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.

Now that we are entering 2012, you may be wondering how you can pump up your sales for the New Year. Reaching your customers for important holidays is key. With February approaching, now is the time to think about how you can help your customers celebrate Black History Month and Valentine’s Day. Here is some background on both and ways that you can attract more sales.

The origins of Black History Month began in 1915, when Dr. Carter G. Woodson and Rev. Jesse E Moorland co-founded the Association for the Study of African-American Life and History (ASNLH) to research and bring awareness to the role that African-Americans have played in history. In 1976, Black History Week turned into a month long observance. So why February? Abraham Lincoln, who issued the Emancipation Proclamation was born on February 12th. Frederick Douglass, a leading abolitionist, was born on February 14th. Every year, the ASNLH chooses a different theme. This year’s theme is African-Americans and the Civil War which will honor African-American efforts to end slavery in the United States.

Did you know that African-American consumers in the U.S. account for $913 billion in purchasing power? Using the CosPro Agency target marketing program to reach this demographic specifically instead of using a one size fits all approach makes sense. African-Americans have nuances within lifestyle, language, and culture that should be used to leverage marketing efforts. For instance, Essence Magazine and Vision Critical Group performed a study that revealed that African-American women spend 80% MORE on cosmetics annually and nearly twice as much on skin care products than general market women do annually. This is a fantastic time to schedule in-store promotions targeting the African America customer. CosPro can create coupons appealing to your target market which is a great way to encourage sales.

Another way to boost sales for February is to target Valentine’s Day shoppers.  It is believed that Americans began exchanging hand-made valentines in the early 1700′s. According to the Greeting Card Association, an estimated one billion valentine cards are sent each year, making it second only to Christmas. Valentine’s Day is also celebrated in Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France, and Australia.

St. Valentine’s Day is rooted in Christian and ancient Roman tradition. One legend says that Valentine was a priest in the 3rd century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II outlawed marriage for young men so they would be soldiers instead, Valentine performed marriages in secret. Another says that Valentine fell in love with a girl while in prison and wrote her a letter before his death signed “From your Valentine”. Others purport that Christians decided to celebrate Valentine’s feast day in the middle of February to “christianize” the pagan Lupercalia festival which was a fertility festival on February 15th. Also, the Middle Age French and English notion that February 14 was the beginning of birds’ mating season contributed to the idea that Valentine’s Day should be a day for romance.

In 2011, Valentine’s Day shoppers spent around $15.7 billion on their loved ones (1.7 billion more than in 2010) and retailers reported an increase of 4.2% in comparable sales. This year-to-year growth makes it plausible that 2012 sales will be even higher with advertising and promotion. Since 85% of all Valentine Cards are bought by women, it can be safe to target females by offering a fragrance sampling, Gift with Purchase program or even having a gift basket raffle to encourage sales. Sign up early with CosPro Agency to schedule your promotion. Contact Kristin Bocox at 877 3COSPRO or email at Kristin@cosmeticpromotions.com.

Corporate philanthropy makes a difference all around. Not only do your customers care that your company is ethically responsible, but they actually have a preference for how you donate. A recent study called The Checkout revealed that when choosing between two brands that benefit a cause, 43% of women say they choose the brand that donates with every purchase over a brand that donates a fixed amount. The study also showed that disease prevention is the most motivational when making a purchase that contributes to a cause.

Having a percentage of a purchase donated is beneficial for a brand because it encourages repeat purchasing and loyalty. Men tend to lean toward causes where being involved requires a financial contribution rather than emotional involvement, which tends to appeal to women. Therefore, they are more likely to support organizations like The Salvation Army or Goodwill, while women support disease prevention causes like Breast Cancer Awareness.

With this in mind, the CosPro Agency is offering an opportunity for clients to show their customers  that they care about finding a cure for breast cancer by honoring Breast Cancer Awareness month in October.When you book an event with CosPro involving 100 stores or more, 5% of the proceeds will go to the Susan G. Komen Foundation for the Cure. In 2009, this offer resulted in $3,900 of donations for the Susan G. Komen foundation. The Susan G. Komen Foundation for the Cure is the global leader of the breast cancer movement and is the largest source of nonprofit funds dedicated to fighting breast cancer in the world.

Book your event now by calling Kristin Bocox at 877-3COSPRO ext. 501# or email her at Kristin@cosmeticpromotions.com.

Choosing a modeling or demo agency to represent your company is an important decision. The people who do the actual event could be the ONLY representative of your company that your potential customers get to meet. It is essential that the promotional models meet your target demographic and completely understand your product. When retaining a demo or modeling agency, here are some questions to ask:

1. What experience do your models have?
2. Can I see pictures of the models?
3. Is your agency open the day of the event?
4. How do I know that your model has shown up to the event?
5. How do you train the model on my product?
6. What feedback reports do I get from you on the event?
7. Can you provide models that match the demographic of the event?

CosPro Agency was created as there was a need for professional makeup artists nationwide. Most agencies do not specialize in the beauty industry and use one model to do everything from food to foundation to foot powder. For every model we book, we can provide a photo and brief resume so you have the comfort of knowing your product is appropriately represented in each store. In addition, all of our artists have at least 2 years of experience not only with makeup, but with retail sales as well. In short, we provide competent, attractive models that are familiar with the beauty industry and trained to sell your products.

Our standards and results are higher than any other agency.

Do you have a specific target market you want to reach? CosPro can help! Whether you have products that are targeted for African Americans, need Spanish speaking makeup artists, or just need models that are all a certain ‘look’, we can help. We are completely turnkey leaving you with minimal involvement for a stress free promotion experience. If you want the best, you want The CosPro Agency.

Visit us at cosproagency.com or contact Kristin Bocox at 877-COSPRO3 Ext. #501 to schedule your next event. New customers receive a 20% discount* off your first event!

*Not valid with other discounts or offers.

Summertime is the season when women use less makeup and with the downturn in the economy that could mean even lower sales this next quarter. However, by promoting the right products you can help recover, or even increase your summer cosmetics sales! Here are five products to focus on promoting this summer.

1. Nail Polish

Overall cosmetic and toiletry sales were down by 0.8% last year. But nail polish is the only cosmetic to see a double digit increase  – 14.3% since last year –  because many women are giving themselves manicures and pedicures at home and skipping pricey salon visits. Summer is also the season when nails see the most exposure, so make sure your consumers have plenty of bright summer shades to choose from.

2. Bronzer and Sunless Tanners

Sun-kissed skin is always a fashionable look and is especially sought after in summer months. Stock your shelves with sunless tanner products since consumers often want to give their tans a jump start before appearing at the beach or pool in their swim suits. Bronzers also contribute to looking more tanned and summery so be sure to have plenty on hand.

3. Lip Protection

Frequent sun exposure can cause burnt, chapped, and uncomfortable lips. Make sure you are promoting lip products with SPF, aloe, and other cooling/healing ingredients. Lip balms are among consumers’ top impulse purchases, so make sure to have a display somewhere near checkout as a reminder for them.

4. Sunscreen

Sunscreen is a must-have when the summer months roll around because skin protection is important, not just for women, but for the whole family. Have a wide variety of sunscreens to choose from and feature them prominently in your store and remind associates to suggest it with every other summer-type purchase.

5. Moisturizers

Consumers have more exposed skin in summer than any other time of year. After all of the sun’s exposure to bare skin, you can bet your consumers will want to keep their skin hydrated. Moisturizers that contain sunless tanner are great to promote because your consumers get two products in one, making them feel the great value of the product.