Watsons is rolling out a brand elevation campaign, 'The New Beautiful', which is designed to empower women and help them boost their self-confidence.
The campaign has been developed on the back of two regional surveys showing changing perception to beauty. The surveys also highlight a need to support women in doing what makes them feel good, beautiful and confident, from the inside out.
Watsons has had a deep connection with women for over 180 years. We believe that the best version of you and your real beauty should radiate from within. Confidence is an important part of inner beauty and is what makes you feel good and positively impacts your mental well-being.
Malina Ngai, CEO of AS Watson (Asia & Europe)
'The New Beautiful' is a new vision of beauty that’s more than skin deep. It reflects the way people feel about themselves and the way they relate to others, with kindness that comes from the heart.
At Watsons, we believe beauty comes from within; it’s how we treat ourselves and each other. It’s how we live, who we are, and who we can be.
Looking good is an important part of feeling great, but the role of inner beauty is now coming to the fore. This is a shift that feels right after two years of living with a pandemic – a time that has changed the way we think about the things that really matter.
'The New Beautiful' campaign promotes the inner beauty in every woman, and encourages them to Look Good. Do Good. Feel Great.
This campaign is built on extensive surveys carried out by WISE, the Watsons Insights on Shoppers Experience team, who conducted two surveys of women in markets across Asia and beyond.
The first, the 'Women’s Confidence Survey in Asia', covered over 3,100 women in their 20s in six markets: Mainland China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.
It found that almost half of women say they lack confidence at work and in life more broadly. The same number say they’re unsatisfied with their career progression and the top support that they are looking for are mentoring support, seminars on stress management & career success, and networking events.
The second piece of research, 'What is Beautiful?', involved interviews with more than 11,000 women aged under 45 in 12 Asian and European markets. They were asked about how they now define beauty having lived through the pandemic, and about the things they consider most beautiful in life.
Over 75% of women said inner beauty was more important than outer beauty. The most beautiful things in life were found to be “Doing good for friends, family, the community and the planet”, followed by “feeling good and staying healthy”. A beautiful appearance was third in the list.
Together, the survey results help us redefine what “beautiful” means in people’s minds. Boosting a woman’s self-confidence is not just about her outer beauty; instead, it’s about helping women to glow from the inside out.
Through a series of activities across Asia under the themes Go Green, Go Smile and Go Empower, Watsons aims to actively involve our community of over 100 million loyalty members in Asia in the campaign and empower the female members to express their true self in a way that helps them Look Good. Do Good. Feel Great.
Programmes are rolling out across the region and are tailored to different markets. In Hong Kong, Watsons 'Gender Power' webinar was held to inspire women’s confidence in personal branding. In Indonesia, a 'Girls Support Girls' sharing session will be held across universities, while in the Philippines, Watsons has partnered with Operation Smile to launch a 'Women in Medicine' programme to empower women in the field of medical science. In Mainland China, Singapore, Thailand and Taiwan, events focusing on women’s health and empowerment are being held in Watsons stores and across social media platforms.
Watch the video of Watsons Hong Kong's Gender Power webinar to get inspired by two female leaders!
To us, the campaign is not just about our female customers but also our female colleagues. As Asia’s No.1 health and beauty retailer, we want to take the lead to encourage more companies to step up to empower women so they feel great and allow their inner beauty to shine.
Our research showed that women really need an equitable, supportive and family-friendly workplace, and we are leading by example. With operations in 11 markets in Asia, women make up 77% of our 63,000-strong workforce. Watsons is committed to fostering a workplace culture that makes everyone feel welcomed, valued, appreciated and encouraged to bring their whole selves to work, and each of them is given equal career development opportunity.
As a family-friendly company, we encourage more companies to join us in formulating policies to support and empower women, especially helping those working mothers to strike a balance between work and family.
At Watsons, we believe in The New Beautiful, a new kind of beauty that’s good for everyone. To us, beautiful glows from the inside. It’s how we treat ourselves and each other. It’s how we live, who we are, and who we can be. Beauty is in us all, and for us all.”
Malina Ngai, CEO of AS Watson (Asia & Europe)
