What Is Your Nail Color Today?

I bought a pink nail polish AGAIN this weekend when I was shopping in the Beverly Center. Actually, I have already got more than 15 colors in my house. But I just cannot stop buying more colors to add to my collection. A lot of my female friends are crazy about nail polish. As Pam Pastor said in Inquirer Life Style: “ I only wear lipstick when I go to weddings, but I feel naked when my nails are lacquer-free.” Recently, I found the grey color became popular when I read the fashion blog. It is only because Michelle Obama was wearing it when she gave the speech in DNC. The gray nail polish attracted women who even did not listen to her speech.

After searching on the Internet, I was shocked by how exploding the nail polish industry is nowadays. Market research firm Mintel revealed that lipstick sales have shrunk since 2007. DNP group, another research firm, showed that nail polish sales increased by 59% while lipstick sales only grew 8% in the first 10 months of 2011. The nail polish index would probably replace lipstick index in the near future. Many apparel brands, such as American Apparel, Topshop and Kate Spade, released their nail polish lines. What’s more, some celebrities, such as Justin Bieber, Nicki Minaj and Katy Perry, worked with nail color brands to introduce their own color.

With the fast growth of nail polish industry. Marketers have applied nail polish as a tactic to advertise their products. Many movies released their nail polish line as one of the most important merchandises to attract female audiences. For example, the Amazing Spider-Man collection was released in May 2012. The Hunger Games and The Muppets released their collection according to the characters in the movie. Surprisingly, even Pirates of the Caribbean: “On Stranger Tides” introduced the nail color corporate with OPI in spring 2011. The nail polish triggered discussions among fashioned females before and after movies are released. Expect for movies, TV shows such as Glee and Kardashian Kolor also expanded their business to nail color industry to gather more female audiences. In addition, Nokia successfully released a pink nail polish to match with the new phone, hot pink Lumia 900. And Nokia even conducted a campaign to hire the manicurists to provide service to female Nokia phone users.

Nail polish has become a popular marketing strategy to attract female consumers. The success of celebrities and movies related nail polish lines proved that it is actually a clever move to target women through a novel channel. First of all, the nail polish is visualized and easy to be associated with either products or brands. And it is affordable than other makeup and skin care products. A little bottle of nail polish could show the color and characteristics of a product or a brand. Secondly, the nail polish can attract female customers from young little girls to aged women. Females in all ages love their colorful nails to match their outfit, handbags and shoes and express their personalities. It is a portable marketing ad that can reach larger customer group than you can expect. The nail color is “sticky” to hands and females are willing to share beauty and fashion experiences together. As a result, the word-of-mouth marketing strategy will work to explore more product awareness. Third, with the booming of nail polish products, it is easy to trigger discussions in fashion and beauty industry via various traditional and social media platforms. So the products can grasp this chance to reach broader audiences or customers not only limited to females.