Coty goes big on empowerment for its consumers, employees
NEW YORK — Beauty giant Coty this week unveiled two efforts — one consumer-facing and the other internal — that are underscoring the company’s commitment to empowering self-expression in the face of prejudice and discrimination.
Coty’s Sally Hansen brand — following the recent revelations that the brand’s namesake was an entrepreneur who was progressive for her time — has introduced a new campaign called Shetopia that features self-made women like Sally Hansen who thrive in business.
“The making of and inspiration for this campaign started three years ago with the search for the brand’s namesake,” Coty VP global marketing for Sally Hansen Jeremy Lowenstein told Drug Store News. “The brand’s new platform of ‘Self-Made Beauty’ truly embodies the life and spirit of Sally Hansen, the founder. My hope is that this campaign empowers and inspires even more women to take beauty in their own hands, so that they, too, can create their best selves, them self, every single day.”
As part of the campaign, the brand created a short video that was created almost entirely by a female crew and features various female influencers — from soccer start Eniola Aluko and attorney/lifestyle blogger Cynthia Andrew to tech industry diversity advocate Angela Benton and fashion blogger Gina Ybarra. The video showcases a world where gender norms don’t exist, with sequences reversing typical instances of prejudice or stereotypes women face.
The Sally Hansen campaign coincides with Coty’s new long-term partnership with international advocacy group Global Citizen that will see employees using their collective voice to advocate for social change around such issues as discrimination based on gender, sexual orientation, disability or ethnicity by challenging norms, stereotypes and policies that perpetuate discrimination and prejudice.
“This is an important step in our journey to achieve our purpose to celebrate and liberate the diversity of your beauty and champion self-expression,” Coty CEO Camillo Pane said. “Internally the conversation and action are ongoing and accelerating with several of our brands, including COVERGIRL, Clairol, Wella Professionals and Gucci championing self- expression and challenging gender stereotypes.”
With the partnership, Coty will approach employee engagement with a two-pronged approach, focusing on both a digital-led online experience and a localized grassroots action to create change. The engagement platform will be the first of its kind, bringing data science to bear on real-world efforts that employees can take action on.
“At Coty, we believe beauty is about self-expression, individuality and inclusion, but too often people are held back by labels,” Pane said. “As a beauty company, we have an important role to play in changing attitudes and mindsets that keep people from achieving their full potential. We admire the disruptive and modern methods that Global Citizen has used to make real impact on some of the world’s biggest challenges. That’s why we’re partnering with them and mobilizing our people to take action.”