MOM’S SMALL PINK CONTAINER
Does any Filipino still remember the small pink container our mother owns hidden in their cabinets back in the early 2000s?
Well it’s not a surprise if no one can remember it. With the growing cosmetic and skin care industry around the world, many brands in the early 2000s were left behind including the brand who popularized the facial cream in a small pink container, Mena.
Mena Facial Cream has been the brand’s best-selling whitening cream for the past twenty years. Well loved by several million consumers in southeast asian countries with its ability to work miracles on spots, acne and blemishes which is probably the reason why it became popular among southeast asians. Additionally, Mena’s tagline, “beautiful within 7 days,” also caught the attention of southeast asians because beauty back then was the biggest advantage card in the society and there is an immense amount of pressure on women to be beautiful to satisfy men, just like what was shown in their “Happy within 7 days” commercial.
Aside from the tagline, commercial, and the benefits that Mena promises to its consumers, the brand’s strategy on its facial cream packaging is also the biggest contributor to their fame. Since Mena’s facial cream was their first product and was first launched in 1992, the packaging shows a picture of a woman wearing the iconic and trendy look of the 1990s which are the shimmery white and opalescent eye shadow; matte brown, brick, and wine-colored lipsticks with a darker lip liner; and of course, the most trendy thin eyebrows. In addition, the possible reason behind the white face of the lady on the packaging is because the product is also a whitening product.
However, as the society evolves, Mena’s limelight darkened because of how cosmetic and skincare industries are aggressively growing and marketing their products in accordance to the changing and improving perception of society. Thus, it is not a surprise if recalling the brand Mena is a headache.
DIGINET’S SECRET IT CAN NEVER KEEP
Mena’s strategy on marketing their brand was such an adaptive strategy on the trends of the early 2000s. But now that society is embracing all kinds of beauty, is changing Mena a brilliant move?
This image is a side view of a woman’s face which represents the target market of the new Mena which is the women in their 20s.
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The sparkle on the face stands for the glow that Mena will contribute to women’s beauty.
The butterfly line art symbolizes the bloom that women will experience in using Mena. Because just like a butterfly, women bloom eventually.
The “M” in the “Mena” typography creates an illusion of a heart shape which is another symbol that would give an impression that once women try it, they will surely love it.
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Pink is the color of the logo because when women see Mena, it should prompt a calming emotion within them. And pink is proved to be the most calming color by the research scientist Alexander Schauss (Biggs, 2020).
Tagline: A secret you can never keep.
This tagline was made with the thought of Mena as a product that one would share to everybody because of its quality. This tagline is also made to create harmony between women because it implies that when we find something good, we must share it in order to benefit a lot of people. There are two words in this tagline that would prompt the target audience, the words “never” and “keep.” Keep as a verb and never as an adverb makes the technique used as verbs and adverbs which will also encourage the market to share the product.
Slogan: End beauty standards.
Beauty standards have been going for years and people are forced to follow these beauty standards by using beauty products. However, this slogan demands for people to stop setting and following beauty standards because it does not do any better to anyone. Thus when buying the facial cream, women should stop thinking that this facial cream will secure them the beauty that the society has set, instead they should think that Mena will make them glow. With that, the technique used in this slogan is imperative because it obligates people to stop setting and following beauty standards.
Packaging
One way for a product to be remembered is through their packaging. This is why the tagline of Mena was on top of the box in order to create a question to the mind of customers while they are about to open the box, this question is “why is this (Mena) a secret I can never keep?” Through this, they will be curious to find out the answer which could help in building a relationship between the buyer and the brand.
Print Advertisements
The elements of these print advertisements embody womanhood which can encourage the target audience, women in their 20s, to buy the product. The tagline is included in the advertisements in order to advertise the tagline that speaks for the brand. The benefit, smoother and brighter skin, and the price is also on the advertisement to showcase the benefit of using the product.
Mena Video Advertisement
Some may think it's ironic that a beauty product ad is like this because beauty products have a negative connotation that they make a woman more insecure. Even the original video advertisement of Mena degrades women. Hence, the new video advertisement breaks the stigma by featuring the experiences of a woman living in a society where following beauty standards is a must. This type of advertisement is a campaign to end all beauty standards, this ad's objective is to empower women to have their own self-ways, self-care, and self-worth to build their confidence because, in Mena, a woman's beauty is a secret you can never keep.
DIGINET’s concept for rebranding Mena took three months to materialize, the team embraces the improving attitude of the society towards beauty in conceptualizing the possible new look of Mena, that’s why it’s one of the secrets DIGINET can never keep.