beauty brand
doesn’t have promotional signage on its shelves, instead focusing on the simplicity of the products,
their skincare functionality and the story behind them.Creative Realities Delivers LED Screen To
Capture Audiences Outside The Store.Mapos Architects designed the store’s look and feel, and
contracted Creative Realities to design, deploy and maintain the digital elements for the store.

One of the most noticeable technologies within the store is the massive Nanolumens ENGAGE LED
display that measures nearly 17 feet tall above the store’s landscape, so that it is easily seen by
passers-by on the street. The display showcases vibrant video footage of the four seasons in a way
designed to capture the quietness of Korean life. The Creative Realities team determined that an
existing interior wall would be an ideal location to mount a large LED display since the retailer can
leverage the tech to improve foot traffic, extend browsing times or increase purchase value for both
the front and the back of the store. The display is placed above a counter of iPads where customers
can sign up to be Innisfree members to track their purchase history and receive special offers from
the brand.

Jeju Island is a major point of pride for the Innisfree brand, as it represents the sustainability efforts
the company strives to uphold. In fact, the centre table in the front of the store that showcases
many of the skincare products is shaped similarly to Jeju Island, with the products surrounded by
foliage native to the area.

https://retailtouchpoints.com/topics/store-operations/storytelling-not-marketing-how-the-innisfree-
nyc-store-immerses-shoppers-into-the-brand
Social media marketing
Innisfree planned to drive its brand’s digital presence through its Facebook and Instagram as its
primary platforms, reaching out to the young millennial, beauty and skincare lovers. It renovated
Facebook page with a fresh content strategy that included content and design redevelopment,
photography, and media management. The success of the project can be seen from a growth in fan
acquisition and engagement on the brand’s Facebook page. It has also created various social
campaigns to collect data as well as drive to retail. Some of the social campaigns included sampling
events, user engagement contests, influencer marketing.

The Eco Handkerchief Innisfree campaign that was promoted using Instagram, included sharing
campaign videos, holding prize quizzes, and other activities. Instagram is one of Innisfree’s green
marketing promotional tools used in the Eco Handkerchief campaign. By focusing on the use of
Instagram, respondents were chosen from Innisfree Instagram followers, who are aware of the Eco
Handkerchief campaign. Coupled with the results of the “We Are Social” survey in January 2018,
Instagram is the third largest form of social media based on number of users (38%), after YouTube
(43%) and Facebook (41%) in Indonesia. In this case, potential Indonesian customers mostly used
Instagram to find out information related to products. Therefore, Instagram is an appropriate form
of social media to use to understand public attitudes. Respondents for this study were Innisfree’s
account followers, who are appropriate for this research because they were the target of the
campaign.

MAINTAINING SOCIAL PRESENCE

INSTAGRAM INNISFREEINDIA

Innisfree has its different Instagram pages for different countries like Innisfree Indonesia, Innisfree
Malaysia, Innisfree Korea, Innisfree Philippines and Innisfree India.

FACEBOOK INISFREEINDIA

Similarly as Instagram pages, Innisfree has its Facebook pages for different nations and so does for
India
https://eileenyu.net/project_list/innisfree-social-media/

Ads and campaign

Innisfree, among the first Korean brands to enter India, associated with Nykaa exclusively since
December 2016 to expand its reach to tier II and III markets. They believed companies like Nykaa
have changed how Indians buy beauty products online, It never expected women will buy without
testing. But now they want ease, comfort, and everything fast. It is the first Korean cosmetic brand
that entered India with 100% FDI. India was the first priority after opening in most of the South East
Asian countries, for Amor Pacific. The Managing director of Innisfree India, Doyoul Lee has said,
Customers here are slowly shifting to natural products which are chemical free, and hence, we think
it is the right time to be here, While most of the demand for Innisfree is coming from the metros,
like New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore and Chennai, the north eastern states are also driving
sales of the brand.Mr. Mini Sood Banerjee, marketing manager of Innisfree India has informed that
North East regions have big followers of Korean culture, K Pop music and Korean dramas. They even
follow the 10-step Korean beauty ritual.

The marketing team points out an interesting trend, which is that an average customer spends
around 15-20 minutes online in a day for general surfing. Hence, they are mainly focussed on ads on
Facebook, Instagram and Nykaa. The launch of these brands has resulted in a 15% increase in skin
care sales on Nykaa.As far marketing these products, digital is the only platform that Nykaa is
currently betting big on.

It has partnered with Grab Pay, Grab's e-payment platform to promote the brand.The partnership
will see Innisfree roll out exclusive offers and promotions via GrabPay. To mark the partnership, 80
Grab Car vehicles in Singapore will be dressed up in the colours of the Jeju cherry blossoms, the
newly launched product from Innisfree.Users that are matched to these cars for their Grab rides can
try out the star product - the Jeju Cherry Blossom Tone-up Cream and get their hands on
complimentary Jeju Cherry Blossom skincare samples during their commute by scanning the QR code
provided on their Grab app.It was just a start,customers also looked forward to a series of exclusive
collaborations and promotions in-store that will unlock more value for them. These are additional
perks from Grab Rewards loyalty programme that the users already enjoy whenever they use
GrabPay to make payments at Innisfree outlets. This partnership with GrabPay is a great avenue for
the brand to create new touchpoints and reach out to a wider customer base, and it was delighted
to embark the year-long partnership in line with the launch of new Jeju Cherry Blossom collection in
Singapore.

Play Green Campaigns

Use a Hankie, Save the Earth!

This is one of Innisfree’s landmark green campaigns, which takes place each year in June, the month
of the environment. The campaign promotes a daily habit of using handkerchiefs in order to reduce
the use of disposable paper tissue thereby, protecting trees, forests and moreover, the entire planet.
The PLAYGREEN is a festival for people who practice the green life to gather and have fun by sharing
various ideas to realize the green life in daily life. Through this campaign, Innisfree provides
customers with various experiences of saving the earth.
In 2019, Amor pacific conducted an event called 'I LIKE ZERO' that encouraged 2,500 participants to
spend a day without waste as part of the efforts to support the global zero waste movement. The
proceeds made through the ticket sales and fundraising were donated to Innisfree foundation for
creating forests in Jeju island.

In 2017, Innisfree opened its first outlet in Indonesia, which also participated in the #PlayGreen Eco
Handkerchief limited edition campaign in collaboration with South Korean singer Jay Park in June
2018 at the Innisfree outlet. Products in the Eco Handkerchief limited edition collection are Green
Tea Seed Serum, Green Tea Seed Cream, Green Tea Balancing Skin Exr, Green Tea Sleeping Mask,
and My Palette Small Case, along with its non-campaign products, the Eco-
Handkerchiefhandkerchiefs. These limited-edition products cost started from Rp. 200,000 ($14US),
and the handkerchief price started from Rp.350,000 ($24US).

Used Bottle Recycling Campaign - Return Your Used Bottles, and Be Rewarded!

Established in 2003, the campaign has been encouraging customers’ participation in Innisfree’s
green efforts. Innisfree has introduced Green Products, which are packaged in up-cycled empty
bottles, and opened the concept store named ‘Empty Bottles Space’ decorated with upcycled
cosmetic bottles.

Green Christmas

The Green Christmas campaign conveys the message that as we enjoy sharing and deliver warmth to
others, it is double joy for all of us. The proceeds from the campaign are donated to help children in
need.

RESULT of campaign

Overall 700,000 handkerchiefs were taken, which is the equivalent to saving 16,000 30-year old trees
– a genuine difference to the environment, from such a simple switch of behaviour. The eco-
handkerchiefs increased footfall to the stores and leading to a significant increase in sales. More
importantly for the brand, the eco-handkerchief campaign ignited very positive reputation for
Innisfree.

https://www.thedrum.com/news/2019/09/02/south-korean-beauty-brand-innisfree-partners-
grabpay-singapore-push-expand-consumer

https://brandequity.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/marketing/heres-how-south-korean-
beauty-brands-are-charming-india/59676848

https://www.ajpor.org/article/13095-purchase-intention-of-green-products-following-an-
environmentally-friendly-marketing-campaign-results-of-a-survey-of-instagram-followers-of-
innisfreeindonesia

http://www.apgroupcsr.com/en/activity/brand/activity_brand_innisfree_html.do

Sensory marketing
In May 2014, Innisfree officially tapped into the bustling Taipei Eastern District and successfully built
its second store, a green concept store that unites with nature. To create an eco-friendly store,
Innisfree used a two-story-high living plant wall to design its storefront. Inside the store, they further
used the original imported materials from Jeju to create a cozy in-store atmosphere with a strong
Jeju cottage style. To make the brand stand out in the increasingly competitive cosmetics market,
Innisfree adopted a 2 × 3 video wall, seamlessly composed of six 46-inch, 500-nit displays at the shop
front. Through the deployment of CAYIN SMP-WEBDUO, a web-based digital signage player, fresh
and natural digital content can be played as an extension of natural design and also perfectly
combine with the in-store Jeju original decorations. Moreover, customers who come into the store
can purely experience and enjoy the unique value of the brand through all of their five senses: sight,
hearing, touch, smell, and taste.

https://www.cayintech.com/download/case_studies/innisfree-en-s.pdf

The Nanolumens LED display is mounted straight ahead of the entrance and windows, above a
counter of iPads where customers can sign up to be Innisfree members to track their purchase
history and receive special offers from the brand.Once customers are inside, additional technologies
help guide their purchasing journey. The store’s skin tone detector assigns a value to each
customer’s skin tone, and then suggests the best cosmetics to match their complexion.

The store has an open design with a lot of space for customers to engage with more than 900
products, and the technology design aids in driving them to specific sections while creating an
ambiance that separates Innisfree from its neighbouring competition. However, the store doesn’t
look like a tech-heavy environment. The installation is subtle, with content taking centre stage and
helping bolster the store’s vision rather than showing off technology for technology’s sake. The
seamless, borderless Nanolumens display fit perfectly without distracting from the core business.

It also noted that millennials and younger customers are often looking for a do-it-yourself shopping
experience, where they can shop with the aid of modern technologies instead of relying on store
employees for guidance. Besides the technology, the store design features another unique element,
the centre display is covered with a variety of vibrant green plants that represent the natural
ingredients used in Innisfree’s products.
Lighting
It has a variety of technologies to make the shopping experience better, and it starts with the
massive Nanolumens LED display that is simply impossible to miss as people pass by the storefront.
It was capturing the attention of cosmetics users and having a unique store design and appearance
was a top concern. With this stunning display showing peaceful scenes from the Jeju Island in Korea
where Innisfree sources many ingredients, any potential customer who walks by is encouraged to
step inside and see what the new store is all about.
https://www.ledsmagazine.com/company-newsfeed/article/16689423/nanolumens-engage-series-
display-helps-innisfree-cosmetics-store-compete-with-next-door-neighbors-in-new-york-city

Brand strategy – forest essential

Brand strategies and brand penetration in the market
Demand for more natural offerings has been on the rising all across the world.The world wants to go
back to nature. People understand Ayurveda as a holistic science. So, clean sustainable skincare
routines are getting a lot of recognition. It has been doing this for close to 20 years now, and it’s easy
for the brand to jump into new market needs, by marrying traditional offerings with new
mechanisms of delivery. The company is now gearing up to launch the brand in the UK in 2020. The
company claims that there has been a growth of 31% over last year in total sales. This is inclusive of
all verticals including FFS (Free Standing Stores), India is one of the countries among 12 mega bio-
diverse countries around the world. Keeping in mind the potential of Indian ayurvedic products
market, it is anticipated that Indian exports as well as domestic demand for ayurvedic products will
increase in the coming years.

The global beauty, skincare, and cosmetics industry has undergone a huge change in recent years.
Apart from Korean beauty fads and reality television star Kylie Jenner becoming a makeup mogul,
there is also increased interest in natural products. The eternal hunt for the ultimate elixir for skin
has also brought the West to the doorstep of the East. Coconut oil, Moroccan oil, and such products
are now commonplace. That is what Forest Essentials is hoping to cash in on. The competition is not
easy. There are already big brands selling natural and organic products in the same price category.
Korean brands like Innisfree are established players in the global skincare market, touted to be
worth close to $220 billion by 2025. The consumer in the Western and some premier Asian markets
is spoilt for choice. But Forest Essentials is unfazed. The category created by forest essentials has a
huge appeal worldwide and there chances that it may also became a billion dollar brand.

New Delhi's Green Goose Design rebranded Forest Essentials entire visual identity from packaging,
posters, window displays, emailers, airport displays, labels, carry bags, backlit board to website and
other collaterals. Their approach to the redesign was to bring back traditional elements of India into
the design with a modern and colourful twist. The results were stunning and filled with life and
beauty. Forest Essentials partnership with local producers in India ensures that these farmers
harvest the highest quality of precious ingredients, which are used in the products. Task at hand was
to recreate the brand language keeping with an Indian aesthetic and to relaunch their website as a
international brand with and effective e-commerce platform.

The Ying Yang Approach 

Evolution is the key to succeed in the world of business and ability to adapt the environmental
changes.Obsession with quality and branding has been the core principles, the brand thinks, As you
grow, there are some fundamental changes that need to take place, and it takes time and patience
to introduce them to a family business.

Forest Essentials has been coming up with innovative products. Ideas and inspiration from various
triggers,it can be new products, design, Branding etc and it keeps an eye out for at any given time.
Being open to learn and grow has always been an inspiration for the brand. The brand thinks the
world is changing very quickly and as a Brand, it is important to keep them relevant.The brand
Constantly evolving to keep pace with today’s consumers and it is working on it every day and that
Technology is key going forward and it will form a core principle of taking this forward.

Branding and packaging design

A luxury beauty-care brand that applies age-old Ayurvedic knowledge to all its products.
The goal was to achieve a modern yet traditional look . The brand’s entire visual identity and
language, as well as its print collaterals were designed based on the foundation of Indian tradition
and Ayurveda. The brand has repackaged its products to suit the modern context. Every ingredient is
harvested and prepared in a way that maximises its potency, ensuring that nothing is lost during its
transit from the forest to the city.
Sensory marketing
Forest Essentials first step was to create a delight factor. The idea is not to just sell the product. It
wanted to create an experience that anybody entering the stores would remember. In order to
maintain retail experience consistency and deliver these high touch services, they have to start with
making employees feel invested in the brand too. To achieve this the company allows consumer-
facing teams to meet the people making the lotions and beauty potions, learn more about all
products and experience these themselves.

The brand follows the five basic elements: Space, Air, Fire, Water and Earth, and every human being
is a creation of these elements that are each invoked through the 5 senses. This theory, known as
the Panchamamabhutas, inspires the making of the Forest Essentials products, designed to appeal to
all five senses.

These represent the five senses and their respective organs in a human being. This can be depicted
in the form of the Five Pentads of Senses, which is the inspiration and stimulus behind  Forest
Essentials products, as they are derived from these five elements of mother nature. 

Social media marketing

While the physical retail experiences are a priority, the brand is also building an online community to
also mine insights that can be passed on to R&D. last year Forest Essentials launched a sheet mask
product line, which have recently become one of the hottest formats in the cosmetics and skincare
category. The multi-functional products are the need of the hour, especially if a brand has a younger
audience. It has awarded its digital mandate to ET Medialabs with performance marketing on
Facebook, Google, Bing and other online platforms.

The brand is looking forward to the strategic tie-up with ET Medialabs for Digital mandate. As
luxurious Ayurvedic brand it are particular about how the brand is represented and it believes that
with their experience and expertise in digital marketing.
Educating consumers through influencers

Numerous brands are now employing bloggers and influencers to spread awareness and enhance
the brand recall for their products. This is especially true for innovative products that incorporate
technologies that are new to the customer base. Influencers can create videos or host events to
promote these products and demonstrate their working, usability and benefits. Influencers can also
educate customers about the industry as a whole. Recently, popular Ayurvedic beauty products
brand, Forest Essentials, invited beauty bloggers from Momspresso to spread awareness and start a
conversation about their newly launched mother and child care line of products. These influencers
created content aroundthe products and shared it across mother and baby micro-communities on
Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter and Instagram. Through the campaign, influencers collectively reached
over 1 million social media users, exceeding the objective of the brand. Evidently, influencer
campaigns have the potential to drive very high engagement and increase brand awareness across
the target market.

Social media presence

Forest essentials has an active social media platforms in instragram and facebook

https://brandequity.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/the-pitch-report/forest-essentials-
awards-digital-mandate-to-et-medialabs/77462771

Ads and collaboration

Power of purity campaign
Selected influencer engagements are done by the brand since the millennials form a considerable
part of Forest Essentials target audience. The premium Ayurvedic skin care brand’s latest campaign,
‘The Power of Purity’, is a salute to women power. Created by Wieden+Kennedy, the campaign is a
tribute to women who face life’s challenges with strength and grace.

The new ad shows that every woman has a duality. Along with her feminine, beautiful side, she is
strong and powerful enough to deal with any situation. The film captures the magical mystical
quality of Ayurveda making it relevant to today’s audience. It wanted to make the brand relevant
from the foothills of the Himalayas to the fashion capitals of the world like Milan, Paris, New York.

Made in India

Addressing that the ‘Made in India’ aspect was important to them since the beginning. All the
company-owned stores through which the brand operates are profitable. Forest Essentials is also
poised to be the first Luxury Indian Skincare Brand to go global with their policy of Company-owned
Standalone Stores. Forest Essentials recently launched a sheet mask product line, which by concept,
is very Korean. The multi-functional products are the need of the hour, especially if a brand has a
younger audience. The other popular brand thinks that, it is good to see homegrown brands
experimenting, and getting inspired by Korean giants. Competition is getting tough for everyone in
the beauty space.

In a price conscious market like India, many established Ayurvedic brands have the mass pricing tag,
which has worked in their favour; but for the ones in the luxury space, if it’s natural, then it comes
with a certain price. The thought wasn’t to actively make Forest Essentials a luxury brand. Therewas
no other way to position Ayurveda. It is very different from what it is perceived to be. It is about
clean beauty, complete wellbeing, and not just instantaneous results. The ingredients that are
sourced come at a cost which the consumers understand, and that’s how the positioning of the
brand follows.

Celebrity collaborations

One of Forest Essentials new brand initiatives is about promoting untold stories it wanted a key
high-profile consumer as the narrator of Forest Essentials Insider, a video series shot at the brand’s
factory in Uttarakhand. Actor and author Twinkle Khanna is roped in for this campaign. Recently,
Khanna appeared in short format videos where she is seen walking around the company’s workshop
and learning about how her favourite Bhringraj hair oil is made. It is shot by celebrity photographer
Prasad Naik. It observes that bringing in Khanna on board for a collaboration will open the door to a
new set of urban users. It is a sound strategy it cannot stress enough on the importance of
authenticity in the celebrity-based communication.

Experiential marketing
While starting out, the brand made multiple bold moves to distinguish themselves from other
players in the market, which later became their USP. It was the only Indian brand in those days to
look at creating it’s own distribution to make sure that the Brand experience was the same wherever
it was located. Creating their distribution with the right stores in a country as complex and diverse as
India was extremely challenging. The brand has learnt that every single city in this country has a
different consumer and market and he catered to them all with the right product and space.
The design goal is to strengthen forest essentials brand image that is different from its competitors
as it is rooted in indian ayurveda principles and is made using handpicked ingredients and is hand
processed and caters to wide range of wellness related products. 
Jodhpur Forest Essentials store

In the midst of the redesigned Step Well Square – envisioned to become a burgeoning cultural and
commercial boulevard with the finest collection of India’s foremost brands, located at the heart
of Jodhpur city, stands a two storey Haveli, which houses the new Forest Essentials Store.The
restoration of the building is part of a larger project entrusted to Architecture Discipline,
commissioned by the Royal Family of Jodhpur and Motherland Joint Ventures The design of the
store has been thoughtfully contextualized to include beautiful Rajasthani Jharokhas overlooking
the Tunwarji Ka Jhalra. It also includes a miniature replica of the Tunwarji Ka Jhalra, the historically
symbolic step well from an era bygone.

The colour palette of the store is an elegant combination of blue and gold, in place of the brand’s
characteristic Khaki and Gold, as homage to the enchanting Blue City. Jodhpur, a stunning remnant
of a royal past, deeply embedded in rich tradition, bright colours, evocative scents and a myriad of
splendid sounds, captures the true essence of India.The a multidisciplinary architecture firm based in
New Delhi, India, the JDH Urban Regeneration project, commissioned by the Royal Family of Jodhpur
and Motherland Joint Ventures, aims to restore the old walled city of Jodhpur to its former glory,
giving new life to its landmarks and livelihoods. The aim of the project was to identify key
pathological elements and use them as catalysts for the regeneration process. The first project of
this initiative was the restoration of a stepwell dating back to the 9th century, after which other key
points were identified and restored, rehabilitated and assigned to the functions of representation of
contemporary India. Moving towards the well square in the old town of Jodhpur there is this
building, originally a small and congested residential space, which has been transformed into a shop
by Forest Essentials, an Ayurvedic cosmetics chain.
The pilot project of this initiative was the aforementioned Tunwarji ka Jhalra- an unused step well,
whose beauty had been concealed over the years, under heaps of rubbish and filth laden water.
With its water drained, cleaned of rubbish, re oxygenated and its stonework sandblasted, the step
well has been restored to its former glory and remains symbolic its surroundings.

The aim of the project was to identify key pathological elements and use them as catalysts for the
regeneration process. The first project of this initiative was the restoration of a stepwell dating back
to the 9th century, after which other key points were identified and restored, rehabilitated and
assigned to the functions of representation of contemporary India.

A core vision of the philosophy that fuels this project is to marry 18 th century architecture with
21st century elements, to create an un-paralleled, visual experience. The project’s ethos of
restoration and revival of tradition is congruent with that of Forest Essentials’, which evokes
ancient Indian beauty rituals of Ayurveda to combine them with a stylish, modern aesthetic, for the
discerning customer of today.