Case Study: How L'Oréal Paris Partnered with Kickstarter to Launch a New Product

In the world of beauty, innovation and creativity is key to staying ahead, and the same applies in the technology space. This is why L’Oréal Paris, a brand renowned for its commitment to innovation, embarked on the journey with Colorsonic, an at-home hair coloring device designed to provide a convenient, mess-free, and empowering experience. 

After ten years of development, the game-changing product made its debut at CES 2022 and caught notable attention, rightfully so. But it wasn’t until 2024 that L’Oréal officially brought it to market and chose to do so on Kickstarter, the premiere platform known for connecting brands and creators with early adopters and fostering community-driven development in the process.

In this case study, you will learn why brands like L’Oréal use Kickstarter to bring revolutionary creative ideas to market and hear from L’Oreal on why they decided to include crowdfunding in their overall go-to-market strategy.

The Genesis of the Colorsonic: At-Home Hair Coloring Device

Colorsonic's journey began with a game-changing idea: to give customers a super easy way to color their hair at home. This cool idea was influenced by L’Oréal’s dedication to pushing the limits of beauty through their "Beauty Shaker Awards" program. The end result? A product that combines years of research, development, and testing to make sure both the device and the color cartridge are perfect for an awesome at-home hair coloring experience.

Today, Colorsonic boasts over 29 patents by blending state-of-the-art consumer electronics with advanced hair color technology and formulas. The Colorsonic has unveiled L'Oréal Paris's first multi-use hair color cartridge product with each cartridge allowing for up to 3 applications (3 root touch-ups or 1 full head application), enabling you to store any remaining product for later use. The at-home device also presents a selection of more than 20 expertly designed shades, offering a contemporary and diverse range of colors free of ammonia, silicones, parabens, SLS, SLES, or phthalates.

Why Kickstarter?

L’Oréal decided to launch the Colorsonic on Kickstarter because of the platform's success in connecting brands with enthusiastic early adopters. By utilizing crowdfunding, L’Oréal aimed to gather valuable feedback from an engaged audience.

The company took inspiration from the successful Kickstarter campaigns of other brands and saw the opportunity to build a dedicated community around the Colorsonic. This approach aligned with L’Oréal’s goal of placing the innovative beauty product in the hands of tech-savvy individuals who could contribute to shaping the future of the beauty industry. L’Oréal's leadership team also immediately recognized the strategic value of engaging a community passionate about innovation and technology. 

“While Colorsonic has undergone rigorous testing during its 10 years of development, Kickstarter provides a unique opportunity to connect directly with a highly engaged audience of early adopters. Their feedback will be invaluable as we continue to refine the Colorsonic experience before a wider launch. This feedback is something we’ve already seen in our 1:1 demo sessions with backers and direct backer questions on our page. Many of these insights will drive prioritization in our innovation roadmap. We’re looking forward to continuing to engage with our backer community in the months to come, almost like a focus group of invested consumers who could be the first to feedback on new ideas and initiatives for our brand.“

Crafting the Campaign 

When developing the reward structure for backers, it was essential to understand the community's preferences. L'Oréal provided added value by offering free cartridges, bonus hair care samples, and 1:1 demo sessions at different reward levels. By observing backer behavior, they discovered a strong preference for additional cartridges, indicating the community's interest in trying different shades and having multiple cartridges available.

“As you can imagine, consumer standards can evolve over the course of 10 years, particularly around sustainability. Once we got the cartridge experience right, we had to rework the materials to ensure we had the most environmentally friendly conception possible. For the modern landscape, sustainability is a core principle for Colorsonic, which you can also see come to life in the many reusable elements of the project.  

Unique Learnings from the Kickstarter Community

Colorsonic was originally designed with a target audience of women aged 35 and older who have an interest in technology. However, the campaign revealed that there was also substantial interest from men. This feedback was highly encouraging for L’Oréal, leading them to adopt a more inclusive approach. As a result, they have worked towards transforming Colorsonic into a product that caters to everyone, breaking free from traditional boundaries and addressing diverse needs.

The L’Oréal team also discovered the power of community engagement and the benefit of using their existing consumer base. The success of the campaign showed how important it is to have support and feedback early on, which will influence their future innovations and product development.

As L’Oréal finishes fulfilling their campaign orders, they are excited about the impact of product reviews and ongoing community engagement. This sets the stage for the wider launch of Colorsonic and its future success.

The Future of Crowdfunding at L’Oréal

Based on the positive reception of the Colorsonic and the success of the campaign overall, L’Oréal has acknowledged the potential to delve deeper into novel concepts by leveraging crowdfunding campaigns. The lessons drawn from Kickstarter emphasized the pivotal role of community building, both within and beyond the confines of the crowdfunding platform. 

So what’s next? L'Oréal Paris is on a mission to empower women. 

“We are here to drive awareness to other women-led projects that you can fund and are contributing to the Kickstarter forward fund to support the next generation of women in tech.”

The Women in Tech & Beauty Fund is a $10,000 initiative funded by L’Oréal Paris designed to support women on Kickstarter who are innovating in the fields of Technology and Beauty. The fund aims to empower these entrepreneurs by providing financial assistance to help bring their creative projects to life. The fund will provide live Kickstarter campaigns with pledges ranging from $500 to $1,500, targeting support for 10 to 15 projects throughout the duration of the fund.