Women speak a lot about Bobbi Brown’s products and services but I never had the chance to try them until a few days ago when I had a friend’s birthday brunch and booked an appointment through blushup at their Bloomingdale’s Soho counter. It was quick and easy to book my makeup appointment online and I didn’t have to make a phone call in search of Bobbi’s store locations and availability. Bobbi Brown is also famous for their makeup artists who are known to enhance your natural beauty instead of making you look like a different person. That was the exact outcome they gave me!

Analise, my makeup artist made the entire session so much fun and interactive carefully explaining all the steps, techniques and products that went into creating my look. She created this dewy summer look with just the perfect amount of highlighting. I’ve never had such a beautifully highlighted glow on my face without feeling too heavy. She did this using two magic products, the first being the illuminating moisture balm, she applied it on my face before putting the makeup,  this product is a must have, it’s a balm but it works wonders. Even on a no makeup day, just one application of this and you’re all set. It has definitely become my go to product, I’ve been wearing it every single day. The second product which I am sure many know of already is Bobbi Brown’s Shimmer brick in beige. Okay so every girl needs to own this little box, because it’s an absolute game changer. I’ve always played very safe with my makeup and never really had a glam look created on me but boy I was elated with how my look turned out with Bobbi products, I had only seen such makeup looks on instagram. I am not a fan of dark colours and my pallet is very defined. I love creating a look that has subtle colours with a glam look and I thought it would be challenging but clearly I was wrong. For my eyes and lips Analise chose really soft colours that complimented my skin tone really well. She picked a Mahagony for my eyes topping it with a beautiful tint using the Bobbi Brown shadow stick, another amazing product! I mean who wouldn’t love to own a stick for an eyeshadow, it’s easy to apply and an extremely handy product. For my lips Analise picked this beautiful natural blush colour which had this glossy effect to it.

Overall I had a great experience, the perfect amalgamation of wonderful service and good products: for me Bobbi Brown does live up to its name, it’s been a couple of days and I just can’t stop obsessing about my new glowy summer look !

Products used –

Skin – Hydrating tonic Extra Repair eye cream Illuminating Moisture balm ( This product is magic )
Concealer – Neutral Tan   Corrector – Peach Foundation – Stick Foundation : Natural Tan Powder : Buff Nude Finish Powder Bronzer – Medium, Blush – Sand Pink
Glow – Shimmer brick beige

Brow kit saddle mahagany Eye Base cream Shadow stick : Nude Beach All over : Champagne Quartz Lower lid: Saddle Eyeline – Longwear eye pencil : Mahogany

 

What is Augmented Reality ?

Augmented Reality creates real life simulations and immersive interactive experiences for users enhancing real life settings with digital layers . In this era where technology is the first thing we interact with upon waking up, AR is an intriguing blend of interacting digital elements into our real world environment. I’ll further simply this by giving you examples

In 2015, Snap introduced the first augmented reality filter with rainbow barfing. One year later it elevated it’s AR game by introducing the most popular and my absolute favourite dog filter. In 2017, the company launched Lens Studio, a desktop application that allows any user to create and submit an AR filter.

Snapchat fun filters that never get old ……

Soon after other social media platforms like Instagram’s filters and Selfie Facebook Spaces joined the AR bandwagon.

Coming to gaming and retail

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Oh wait ! It’s not just all games and retail it’s being used in the education sector too

AR is steadily becoming ubiquitous but is it ready for the masses ?

I think Yes ! Consumers are ready for AR technology, while many business aren’t yet using AR technology , customers are willing to reward brands that do A recent study by Retail Perceptions reported that 40 percent of consumers polled said they would be willing to pay more for a product if they could experience it through augmented reality. It has already disrupted the beauty and retail industry but the AR wave is also ready to take over finance, transportation and healthcare.

So what does it entail for marketers ? How can they leverage it to make big bucks

Fun fact, global revenue from AR marketing is expected to vault from $430 million in 2018 to over $2.5 billion in 2022, according to eMarketer. Integrating AR as a marketing tool to create customer experience, optimal buying journey, is leading to higher conversion rates.

Marketers can increase engagement through gamification- For example, a shopping center could lay out a visual guide of the most efficient way to grab all the items on a shopping list, or restaurants could show what the food looks like on a digital menu before customers place their order. It makes interacting with the company fun.

Experiential Marketing- Adding AR to your marketing campaign is an interesting and intriguing way to capture attention. Taking a physical advertisement and adding in AR to it for example – billboards. This will increase brand awareness, as it will increase customer focus and give them more content without wasting resources.

AR is definitely increasing customer interaction and engagement, its enhancing the digital and in store shopping experience with ” try before you buy “. It has worked wonderfully for brands like Ikea, Sephora, Snapchat to name a few . I would say it’s here to say , it has a lot of potential and possibilities however it’s going to be beneficial if it’s incorporated in the right way and at the right time as per marketing needs and strategies.

So I am one of those girls who absolutely loves buying makeup but never able to do it perfectly myself. Don’t we all want that perfect look for our night outs and sunny brunch days. And then I just got lucky one day (Thank god for instagram !) I stumbled upon this Pastel pink icon-ed page called Blushup, (Sucha a cute name ! ) I was curious to see what the page was about , I was assuming it to be another beauty blog but I was surprised when read into it .

So in this era of technology where everything is an app download and a click away, be it food or cabs how could the beauty industry stay behind in the game. This company called blushup is exactly that, that one click to booking your professional makeup appointment at the leading brands like Dior, Chanel, Bobbi Brown , Charlotte Tilbury, Lancome, Nars, Mac and many more . I was amazed by the ease at which I was able to get a professional makeup artist at my favourite brands, at my preferred location do my makeup without having to go through the hassle of waiting & finding the right makeup artists in NYC and then not knowing what brands and products would be used. Looking at this concept from a marketers and a beauty enthusiasts lens , this idea is genius keeping  customers digitally connected to their local beauty retailers, much like Open Table keeps customers connected to restaurants.

More than just a booking technology, blushup is trying to build a community of women who love in-store beauty services and can share reviews and ratings of all beauty counters with each other.  So go get the perfect makeup look for your date night. Get all blushed up using Blushup !

Sharing some of my pictures from the look created by the artists at the Dior Saks Fifth Avenue counter. I was extremely happy by how it turned out and I received so many compliments for it. It was the perfect day look. Blushup has definitely become my go to apps to get ready for any occasion and I don’t think I am getting over it anytime soon.

In this digital age penning your digital story will need all your senses to work – your power to observe trends happening, your instinct to predict what’s going to happen and the past data trends that tell you what worked and what didn’t. A digital story is not like Game of Thrones, characters can’t die in this story. The 5 key characters need to survive till the end in order to win the ultimate game of strategy.

Who are these 5 characters ? What is their role ?

Let’s understand their strengths and significance before we write chapter one of our story…

1. The one who has the throne, The undisputed King – CONTENT !

Creating evergreen content and at the same time content that’s evolving that runs parallel with what people are talking about today is what gives that distinguishing edge , that competitive advantage to a brand in the market. Today there is transition in demand from written content to more visual and interactive content. Underestimating the content strategy would be the biggest digital blunder a digital marketer can make.

2. THE BIG ONE – we call him BIG DATA

Big data is the strongest weapon a good strategy needs to win. Even though it has a dark side with all the privacy invasion it still stands strong with all the information it provides us and our fellow marketers. If there is no big data there is no great customer experience. Big data increases ROI and helps firms optimise their operational costs. It helps them maximise marketing campaign results. By collecting personal information and tracking customer behaviour, firms can devise more personalized and relevant digital strategies and advertisements.

3. The one who pulls our heart strings – CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

Customer experience is the heart of marketing for every industry. Know who your customers are , what devices they use , what is there online behaviour and strive to give them the best UX and website experience, a well optimized landing page, a great mobile app experience. They will only come back if they get a seamless online experience, its the only way to retain customers and your brand build advocates.

4. The warriors who help us fight the battle – MOBILE , SOCIAL MEDIA , EMAIL , SEO

These are the warriors we need to execute our strategy, they are the frontrunners. Without these we can’t execute our strategy howsoever great it is. They are the spices we need to make the perfect digital dish. They are equally important and missing out on one also would impact the returns.

5. The ultimate judge – Audience

The courtroom of the audience is what decides if the strategy came out victorious. If it’s not accepted by them the masses then how much so ever effort was put in , the strategy fails. Understanding your audience is hygiene , to know what they want and how to enhance their digital experience is the key to success. Understanding trends , customer preferences , customer thought process , having an eye that looks well into their needs of the future builds the most essential element of the digital strategy. Ultimately it’s all about what sells.

Now that you are well acquainted with all the characters you can start writing your digital story….

What does Big Data do for marketers ?

The bad –

With Big Data comes big invasion of privacy…..

The ugly –

Consumers have been trusting big firms such as Google and Facebook with their data for years. We give our location data to Google, information about our preferences to Facebook so they can be targeted with personalized advertising. But can we completely trust them with our personal data? Over the years trust in technology companies has fallen due to the huge breach by some tech giants.

Data privacy is an important global and economic issue and with GDPR regulation imposing huge fines for firms that fail to protect user data, perhaps things will improve. As of now we can’t say if Big data is doing more good than bad.

I was in middle school when I first read the lesson “Rosa Parks sat still ” as a part of my English Literature class. For those of you who don’t know she was an American activist also known as “ the first lady of the civil rights “ She is known for her pivotal role in the Montgomery bus boycott.  It’s been years since the civil rights movement, in these years America also witnessed its first black president – Barack Obama. And while we think the world has become much more inclusive and secular , the sad truth is that the evils of RACISM are still deeply ingrained in our society. It’s as prevalent in my country as it in in yours. Preferential Treatment, Colour Blindness and the evils of Racism and Racial discrimination still continue to haunt us. We come to the year 2018 where a popular airline Ryanair witnessed a racial attack by a white man on a black woman on one of it’s flight.

The footage sparked outrage after the airline responded by telling the man to ‘calm down’ and moved the victim, an elderly woman, to a different seat. You can see it by clicking on the video below.

The disgraceful video has been viewed 6.3 million times since being published on Facebook. And it has resulted in some undesirable tweets and headlines.

Social Media was dominated with Hashtags such as #Ryanairracists

Some passengers also tweeted saying that they cancelled their flight on Ryanair after its disgraceful response.

Ryanair received a lot of backlash post this shameful event with celebrities and politicians from world over condemning the incidence and criticizing the airline for their lack of action and empathy.  

Its crisis media management response was indeed weak and lacked compassion for the victim.

Ryanair showed no confidence while dealing in this image crisis and issued a very simple statements saying  “ We are aware of this video and reported this matter to Essex police.” that really was the full extent of its response, and even then it was buried among a range of promotional tweets. 

As brands we have the power to make a change, we have a strong voice to rub the correct influence over people in this digital age. For starters they could issued a public apology to the woman who faced this racial attack , astrong response on Ryanair’s behalf would have created an impact and ignited a wave of change, also preventing such incidents from occurring again.

When companies fail to do so it reflects that something is fundamentally wrong in their core values and I strongly believe that as important as it is to be profitable and have an exceptional business model its also imperative to create an impact in the society we are living in.

Rosa Parks sat still in the bus in 1995, but unfortunately Ryanair did ask the victim of racial abuse to be displaced from her seat……….

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This Forbes article, I like it , I really like it . That’s my opinion on it. I’ll tell you why  ….. there is so much content out there !  My digital marketing professor Joanne Tombrakos mentioned in the first ever lecture I had with her that we are all content creators today, we all have it in us to create content, even if it’s one instagram upload at a time.

What she said stuck with me, I went back home and pondered over it , started scanning through my social media and Bam! She was right . We do create content in our own little ways every single day and like me there are zillions and trillions out there who do the same.     

So this brings me back to why I like this article, apart from the fact that it’s a Forbes article and I almost never not like anything by Forbes, they create good content, always a good read. I like it because in this world of unfiltered content  how important is it to filter it, to micro tap your audience and customize your content according what appeals to them, instead of blindly going after the number of followers( quality over quantity is the way to sustain ) . This article talks about this in the trends that can help your brand stand out, the importance of customization , to create a personal experience for its customers, to create evergreen content and at the same time content that’s evolving that runs parallel with what people are talking about today. It also talks about how content gives that distinguishing edge , that competitive advantage to your brand in the market.

Another reason why I like this article is because it also touches upon how technology can be leveraged to create content that is pervasive and personal. It also talks about the transition in demand from written content to more visual and interactive content.

I would urge you to give this article a read, it’s a precise and accurate sum up of everything a good content creator needs to keep in mind in order to build a strong brand equity.

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With the influx of retail brands joining the e-commerce bandwagon, more often than not it’s difficult to distinguish between their user interface and what unique app experience they bring with them. Mostly everyone is adopting the same techniques to provide all the shopaholics a smooth online buying experience.

One brand that I believe constantly strives to up its ecommerce game is the British online fashion retailer ASOS , founded in June 2000, it has around 850 brands and its in house clothing line shipping to around 200 countries with 15 currencies and fulfillment centers in UK, USA and Europe.

To talk a little about some of its unique features apart from an easy to use interface, Asos has a tool that helps users organize their saved items into categories, there is an ALL ITEMS  and then BOARDS to help them organize the items into categories like Autumn outfits, gym and work looks etc to make them easier to find. ASOS leverages machine learning to provide users Board suggestions, new products and fresh ways to share and discover style inspiration. ASOS also has a subscription based premium service giving its members free two day shipping and access to deals and preview collections.

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Another unique feature that was particularly appealing to me is their Style Match tool. This tool is available through its App. It allows users to upload photos of clothes and styles they like and then searches for similar products in it’s stock to create a look that closely matches to it. This feature is something like a visual search for customers who know exactly what they are looking for.

This App is perfect for you if you are someone who doesn’t like going through pages to find that one look you have pictured in your mind or found on Pinterest or liked on a blogger.

For me Asos lives up to the European sense of style accommodating all brand segments and price ranges and constantly evolving its mobile commerce functions to sustain in this dynamic era of Artificial Intelligence and big data to personalize the app more and more .

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