South Florida Walgreens (March 6, 2010) – CosPro Agency recently held another successful demonstration at Walgreens locations across southern Florida. The event promoted and demonstrated the new CoverGirl Lash Blast Length mascara in order to amplify product sales and create product awareness.

The product was incredibly well received by consumers. Fourteen stores sold 152 pieces averaging eleven pieces sold, per store, in only four hours! The closure rate was very high; for every three makeovers done, two of those made purchases. Over sixty percent of customers made purchases that day and thirty percent said they will definitely be purchasing Lash Blast Length in the near future. In addition, twenty percent of the customers didn’t know the product beforehand so it was a great event for product awareness. With the chance to try a new product before buying, an enticing gift-with-purchase and knowledgeable demonstrators to help customers make educated decisions – this event was a hit!

Additionally, at least one beauty advisor per store was trained on the product and will be able to assist customers for future sales. And almost all (99%!) of the customers agreed that they enjoyed the event and would love to see more product demonstrations and sampling.

For additional information on samplings and demos please email Kristin Bocox at kristin@cosmeticpromotions.com or call (877) 326-7776 ext 501.

Good news for makeup artists who love free products! Elle Magazine and CoverGirl Cosmetics have collaborated to host the Beauty Guru Challenge where makeup artists can win hundreds of dollars of CoverGirl cosmetics. This contest will run from June 15, 2009 to July 2, 2010 and has a weekly and annual drawing.

How does it work? Go to http://videostar.elle.com and check out the monthly challenge. This month’s challenge is to create an Old Hollywood Glamour look inspired by the red carpet. You upload a video demonstrating how you get the look using at least 50% CoverGirl products onto the site. Your video will post on the site, and every time someone looks at your video it is counted as a vote. Tip: The file size has to be 100MB or less and music, photographs, and artwork in your video must be yours or you have to receive official permission to include it. Qualified judges will look at the number of votes, clarity of instruction, and the final look to select a winner every week.

If you’re the lucky weekly winner you win the Elle Video Star title $250 worth of free CoverGirl products! On July 9, 2010, an annual grand prize winner will be selected from all of the Elle Video Star winners. Not only is the grand prize winner featured on the site, they will also get $3,000 worth of beauty products. Good luck!

This article was written by Kristen Jason at Cosmetic Promotions. For more information on Cosmetic Promotions, please check out their website www.cosproagency.com or contact Kristen direct at kcopeland@cosmeticpromotions.com.

Cosmetic Promotions continues to grow after 20 years in business

                Orlando, FL – Where historically less than half of all small businesses survive past four years, Cosmetic Promotions, Inc. (CPI) is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year and continuing to grow in the face of a struggling U.S. economy. The company began in 1989 by producing a newsletter for Revco Beauty Department and today fills the critical marketing and promotional gap between vendors and retailers in the cosmetic and beauty industry. Vendors concentrate on national marketing campaigns and can’t effectively customize marketing programs for each retail chain. Similarly the retailers lack the resources to create individual marketing programs for every product they sell.

             CPI fills this role for both the retailer and the vendor, helping both parties meet their business objectives. CPI is the only U.S. marketing company dedicated to improving sell-through for the mass beauty industry that provides complete turnkey services, from creative design to in-store training, talent and support. The company prides itself on being a problem solver and the place that retailers and manufacturers both can turn when they lack the staff or resources to pull off programs that they need.

                CPI has its own talent agency which is now expanding its reach to other industries. The CosPro Agency has more than 1,000 makeup artists and models nationwide available for all types of demonstrations for all kinds of manufacturers and venues. CosPro’s demonstrators are not minimum-wage temps like most demo companies use. Following the philosophy that “you get what you pay for,” their demonstrators are trained, attractive, match the demographics of the product, and – importantly – show up as scheduled. The demo industry has a typical 10% or higher no-show rate while CosPro’s is less than 5%. And if a demonstration does not happen on its scheduled weekend, CosPro offers a replacement demonstration at a 25% discount. A recent 400-store fragrance modeling event for JC Penney’s resulted in a 4:1 return on investment for the client, who attributed the outstanding results to the CosPro sales training each promotional artist received prior to the event. CosPro’s three-step training program provides better-informed demonstrators who can help customers make positive buying decisions. To celebrate their 20th  anniversary, the company is offering ONE free demo to the first 50 NEW customers who respond to their upcoming email blast.

For more information on Cosmetic Promotions, contact Joann Tyson by email :joann@cosmeticpromotions.com or by phone: 407-644-9916.

Holiday sales for the retail industry showed flat at best, with an average of a negative 5.5 to 8% overall. However, one bright spot was a fragrance sampling event at JC Penney’s that was executed by CosPro Agency (headquarters Orlando, FL) nationwide.

The event was held in 400 of the number three department store chain’s locations the two weekends before Christmas. Each store had a professional demonstrator hired and trained by the CosPro Agency there to help shoppers choose fragrance Christmas gifts while sampling the newest and hottest scents. Each four hour event averaged sales of over 17 pieces of product and the two weekend’s sales totaled over $250,000 in register rings. This resulted in an almost 4:1 immediate return on the manufacturer’s investment in this event. Over 55,000 customers received a sample or were sprayed which will result in more sales the following weeks. Typically a retailer can expect as much as a 10% lift in sales the weeks after such an event.

For more information on how to increase sales at your chain or for your product, contact Kristin Bocox at 972-228-0074 or kristin@cosmeticpromotions.com or go to their website: www.cosproagency.com

Cosmetic Promotions, Inc has expanded operations again and has added more warehouse space. The new space is in Orlando and has been renovated to meet the collating and fulfullment needs of the company which have grown due to their new program at Walgreens – the Walgreens Beauty Box.

The Beauty Box program is a collated kit sent monthly to all stores that contains the materials the Beauty Advisors need for that month. Kits include samples, coupons, testers and training from various vendors. Kits created by CPI for the vendors include the opportunity for Beauty Advisors to win prizes by taking one of the continuing education quizzes that are enclosed with the kits. The quizzes are on a prepaid business reply postcard that comes back to CPI where it is graded and winners are randomly chosen.

The program replaces the previous system of vendors having to send their information via the mailroom at a much higher cost and less efficiency for the chain. Vendors who want to participate can choose from the option of creating their own kits and sending them to CPI to be included in the box or allowing CPI to design and print their kits for them. Participation fees are just $3,000 per 8 oz (plus printing costs if CPI is printing their kits).

The new system also relieves Walgreen’s Manager of Cosmetic Marketing and Services, Carrie Pecher, of having to deal individually with each vendor which was very time consuming.

For more information on this program or on Cosmetic Promotions, contact Joann@cosmeticpromotions.com.