A mock campaign my partner and I did as an undergraduate project. Dupe is an app we "developed" which can compare high priced makeup and find your perfect dupe!
2. PRODUCT DESCRIPTION + HISTORY
DUPE, an app that will be downloadable on all smartphones and tablets, will do
what beauty bloggers and drugstore-brand divas alike have been doing for years:
finding low-cost duplicates of your favorite cosmetics. Whether you’re looking
for a $4 red lipstick the same shade as a $24 dollar one or you ran out of your
favorite foundation and need to find it cheap ASAP, DUPE allows you to input
what you’re looking for and then discover similar products at a variety of prices,
vendors, and brands. S
3. PRODUCT DESCRIPTION + HISTORY
• HOW IT WORKS: You can either upload a photo of your product or manually type in its brand,
name, color, etc., and the app will draw information from the websites of vendors near you
and list similar products from lowest price to highest.
• DUPE caters not only to what you want, but where you want it. Set your location to include
stores as near as 5 miles away, and DUPE will only draw information from stores in your
selected radius.
• Founded in 2015 by Samantha Steele and Christa Wisnyi of Glassboro, NJ, after spending too
much money on bright red lipstick.
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4. RESEARCH
Primary Research:
• Method: Conducted an online survey of 200 female and male civilians living in the South
Jersey/Philadelphia area (via SurveyMonkey.com)
Findings:
• 75 percent of women and 5 percent of men reported that makeup prices are too high
• 60 percent of women and 8 percent of men reported spending over $60.00 or more on
makeup when they go to high end stores
• When asked where respondents bought their makeup, 50% said drugstore, 30% said Sephora
and 20% said online (Amazon, other makeup sites)
Secondary Research
• Found several similar apps via web search, such as “Drugstore Dupes” and “SuperDuper”
• SuperDuper app was featured in an Allure Magazine web article
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5. SWOT ANALYSIS
Strengths:
• Useful for both women and men
• Instant gratification
• Diverse employee base
• Available to both Apple and Android customers
Opportunities:
• Influential audience
• Easy to market/advertise
• Plans to expand to clothing
Weaknesses:
• Small staff
• Original app fee ($.99)
• Time consuming (research)
Threats:
• Other companies with similar ideas
• Existing apps with similar services
• Price of competitors (or lack thereof)
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6. COMPETITION ANALYSIS
• Ipsy (service)
Sends a “glam bag” of makeup samples to your door monthly.
• Birchbox (service)
Sends samples of beauty products to your door monthly.
• Match my makeup (website)
Matches your skin tone to various makeup brands
• Findation (website)
Matches your skin tone to various foundation brands
• SuperDuper (app)
Provides a similar service as DUPE – but for nail polish only
• Drugstore Dupes (app)
Provides a similar service as DUPE – but no location services
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7. TARGET MARKET
• ALL makeup users and lovers teenaged and beyond:
– Women and men
– Aged 16+
– In the United States (potentially international in the future)
– With an interest in cosmetics
Ex: Christine Adams, 19, from West Chester, PA, who attends college at Rowan
University. She works part time at Wawa to pay for her college expenses, but
enjoys experimenting with makeup on the weekends when she goes out (the
experiencer, the striver). S
8. BRAND POSITIONING Statement
With the DUPE app, you can discover duplicates of your favorite cosmetics -
whether you’re looking for high-end or drugstore brand, a brand new product,
or a replacement for your favorite makeup. By drawing from online inventories
of stores close to you, DUPE saves you money by finding you the same look for
less and time that you can use to perfect your winged eyeliner.
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9. STRATEGIES
• Objective 1.0
Create brand awareness among 80% of South Jersey women ages 16-30 within one year
Strategy 1.1
Position the app as useful and easy to navigate. DUPE offers makeup duplicates, tutorials and swatches.
Tactic 1.1.1
Guerilla Marketing tactic (Mall Kiosk)
• Objective 2.0
Increase sales by 60%
Strategy 2.1
Position the app as a necessity for consumers. They NEED it on their phones, tablets, etc.
Tactic 2.1.1
Have DUPE as a sponsored account on Instagram
Tactic 2.1.2
Social media campaign (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, etc.)
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11. GUERILLA MARKETING
•Representatives in malls, cosmetic stores, etc.
•Representatives approach individuals and compliment their
makeup, etc. “Where’d you get it? What if I told you I could find
[the same similar item] right now in this store/mall?”
•Business cards – lip gloss, makeup compacts
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12. DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS +
VENUES
•iOS application store - $.99
For iPhones, iPads, Apple Watch
•Google Play application store - $.99
For Android operating systems
•Website
App login for access, same service as app + all tutorials
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13. MEDIA STRATEGIES + MEDIA PLAN
• Ad on Spotify
– Frequenting Top 40 artists, pop, alternative, dance, and indie stations
- One year. $120 flat rate
• Transit ads
– “This (train/cab/subway) is probably going somewhere that sells your lip color for less”
- One year. $600 for inside subway ad, $2,400 for taxi toplight, $3,600 for “king” bus ad
• Instagram Ads
– Will be a “suggested follow” account for users already following makeup/beauty/fashion accounts
such as Tarte Cosmetics, Ulta Beauty, ModCloth, etc.
- $80/month for single picture sponsor ad
• Twitter
– Much like Domino’s campaign where you tweet a pizza emoji to their Twitter account and pizza is
delivered to your doorstep, tweeting “Find my dupe in [x town]!” and a picture of a cosmetic will
result in Dupe’s Twitter tweeting the link to a similar product available in a store near you.
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14. BUDGET BREAKDOWN
• Budget: $1,000,000
• Transit Ads: 1 full year (total: $6,600)
- Subway ($600) Taxi ($2,400) Bus ($3,600)
• Sponsored Instagram ads: 1 full year (total: $960)
– Photo: $80 (Full month)
• Spotify: 1 full year ($120)
– top of forum (Displayed in all topic lists and within topics)
• Employee Salary: 1 full year x 10 employees = $312,000
($15 an hour, 40 hours a week)
Overall Spent = $319,680
With a leftover budget of $680,320 some possible future expenses include employee overtime, purchasing
cosmetics for makeup tutorials that could be included on the app that show the application quality of
products, future advertising, and possibly expanding to clothing searches if the app proves to be successful.
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