BUILDING COSMETIC BRANDS THROUGH INTRINSICALLY ENGAGING NARRATIVES ™

We do not just consume cosmetics. By integrating intrinsic functionality with predefined meaning we create and express the master narratives of our lives.

Intrinsically Engaging Narratives™ are capable of generating life. They express the motives which have helped us survive and grow during the course of evolution, and are spontaneously pursued for their own sake.

Applying, for the first time, a multidisciplinary approach to the study of the motives underpinning consumer behaviour in over seventy categories of goods including cosmetics, BRAND AVIATORS™ has captured our fundamental human motives at the deepest levels of their deployment, all the way from:• their biological value • to the neurosystems they engage• to the cognitive operations and psychological

states they activate• to the major social reinforcers they cause and • to the rich hierarchy of inherent concepts they

infuse into our everyday life.This methodology helps marketers develop Intrinsically Engaging Narratives™.

CONNECT

CONTROL

The wheel of motives™

GROW

CARE

BALANCE

DESIRE

FEEL SAFE

SEEK

PLAY

CREATE

DESTROY

TRANSFORM

TM

Far from just

being tenebrous

and menacing,

our unconscious is

colourful and

bursting with life

Successful brands coherently express the very patterns of our psyche

What follows is a brief analysis of the deep motives for buying cosmetics. The motives are presented in order of increasing relative importance in line with their power to influence our buying decisions. The further we read, the stronger the associations they build in our mind, the more powerful their influence on the sales and profit in the cosmetic category.*

* A book will shortly be published, extensively

analysing the motives underpinning 33 categories of

everyday consumer goods and our fundamental human motives. It puts forward the most integrated platform for engaging people to date.

PLAYFULNESS: On an initial

layer of motivation, cosmetics

offer a tonifying, uplifting,

vital experience. Cosmetics

constitute one of the means

which enable us to reshape

nature into a flamboyant life.

EXPERIMENTATION: More significantly,

cosmetics favour self-experimentation

accompanied by the possibility of a

mind-opening experience. We are

beautiful only if we are free to express

our inner beauty. At the heart of beauty

we find novelty. Beauty is intrinsically

rare. Since the dawn of history,

individuals have persistently searched

for ingredients that are unknown to

others. Cosmetics reinforce the feeling of

independence and even represent

freedom from the very dictates of

nature, the way nature shapes us.

SOCIABILITY: On a deeper

layer of motivation,

cosmetics are successful

because they build our

public self and make us

feel accepted. Cosmetics

become our intimate

allies.

In our collective fantasy, by connecting with something beyond our own individuality we become infinite

SUBVERSION: Beauty asks to be

destroyed. Its destruction makes others

feel alive. Humans make themselves

desirable in order to attract and be

sacrificed. Embodying the insolent, and

destabilizing essence of cosmetics into

their narratives, some of the most

successful brands help us fight fears,

outsource anxiety, express denial.

Cosmetics make us feel we do whatever

we can to reverse time, even through

pain and suffering. No cross, no crown.

SELF-DEFENCE: Cosmetics

protect us not only from

environmental aggression,

but everything that is lurking

around the corner. Humans

need to feel nourished

physically and emotionally,

day and night.

SENSE OF WHOLENESS: As in our mind,

outer beauty starts from inner beauty, we

feel that by helping us take care of our

beauty cosmetics support our personal

philosophy and internal balance when

everything else around us is chaotic. Expert

products, technology, know-how and

technical expertise provide us with a sense

of peaceful serenity. In using science to

acquire balance and harmony, we connect

with our body and revive our soul.

DESIRABILITY: On a deeper

level, cosmetics help us to

be desirable, to fulfil the

biological purpose of

beauty which is to attract

SELF-EXPRESSION: Cosmetics are

a mechanism for reinventing

oneself on a daily basis. Daily

re-creating beauty is just

another manifestation of our

eternal urge to fight destruction

through creation. This search to

capture transient perfection and

make it a part of oneself gives

us a sense of authorship.

SELF-ESTEEM: More substantially, we

buy narratives that promise self-

improvement, favour our self-

sufficiency and enable us to live up

to our potential. As our self-

sufficiency is reflected in how we

interact with others, when we feel

attractive we feel powerful. The ego

becomes embodied. Throughout

time beauty has aroused

admiration and has been connected

with the effort for self-actualisation.

In everyday reality, we become the

efficiency of the products we use.

CONTROL: Throughout history humans

have tried to control the environment

and impose their own conditions upon

nature, starting with their own body.

In taking control of our look and our

emotions, we feel that we are gaining

control of our destiny. Beauty itself is

a capital asset and we need to

maximize its market value.

Ultimately, cosmetics promise to make

us look like gods and goddesses. We

are constantly obsessed with the fear

of missing out on any potential.

REASSURANCE: Helping us

restart every day,

regenerate and invigorate

ourselves, the use of

cosmetics represents a

profound denial of death

on a daily basis. To feel

attractive is to be alive.

TRANSFORMATION: On the

innermost layer of human

motivation, beauty is seductive

and hypnotizing. Seduction is life

itself, an effort to deceive,

outmanoeuvre, manipulate, to

incorporate our environment.

Cosmetics help us change while

remaining the same.

Miraculously, we do feel

changed, we do become

different people. Our ordinary

life is transcended.

Beauty, the alchemic union of opposites (according to Surrealists), includes the moments and acts of unveiling itself. When using cosmetics, it is as if a magic spell is cast over us, imperfect creatures. Our self-worth suddenly becomes buoyant and our ability to step forward into the world with a smile and a confident stride is radically enhanced.

This map illustrates

the way some

major cosmetic

brands are

positioned in the

consumers’ mind

The brands which effectively embed the deeper motives and the inherent concepts that dominate our behaviour related to cosmetics are most competitively positioned to achieve sustained growth

We are trusted by some of the world’s leading companies:

Ask here for your FREE eBOOK “The Intrinsically Engaging

Narratives™ Of Cosmetics” to boost the sales and profit of your brand:

http://www.brandaviators.com/ask-for-your-free-category-map