Eyeing New Horizons: A Case Study on Oceanic’s Market Expansion to the GCC

Eyeing New Horizons: A Case Study on Oceanic’s Market Expansion to the GCC

Despite being a high-risk undertaking, market expansion beyond borders, when done correctly, allows businesses to yield great returns. Some of the challenges faced by businesses seeking to expand into new markets include bridging communication gaps over long distances and differing time zones, not having manpower on the ground, and having to cater to a new, different audience.

Clipatize spearheaded a marketing campaign for Oceanic’s expansion into UAE markets, selling one of its star products, Long4Lashes. Read on to learn more about the strategies and the outcomes of this partnership and what we learnt through this valuable experience.

Our Proven Approach

Planning is key, and this is why Clipatize exercises a structured methodology when working with clients looking to expand into new markets. Our success with such market expansion is due to our proven four-pronged approach— the CUES that clients take from us in order to claim their stake in new markets.

C - Collecting marketing insights

Without concrete marketing insights, it is impossible to create a strategy  - this is obvious even when acting on a new local market, but even more important when planning an expansion to foreign, distant markets. Clipatize leads market research through the investigation of primary sources of information: Individual In-depth Interviews (IDIs), focus groups, qualitative analysis through questionnaires, and secondary sources of information - desk-research - in order to make calculated decisions when planning a strategy. This presentation provides more insight into the market research services offered by Clipatize.

U - Understanding the target audience

With the data and insights gathered, Clipatize then meticulously interprets the information to form a deep understanding of the target audience, paying close attention to their beliefs, tastes, behaviour, habits and preferred communication channels. This allows us to develop later relevant messaging and creative concepts for the product launch campaign on the foreign market.

E - Envisioning the product or service in international markets

Depending on the outcomes of the research phase, we might need to build new creative ideas for the presentation of the product and formulate new messaging. The new concept and messaging will need to resonate with the audience of the new market, their beliefs, lifestyle and ambitions.

S - Solidifying the launch-kit

Building a product or service launch kit is essential for both sales and marketing goals. The launch  kit may include:

  • sales materials - eg. presentations, samples, a list of conversation starters, troubleshooting questions and answers for the sales processes -
  • - as well as marketing materials - including (but not limited to) social media assets, how-to videos, content marketing articles, etc.

Oceanic’s eye on new horizons

Polish cosmetics company, Oceanic has a strong presence in the United Kingdom, Canada, Vietnam, and South Africa. Long4Lashes (L4L) is one of the company’s best-sellers, a lash growth serum that is well known in Oceanic’s current markets and has been widely recommended by dermatologists and ophthalmologists. The company approached Clipatize with plans to move into new markets in the GCC.

The Challenges

The following were some of the difficulties the cosmetic company faced on this quest:

  • Adapting product offerings to an unfamiliar market - How do we adopt a value proposition that works great in a European environment, and make it relevant for the UAE? Will the reception be positive? How do we ensure this? Navigating unchartered territory - A lack of understanding of the new and exotic market. What do they like? What are the aspects they find value in? How do they consume cosmetics? What drives them to make a decision to purchase? What is the perception of body, beauty, how do they differ in this multi-ethnic region?
  • Not knowing which communication channels to use - What are their communication habits and trends? Which social platforms would work best? What is the best way to reach this new audience?

Oceanic sought Clipatize’s expertise to design the most effective consumer communication strategy that could best represent the spirit of the brand and the characteristics of its product. Having to face a different and exciting culture was one of Oceanic’s biggest concern, however, we managed to help analyse the situation and come up with two concrete objectives for the campaign:

  1. To increase its visibility and awareness amongst the new audience, in particular for the Long4Lashes Eyelash Serum
  2. To educate this new base of potential customers on how to use the product
  3. To create organic and spontaneous brand communication through new users
  4. To transform that earned awareness into concrete sales numbers

 

What We Did

The first step to reach a new audience is getting to know it, so Clipatize proposed conducting qualitative market research to gain a deeper understanding of this new market with respect to Oceanic’s product offerings. We recommended focus group research to learn more about beauty and make-up preferences in the region.

How We Did it

We first conducted two focus group interviews to learn more about beauty and make-up preferences in the region. Emirati women and Arab expats formed Group 1, and Non Arab expats with similar demographics to Oceanic’s current market formed Group 2.

Based on research insights, Clipatize concluded that the following elements were required: :

  • An adaptation of L4L’s key visuals and messaging
  • A product launch campaign for L4L in the GCC region
  • An Influencer marketing campaign as the best way to introduce Long4Lashes to the new audience
  • Developing a Chatbot using AI and augmented reality for the Long4Lashes fan page in order to interact with, educate and understand the new audience.

Social Media Campaign

Clipatize devised Social Media campaign based on social listening activities, the interaction of powerful influencers and constant production of creative content, in order to increase awareness before officially launching the product into the market.

The main objective of the social media campaign was to reach 70.000 new English and Arabic speaking female users aged 18-45, located in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, and Qatar. The brand aimed to generate increased brand awareness, new demand and boost new sales numbers by portraying a positive representation of the brand.

Two Instagram influencers were chosen; one with a large follower base, one with a middle-sized follower base.

Chatbot

Under the product launch campaign, Clipatize worked with Oceanic to develop a Chatbot for the Long4Lashes Facebook fan page that would invite viewers to interact by offering an Augmented Reality selfie-camera filter and prompting viewers to discover more L4L products and where to buy them. This solution had the characteristics of a teasing product demo.

The Outcome

Two Instagram Influencers were selected, and the results are stated as follows:

The impact represented a huge increase in brand awareness in the region that translated to a concrete increase in Oceanic’s sales numbers.

Combining AI and augmented reality created an incredible opportunity to engage with and understand the audience and boost awareness amongst users.

Conclusion

When it comes to market expansion, it is crucial to set actionable tactics, only after gaining proper knowledge of a new market’s audience. Having a clear idea of our clients’ priorities allows Clipatize to visualize the best path to take, especially in terms of effective communication. We look forward to working with more clients who have their eye on new markets and helping them to reach their market expansion goals.

While entering a new market, the recognition of its cultural, product, and consumer aspects is critical to define a successful brand strategy. Market research that engages selected target group is the best way to achieve that. With this understanding and higher awareness, planning further activities, and choosing tools that allow achieving goals will be for sure more effective.

Elwira Paź Account Manager

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