L'Oreal pounds 2.7m ad push taps into grey market

L'Oreal is to tap into the spending power of the grey market with a new skincare range designed specifically for older women.

The French cosmetics giant will launch the Age Perfect range this month under its L'Oreal Plenitude brand and will target women over the age of 60 who want to fight the signs of ageing.

The range, which consists of three skincare treatments, Age Perfect Day, Age Perfect Night and Age Perfect Anti-Age Spot Treatment, will be supported by a pounds 2.75m ad campaign through Publicis and Universal McCann.

Ads will feature the face of Dayle Haddon, a mature model who signed to L'Oreal five years ago. Haddon was the face of L'Oreal's Plenitude Revitalift range and has become known as one of the 'new generation' of mature models. She is a model and businesswoman and has written a book, Ageless Beauty, on how to defy ageing. TV ads kick off this week, and press ads will appear in the November and December issues of women's titles Good Housekeeping and Woman & Home.

The mature market is becoming big business as analysts predict that nearly a fifth of the UK's population will be past retirement age in 2010. Research by Taylor Nelson Sofres for L'Oreal also revealed that 29% of women of 60 or above want to fight the signs of ageing. Mature consumers also have increased spending power, with those that buy skincare spending an average of pounds 17.82 a year, pounds 2.37 more than the market average, according to Crucible Qualitative Research.

The skincare range follows L'Oreal's August launch of a range of home hair colorants called Grey Chic, targeting mature women, accompanied by a pounds 1m ad push. The product enhances grey hair rather than covering it up.

Cosmetics firms including Clinique and Elizabeth Arden have also featured older models in recent ads. The launches mark a shift from the early 90s, when most used younger women in their ads, despite their products being used by an older market.

L'Oreal famously ditched model and actress Isabella Rossellini from its Lancome make-up campaigns for being too old.

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This article was first published on Marketing