Put your money where your beauty is…

We all fall into the trap of buying certain brands because the advertising is so tempting; we want to believe we can look like that. In an age where this commercial branding is invaluable, Brand Finance has done a study already ranking the top cosmetic brands for 2012.

According to this study, Olay has been ranked the top beauty brand in the world for the second year running.  At the age of 60 this year, Olay puts its success down to modern innovation using the newest technology and ingredients. They have an intriguing brand story; having started as Oil of Olay in South Africa in the late 1940s, Olay was sold in heavy glass bottles with no description of the function of the product. It was advertised as containing the “beauty secret” within.

Their current slogan is “Challenge what’s possible”, which was changed from “Love the skin you’re in”. As the inventor of the “seven signs of aging”, Olay is one of Procter & Gamble‘s multi-billion dollar brands and worth £7.5 billion.

A few notable faces representing Olay are Twiggy, Kim Catrall from Sex and the City and Thadie Newton.

US brand, Avon, ranked number two is infamous for encouraging women, its Avon Ladies, to earn money by selling its products. They have an estimated value of £4.5 billion. The company operates in over 140 countries and has more than 6.5 million registered representatives worldwide making Avon the largest direct selling organisation in the world.

Famous Avon spokeswomen are Reece Witherspoon, Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas, and Ashley Greene from the Twilight saga.

The L’Oréal Group, ranked number three. In 1920, L’Oréal employed just three chemists. By 1950, the research teams were 100 strong; that number reached 1,000 by 1984 and is nearly 2,000 strong today. On 17^th March 2006, L’Oréal purchased cosmetics company The Body Shop.

L’Oréal’s famous advertising slogan was “Because I’m worth it” in the mid-2000s was replaced by “Because you’re worth it”, then “Because we’re worth it” in late 2009. Following the consumer psychology of Dr. Maxim Titorenko, the shift to “we” was made to create stronger consumer involvement. Some prominent L’Oréal beauties are Ashwairya Rai, Julia Roberts and Beyoncé.

Ranked number four, Neutrogena founded in 1930 by Emanuel Stolaroff was originally a cosmetics company called Natone, is now part of the United States-based Johnson & Johnson conglomerate since 1994. This brand boasts faces from Vanessa Hudgens to Diane Lane to Queen Latifah.

Nivea, standing at number five, in 2010 was named the World’s No. 1 Skin Care Brand in retail value terms by Euromonitor. Today, with 18,000 employees worldwide, Nivea Q10 anti-ageing product range counts to the brand’s bestselling products.

In February 2010, Nivea was awarded “Most Trusted Brand” by the Reader’s Digest magazine for the sixth time in a row.  Celebrities that promote this brand are Gisele Bundchen, Rihanna and Duffy.

Other brands in the top ten are; Lancôme, Dove, Estée Lauder, Biore and Shiseido.

Clicking here will give you the full list of the top 50 brands.

Do keep in mind that no matter what product you purchase and use, you are worth every penny.

Pooja Sahny