Beauty consumption and the cosmetic market have grown high in the past few years due to many reasons. The global beauty and personal care industry, estimated to be worth about US$ 4.2 trillion, merged with fitness and wellness, which is absolutely transforming the face of beauty. This is expected to continue growing strongly, and Iran is not an exception. Beauty brands and businesses in Iran will face enormous challenges, especially at the very first steps of penetrating the local market. This is not only just about e-commerce or customers’ behavior in the digital age; it is more than that.
Nevertheless, the digital world has taken the beauty industry in Iran to a higher and more attentive level. It is easier to communicate with prospects through various channels, types of content, and platforms, but the challenges of beauty product advertising campaigns in Iran can become a struggle. Now, if you want to level up your beauty business in Iran, try to learn all about these challenges, which Zigma8 is going to explain why and how completely. Our real experience with different breath brands will help you incorporate our tested strategies in your day-to-day marketing activities in Iran.
Difficulties of Marketing and Advertising Beauty Products in Iran
Beauty is all about creating power. It is totally related to various outcomes, including personal positivity, self-esteem, and acceptable social image. The beauty field needs physical and verbal attractiveness to act convincing and to run a successful marketing and advertising campaign in Iran. The use of attractive models, sensational words, etc., will result in positive effects and produce a feeling of accountability, dynamism, and trustworthiness for consumers. This is a must for this market as it will enhance and strengthen the appeal of any advertising and marketing efforts in Iran.
These are the simplest ways of putting a beauty product out there, using images and words. But even the simplest things in Iran are facing hardship. Let’s walk you through some of the most highlighted challenges of beauty product advertising campaigns in Iran. We encountered them in many of our projects. We were able to make our way around them and create a successful campaign for various beauty brands in Iran.
1. Visual Restriction for Advertising In Iran
Visual restriction has become a usual part of everyday life in advertising in Iran, but the sensitivity is much higher for the health and beauty category. No one can deny the fact that beauty advertising has been selling women “hope in a jar” for generations. The industry has been relying on models, bodies, skin, and body parts for a long time. However, the beauty trends are recently more about hyper-awareness, diverse models, bold statements of no air-brushing, and playful packaging. But advertising a beauty product in Iran is like playing with fire. No advertisement is allowed to use proactive female body and body parts like skin, lips, etc. natural body shapes cannot be shown or revealed to focus on a positive factor of a beauty brand.
For instance, Zigma8 did a creative job in one of its recent projects Moringa EMO which was about to enter Iran’s market in a very difficult political and financial stage.
Moringa EMO contains a line of beauty products used for skincare and natural treatment for skin based on the Moringa tree. Since we couldn’t use the female body or skin as the indicator of its freshness, shiny effect, and softness, we hold on to symbolism to help us through the process. We focused on showcasing these magical features by offering animated but close to real visuals in different video productions to create the feeling of being directly extracted from nature.
Showing the ingredients and the image of a tree was too far from the beautiful or the right type of beauty for beauty products. Visual elements such as perception, layout creation, and psychological choices, along with a great color palette and illustration. Photographs and fonts helped us transmit the brand’s message without the real natural body and skin. In our creative advertising plan in Iran, we put our efforts into the super elements of the brand to inspire a sense of harmony and help the audience to see the focus points. Therefore we hide the message in association and symbolism. You can learn more about this successful project here: Moringa EMO
2. Verbal Restriction for Advertising In Iran
Words are the most powerful triggers, and the cosmetic industry excels at using sensational words to reach, attract and convince customers, right? But not in Iran! Well, the basic function of cosmetic advertising language is offering information about products to persuade people to make choices and take some action, at last, especially to buy products.
One of the most difficult challenges of advertising beauty products in Iran is that certain words and phrases are banned from being used. Adjectives, phrases, metaphors, and noun phrases are an indispensable part of cosmetic advertisements, but the most related ones cannot be used in Iran. The list is ongoing, but words like lips, soft, delicious, tempting, playful, and many more are not allowed in advertising beauty products in Iran.
Many internationally celebrated brands use this technique to give the audience a taste of what their products are offering. For instance:
- A perfect storm (Max Lipstick Advertisement)
- Never go thirsty again (CLINIQUE Skin Cream)
To elaborate more on this matter, let us give you an example of what we did for our Moringa Emo verbal content. In cosmetic advertising, metaphor is mainly used to improve the convincing information. Metaphor is used to make a comparison to describe a word the same as other things. It uses a more implicated way, so people must use wisdom to find the beauty of that metaphor.
Therefore, the Zigma8 advertising agency in Iran beautified all the components of the product with the help of artistic design and combined it with relatable, inspiring, and allowed words to embody the real nature of the Moringa EMO products. Our final illustration consists of an exquisite and subtle touch of white Orchids to create delicacy and luxury, the Moringa Tree (seeds and leaves) accompanied by nature-based words like “in the heart of beauty” or “the great miracle of plants.” Using these visionary poetical words helped us evoke the feeling of beauty rising from nature which was in complete harmony with Moringa EMO’s message.
3. Political and Cultural Delicacy for Advertising in Iran
In addition to the challenges mentioned above, a political and cultural delicacy in Iran is another thing any beauty and health business must care about. Considering Iran’s religious preferences and political difficulties, a beauty product can only enter the market successfully if it pays attention to such details.
All of these do not have the purpose of implying that advertising beauty products in Iran are impossible. We are saying any business can enter the market struggle free by choosing the right approaches. Having a thorough understanding of the customers, society, buying habits, and other important preferences will help any brand become a market leader effortlessly. In fact, this is what happened for Moringa EMO. They trusted Zigma8, and we helped them increase their market share and find a way to the heart of consumers.
If you decide to release a new beauty or health product in Iran and are doubtful about the process, you could use a strong partner like Zigma8. We know the drill. We lived with this culture and these people. We introduced them to many brands and helped them find the best ones out there. So let us guide you. Leave us a message, and we will get back to you ASAP.
