Laura HarrisAngela Finney Rimmel, Coty’s mass-market cosmetics brand, was at different stages of development in different markets. There was a desire to drive towards a unified positioning. Even where Rimmel had a high market share (as in the UK) there was a need to reinvent the brand image.

A new positioning, “made in London” had been evolved, and a platform was sought to dramatise this concept consistently across Europe.Key to this dramatisation was the desire to create a 360 degree Rimmel experience for target consumers especially the style conscious 16-34 female lifeblood of the brand. There were some parts of the jigsaw that had already been invented. Concepts of an ad campaign were in play, and a partnership with London DJ Lisa Loud had already been formed.MTV was an obvious fit as a pan-European partner. Sponsoring MTV’s Europe Music Awards, the flag-ship event in the MTV calendar, gave many possible canvasses to express the Rimmel London experience. It was leveragable at both a Pan-European and local market level. It even gave scope to pull some of the existing pieces of the brand jigsaw together. Imagine this:“Our name is Rimmel London. We made friends with someone really cool. Other people who saw us hanging around together thought we were really cool. Our friend was MTV.MTV also have lots of very cool friends, Kylie Minogue, Dido, Nelly Furtado, to name a few. But we became friends with MTV’s coolest friend: The MTV Europe Music Awards.An event watched by a global audience of 1billion cool people, attended by several thousand really cool people, and starring the coolest people on the planet. The credibility we would get by hanging around with this person would do our reputation a world of good.”OMD created multi-platform consumer access to the MTV Europe Music Awards, realising Rimmel London’s vision of itself as a lifestyle brand. The elements were broadcast billboards, TV airtime, radio content, logo presence on all marketing materials, online activity. Other elements were a competition, a club tour, tickets and radio programming,Logo presenceThe most basic form of communication was logo presence on break-bumpers and trailers (and on all marketing activity related to the awards).TVOMD recommended creating bespoke communication for MTV, even to talk about the awards themselves. The Exaggerate Hydra Colour Lip film launched the new face of Rimmel London (Kate Moss) on MTV in the awards run up. Coty also commissioned 2 specific MTV films: the first ever Rimmel London film to communicate solely on a brand level, and a competition announcement.RadioRadio extended Rimmel London’s association with the MTV Europe Music Awards beyond MTV’s wholly owned platforms.We developed Rimmel London branded content based on the MTV Europe Music Awards that was syndicated to 8 markets:1) Build up Shows : competitions, MTV originated content2) Style-guides hosted by The Sugababes: This young London-based girl band became Rimmel London’s “roving reporters” in top European cities (audio tape).This first time pan-European content creation deal imaginatively characterised Rimmel’s London positioning, and through ticket giveaways and competitions created real consumer contact.OnlineThe awards are based on viewer votes mainly cast online. This important highway was a crucial part of gaining credibility and deep association with the MTV brand.Beyond banners and buttons OMD leveraged extra value e.g. Lisa Loud became a star reporter on the live webcast from the event.

The web became a cross-platform integration point. The competition mechanic including winner photos (below) was online, and the Rimmel site became a notice-board for the club tour. And of course names were captured for future activity. OMD’s role was inScoping the work Making a strategic recommendationSelling the idea in to the internal Coty audienceImplementationDriving valueCreating a media first in the radio content generationCommissioning evaluationProviding a focal point for the cross discipline teamOMD executed a traditional pan-european media team role to excellent effect. We negotiated exceptional value for the media rights (TV, Radio and online). We drew on local media knowledge within the network to maximise the efficiency and price of airtime.Where OMD went beyond the regular media task made the difference:The creation of radio content stands out as a pioneering piece of communication. Every intricacy from ensuring the Sugababes had a makeup artist, assessing the merits of the radio stations to be involved, to generating a post campaign evaluation was undertaken by the OMD team.

The post-campaign evaluation, which OMD commissioned as part of the deal, has provided valuable feedback on media channel and creative execution.OMD’s strategic recommendations was a driver behind the decision to make a brand film, which now is a potent ingredient of the Rimmel London communication mix going forward. Rimmel London’s sponsorship of the MTV Europe Music Awards 2001 in Frankfurt was not just a sponsorship. OMD negotiated the facility to create a multi-media, multi-faceted communication. It was the first attempt to create a 3-dimensional consumer experience of the Rimmel London brand.The broad communication package OMD created gave Rimmel London the first ever pan-european platform to present a harmonised brand positioning to the core consumer. It also gave scope for on-the-ground participation by local markets for further leverage.The MTV Europe Music Award sponsorship brought recognised London faces together to reinforce the glamour and credibility of the brand, and it’s new positioning: “Made in London”. Lisa Loud (cool, London based female DJ). The Sugababes (all girl London pop group) and Kate Moss.We developed the first ever (as far as we are aware) pan-european advertiser-funded radio programming. This included original programming which was 100% reflection of Rimmel London’s brand values, integrated with MTV Europe Music Award content. This was a unique expression of the Rimmel London experience, and a pioneering deal.The enhanced package OMD negotiated worked! In qualitative research consumers played back that Rimmel London’s new positioning had been understood and embraced by the style-leading MTV target.

OMD’s role was inScoping the work Making a strategic recommendationSelling the idea in to the internal Coty audienceImplementationDriving valueCreating a media first in the radio content generationCommissioning evaluationProviding a focal point for the cross discipline teamOMD executed a traditional pan-european media team role to excellent effect. We negotiated exceptional value for the media rights (TV, Radio and online). We drew on local media knowledge within the network to maximise the efficiency and price of airtime.Where OMD went beyond the regular media task made the difference:The creation of radio content stands out as a pioneering piece of communication. Every intricacy from ensuring the Sugababes had a makeup artist, assessing the merits of the radio stations to be involved, to generating a post campaign evaluation was undertaken by the OMD team.

The post-campaign evaluation, which OMD commissioned as part of the deal, has provided valuable feedback on media channel and creative execution.OMD’s strategic recommendations was a driver behind the decision to make a brand film, which now is a potent ingredient of the Rimmel London communication mix going forward.