FM 2023 complete (1) - Flipbook - Page 8
Event Review: Superdrug
Presents Review and Pictures: Frank Wainwright
I really enjoy the opportunities that I get
to attend and review brand experience
events. With my nibbled nails, seemingly
everlasting tub of value skin moisturiser,
hasty occasional hairbrush and outdoor
living weather-worn wrinkles I’m not the
most obvious candidate for a health and
beauty show.
indeed hire-archy of influence. Be
Yourself, we were told. Don’t try an be
[name of stellar influencer who everyone
knew], just be yourself. The mid-tier
influencers on the stage were our link on
earth to the god tier influencers. They, in
turn, were on hand to help the family and
friends health and beauty influencers in
the room.
Nevertheless, I do advocate wellness and
wellbeing, I am super fit, and I do have an And, in spite of the fairly obvious content,
understanding of the link between looking I became, there and then a Pacifica brand
good and projecting and feeling confident. ambassador, because this brand
experience was immersive and engaging.
In short, I think I looked a fish out of
Why? Well, I was fully focused on the
water at Friday’s Superdrug Presents, but
brand for several minutes. I sampled the
I didn’t feel it, and I loved seeing the
brand in a room of enthusiasts, I was
event in action, matching the expectations
forced to think about how it felt on my
of its desired audience. The event was put
skin, I was told the not too shocking price,
together for Superdrug by agency N2O.
I liked the philosophy, and I really liked
Here’s how it went
the product.
I arrived at the Truman Brewery, Brick
Lane on a brisk, chilly but fortunately dry
Friday morning, fortunate because
enthusiastic ticket holders had turned up
at the opening time for the event and
processing us into puce event wristbands
had caused a snaky queue up the Lane
and around the next corner. The queue
moved well, but it lasted long enough for
a total drenching on a less appealing day.
Once admitted to the event those in the
know immediately sought out further
appointments – for nails, make-up and
hair. I took a quick tour around the
various brand exhibitors whilst getting to
grips with the system and found, once I
had worked out the method that I had
missed all bookable slots to get my nails
done. Never mind though, as I was alert
enough to book myself onto the Pacifca
Beauty masterclass, the first of three
masterclasses that would be hosted at
Superdrug Presents that day.
As masterclasses go this session was a
little fragmented. There wasn’t an awful
lot to it. Three engaging individuals
discussed the range, the products and the
Pacifica philosophy whilst the audience
sat with product and mirrors to play with.
There was an odd bit of chat in which the
influencers on the stage discussed their
Tiktok content and stated their
assumption that everyone attending was
also making Tiktoks. This assumption was
then generally accepted by the room, and
we were shown how to make a
transformation video . I made one on the
spot, magically auto-unboxing my bottle
of ‘Cruelty Free’ Pacifica Glow Baby with
canny use of the pause button on my
phone.
In the daily hubbub there simply isn’t
room and space for this. I might not be
buying a lot of Pacifica product for myself,
but I’d buy it for others and I’d
recommend it*.
This, in essence is how Superdrug
Presents works its magic. Almost every
stand is sampling product to people, but
it isn’t just giving it away. You have to sign
up, you have to sit and engage, you have to
play a game to win… these are often
simple mechanisms, but they engage for
long enough to make you properly
consider the brand. Superdrug Presents
had photo booths, wheels to spin to win,
Britney bottles to knock over with
beanbags, a fairground style hook and
grab game – a litany of simple
mechanisms to delay visitors for just long
enough to give the products
consideration.
And above all of these brand sits
Superdrug, the store, the host. Here is a
retailer behaving like a curator, a shop
that is proud of the brands it displays.
I left Superdrug Presents with a whole
new respect for the store and its effort to
connect with its shoppers through its
brands. This type of promotion for
multiple brands and the retailer was fully
energised by N2O. The staff at the event
were relentlessly upbeat and buzzy.
Everywhere I looked, in all corners of the
hall, there was excitement, enthusiasm
and joy.
On my way home from Shoreditch, having
left the event behind, I was given a free
full can sample of a CBD-infused drink in
a can at Liverpool Street station. It was
practically thrown at me. Unexpectedly I
liked it, but by then I had recycled the can
That assumption, about Tiktok, I found
and now I’m not sure of its name. The
very telling. I was aware, as I should be, of
lashes that I spun for and won at
the growth of the platform, but perhaps I
Superdrug Presents and fluttery and light
had missed out on a new hierarchy and
and are by Eyelure London.
6
Summer 2023