Editor’s note: L’Oréal and InSites Consulting are the winners of the 2022 Marketing Research and Insight Excellence Awards Client/Supplier Collaboration category. To find out more about the awards click here.
L’Oréal has a strong commitment to keeping the consumer at the center of all future innovations and has chosen to partner with InSites Consulting to harness the power of the consumer through a community of highly engaged beauty-loving participants. With a “one team” approach, featuring iterative processes, consecutive learning and extreme consumer engagement, L’Oréal has been able to get product prototypes into the hands of more consumers, expediting its product iteration cycles.
L’Oréal and InSites Consulting have a longstanding relationship globally, and this award recognizes the partnership with L’Oréal’s Research and Innovation (R&I) team. In March 2021, L’Oréal and InSites Consulting began piloting a community approach to integrate consumer feedback directly into product development. The Beauty Co-Lab community was created from this pilot, hosting over 1,200 participants interested in beauty products, ranging from hair care to skin care to make-up and all dimensions in between - such as product fragrances.
The consumers in the community represent a range of interests, from general beauty-product lovers to niche category users, ensuring the right participants are on standby, no matter what type of product feedback is desired. This mix of consumers allows for multiple simultaneous tests, with several product tests running at any time with many participants involved, giving labs a real-life understanding of prototype performance.
The speed and agility of the community approach match the needs of rapid product innovation, getting more products into the hands of more consumers. Prototypes can be quickly shipped out and reviewed with participants at the ready, with detailed findings back...