New Cosmetic Promotions sampling program to tap ethnic buying power

Cosmetic Promotions has announced a new sampling program for manufacturers targeting Hispanic and African-American consumers.

Citing a recent study by the Selig Center, Cosmetic Promotions stated that the African-American buying power topped $1.04 trillion last year and is growing faster than all other population segments combined since 2000. And Nielsen reported that Hispanic buying power, likewise, has topped $1 trillion annually and is expected to grow another 50% by 2017.

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Mustela is already known for their gentle products for babies in the United States, and now they’re developing sun care products for babies! Two of their products have already been awarded the Melanoma International Foundation Seal of Approval, and their formulations are 100% minerals. The product launch will begin in February, and will be widely available by May.

Cosmetic Promotions helps this amazing European line get more awareness in the United States with demos at Ulta. The next set of demos will be in April at select Ultas nationwide!

Pop star singer Carly Rae Jepsen is now the first spokeswoman for the natural personal care brand, Güd (by Burt’s Bees)! Güd launched in 2012 and has 36 body and hair care products in 5 different fragrances. Carly Rae Jepson will be instrumental in reaching Güd’s 20-something consumers.

Cosmetic Promotions is now working with Güd to get their products known! They are in the middle of distributing 75,000 samples to college females. Our street team is placing a bright Güd bag filled with 3 samples and coupons on female dorm room doors at 7 colleges across the nation. As part of our turnkey service, we designed and printed the bag and postcards. We have also worked with Güd to educate the Beauty Advisors at Walgreens and CVS. We love the product and love the people at Burt’s Bees. You go, Güd!

Holiday SHOPPING is just around the corner and the good news is that last year retail sales were up about 4.7% in December. This is the perfect time to do some direct product sampling to people in the Holiday Spending mood.

“81% of consumers admitted that receiving a sample convinced them to purchase a product.”

Give a holiday gift to your customers and drive in-store traffic by participating in the NEW Holiday Sampling Program. The Holiday Sampling Program is an opportunity to distribute YOUR brands to a large group of consumers at Holiday Events. Samples (or coupons) will be collated into 20,000 Holiday themed drawstring bags and distributed person-to-person by our Street Team Elves – 2000 per venue; such as:

Baltimore – The Mayor’s 40th Annual Christmas Parade
Chicago – McDonald’s 77th Anniversary Thanksgiving Parade
Dallas/Fort Worth – Children’s Medical Center Holiday Parade
Detroit – America’s Thanksgiving Parade
Los Angeles – The Hollywood Christmas Parade
Los Angeles – Comcast America’s Childrens Holiday Parade
Minneapolis – Holidazzle Parade
New York – Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
Philadelphia – Philadelphia Thanksgiving Day Parade
Seattle – Macy’s Holiday Parade

Shoppers are bombarded with hundreds of messages everyday but none as effective as direct sampling of your product. Sampling is the best way to gain loyal customers who will continue to purchase your brand. Take advantage of the holiday shopping season, and let Cosmetic Promotions help increase your sales with our NEW Holiday Sampling Program. Simply fill out our Holiday Sampling Program Signup and let Cosmetic Promotions get your sample out to the consumers giving them a reason to buy your products.

Please contact Tracie Gilbert at 877-665-1640 or tracie@cosmeticpromotions.com for more information.

Hispanic Heritage Month is quickly approaching. Every year from September 15 through October 15, Americans observe National Hispanic Heritage month as a time to celebrate the history, culture and contributions made in the United States.

This is a great window of opportunity to connect with Latinos by setting up an in-store promotion with CosPro Agency that could go a long way in building brand affinity.  In 2011, it was expected that the Hispanic community would make up over 16% of the US population which is a 56% growth over the last decade. This along with the estimated increase over the next 5 years to about 18% will have a huge impact on our economy. As the Hispanic community grows it is forecasted that this buying power will grow to $1.6 trillion.  And why wouldn’t you want to foster connections with a market that is quadrupling in buying power?

CosPro can create printed material such as flyers and coupons in both English and Spanish and even contract bilingual makeup artists and demonstrators in your requested target markets for the most successful event. This is a great way to connect with both English and Spanish speaking Hispanics. Last year, CosPro Agency executed a Hispanic event in 200 stores at a national drug chain for Colgate.  The event was held for four hours in each store and sales totaled approximately 4,400 pieces, averaging 22 pieces per store!  The demonstrators were also able to train about 500 store employees on the product to help with continued sales.  With the training and the 8,000 coupons handed out, it was also a positive impact on future sales for the Colgate line.

Contact CosPro Agency to book your next Hispanic event now and let us create a successful event customized for your needs. Contact Kristin Bocox at Kristin@cosmeticpromotions.com or call at 877-326-7776 ext. 501#.

With summertime just around the corner, it is time to start thinking of sun, sand and…
your Back-to-School sales, of course!

In 2011, it was estimated that consumers would spend an excess of $68 Billion on Back-to-School products. The National Retail Federation reports that this is the next highest spurt in spending following the holiday season.

Take advantage of this high-traffic shopping period with some ideas designed to catch consumers attention and add excitement to your event:

• Coupons – With consumers focused on value and substantial savings on products, Back-to-School season is a great time to offer a coupon with your product demo to encourage purchase.
• Gift-with-Purchase – Let CosPro Agency create Back-to-School GWP items such as printed pencils, erasers, pens, sharpeners, etc. for a little extra credit with the consumers.
• Printed materials – supplemental in-store signage such as posters, counter cards, shelf danglers, flyers, brochures and more can give your event a surround sound feeling and add excitement!
• Displays – Catch the eye of everyone walking by with a custom display designed to give extra polish to your event.
• Gift Basket Raffle – Bring the customers over to your demonstration table with a gift basket display filled with your product and/or school supplies that they can enter to win!

With so many ways to make your event more exciting – and we haven’t even mentioned balloons or printed T-shirts or buttons! – you can be sure your event will grab the attention of busy shoppers.

As one of the peak shopping seasons of the year, Back-to-School events book early and fill up fast. Don’t be late to school, let CosPro Agency help you plan an A+ event!  Contact CosPro Agency today to get ahead of the class, email Kristin@cosmeticpromotions.com to schedule your next event.

Last Spring & Summer, CosPro Agency performed a FULL schedule of events which resulted in some very happy clients. Spring kicked off with a 400-store Neutrogena Wet Skin sun care event. The results for this event were amazing:

• Over 3,400 total sales in just 4 hours per store
• Half who had the demonstration purchased a Wet Skin item
• 8,800 coupons were distributed throughout the event
• 520 store employees were trained on the products to continue sales after the demos were over

CosPro agency also conducted a 1,000 store skin care event to launch the new L’Oreal Youth Code. CosPro Agency worked with L’Oreal to create counter cards and custom gift baskets to provide extra support and excitement, and the event was completed over five weeks in May and June with great success:

• Demonstrators introduced over 13,600 customers to the new line
• Sales averaged 7 pieces per store
• Demonstrators were able to sell at least 1 piece of product for every 2 demonstrations
• More than 31,000 samples and coupons were distributed throughout the event
• Over 1,000 employees were trained on these products

Summertime proved to be equally successful with a CoverGirl event in 305 stores. Make-up artists performed mini-makeovers for CoverGirl and promoted Olay and Pantene products. CosPro Agency created all of the art for the event, including brochures, coupons and counter cards. We also created custom Gift Baskets to attract customers to our tables. The following are the incredible results:

• Sales averaged 18.5 pieces PER STORE during each 5 hour event
• Our makeup artists sold an average of over 3 pieces of product PER MAKEOVER
• There were 18,000 samples distributed during the event
• Over 300 chain employees were trained on all products involved in the event

TThese were just a few of the great events we worked on during the Spring and Summer months of 2011. Book your Spring or Summer 2012 event with CosPro Agency now and let us create a successful event customized for your needs. Contact Kristin Bocox at Kristin@cosmeticpromotions.com or call at 877-326-7776 ext. 501#.

Mother’s Day is right around the corner and now is the time to plan for your in-store promotions to drive sales. Did you know 83% of consumers celebrate Mother’s Day with an average spending of $140 on gifts?

Last Mother’s Day, CosPro Agency executed a fragrance event at a major department store with huge success! The event took place in 50 stores and included several different fragrances by a well-known national brand as well as product demonstrations with some new and exciting nail products. Our demonstrators sold a total of 674 pieces of product, an average of 13.5 pieces per store in JUST 4 HOURS! Demonstrators were able to promote the fragrances for Mother’s Day to shoppers looking for unique gift ideas, while the moms shopping loved having a nail makeover with fun new styles. To encourage customers to visit the table, there was a Gift-with-Purchase offer during the event.

Additional results were as follows:
• Over 1,200 coupons handed out resulting in future sales.
• One of every three people approached ended up making a purchase.
• The demonstrators trained a total of 75 associates on the products, creating an educated sales force to continue selling the products long after the event was over.

According to a recent survey conducted by the National Retail Federation, Mother’s Day is the second biggest spending holiday after the winter holiday. Don’t be left behind – let CosPro Agency help you to create a custom event to take advantage of this high traffic volume filled with customers looking for experts to advise them on what to buy. CosPro Agency can make your event special with custom additions such as sentimental signage, high value coupons, tip flyers, a gift-with-purchase option or even gift wrapping for those guys out there that need a little extra help. Stand out from the crowd and sign up early to reserve your date. Contact Kristin Bocox at 877 3COSPRO to schedule your promotion or email her at Kristin@cosmeticpromotions.com.

Did you know that each year there are about 250,000 new products launched AND the typical failure rate ranges between 85% to 95%? In the beauty industry many of these launches occur in March & April, which is right around the corner. Here are 5 steps to launching your new products successfully:

1.     Understand your market
American families on average buy the same 150 items repeatedly, which comprise 85% of their household needs. It is therefore a bit difficult to get something new to become part of the routine and very important to market your product to the correct consumers. The quickest way to gain a new customer is through TRIAL. According to the recent Arbirton Product Sampling Study, more than 25% of consumers who have never heard of a product buy it right after sampling it and almost half of consumers plan to buy it in the future. CosPro Agency is an expert at targeting specific demographics. Contact us about our teen, males, college, senior, Hispanic and African American sampling programs.

2.     Let potential customers try your product
In-store demo events allow customers to try your products prior to purchase, giving them confidence in their purchase and removing the worry of buyer’s remorse. Since 89% of first time purchases are the result of trial or sample, it is important not to skip this step in your launch plans. At CosPro Agency, we are experts at product demonstration, fragrance sampling and complete beauty makeovers – we are the only agency with over 1,500 professional makeup artists. In addition, CosPro Agency can add many of the extras that make your events more exciting – such as custom coupons to further encourage purchase, educational brochures for more complicated products or even a gift-with-purchase as an added incentive to buy today.

3.     Create a surround sound event
A true launch will interact with the customer on many different levels. A product launch should include multiple media outlets such as print ads, online marketing, email blasts, sweepstakes, flyers, signage and more added to your in-store promotions. CosPro Agency is a one stop shop for all of your custom chain marketing needs. Some of the added extras we offer include in-store signage, sales contests, store employee training, bag stuffers or even a national consumer sweepstakes with a custom web page component to create a surround sound event. With full online and in-store support, your launch will be on the road to success. Check out a couple of our on-line campaigns: L’Oreal Sweeps, Hot Days Cool Cash.

4.     Train your sales force
Remember the importance of the people selling your product. If they don’t believe in your product, then they aren’t going to be committed to selling it. You certainly don’t want customers to know more than the salespeople about the product. During your in-store promotion, CosPro Agency demonstrators train the store employees on your products on the day of the event. They also hand out product training guides for the stores to keep, so the off duty employees are able to review later as well. The one-on-one training and product training guides are just one more helpful extra that CosPro Agency provides to create a sales force around your launch that can continue to sell, sell, SELL once our demonstrators have left.

5.     Utilize social media
Today we have SO many social media outlets and it is important that you don’t underestimate the value of these. CosPro Agency posts to Twitter and utilizes such sites as freebeautyevents.com, eventbrite.com, zvents.com  and foursquare.com to promote your event to drive customers to the stores to try your new products. It is just as important to drive traffic to the store for your event as it is to reach the customers that come in, so that your launch event reaches as many consumers as possible.

At CosPro Agency, we love to brainstorm and create new and interesting ways to execute events and create excitement around product launches. Call us today to discuss your new item and get a custom quote for your launch! Contact Kristin Bocox at 877 3COSPRO or email at Kristin@cosmeticpromotions.com.