Winona's Essence Creates Another Hit

Winona's Essence Creates Another Hit

As consumers' cognition of cosmetics evolves and cosmetic regulations continue to advance, more beauty brands are shifting focus towards competing in efficacy ingredients and beauty technologies rather than relying solely on traffic for growth. In this context, it is increasingly important for cosmetics companies to concentrate on creating big-hit products that drive sustained traffic and profits for the brand.

As evidenced by the development of classic products in the global beauty market, innovative technologies and concepts are often the key factors to make a big-hit product. Moreover, cosmetics research and development is a cumulative process. A classic big-hit product typically requires a robust R&D foundation, precise market timing, and effective marketing strategies.

According to China's skincare market this year, Winona, a top brand specializing in sensitive skin care, has introduced the Soothing Moisturizing Extra Care Essence (hereinafter referred to as the "Extra Care Essence"). This new product is undoubtedly holds the most potential to become a timeless big-hit product.

Elevating Sensitive Skin Precision Repair with Professionalism

As a frontrunner among Chinese brands catering to sensitive skin, Winona consistently leads the cosmetics industry, dedicated to developing professional and effective products. This latest offering, the Extra Care Essence, is developed from the latest findings in dermatology.

According to the finding published in Oncotarget, a top international journal, Claudin-5 is crucial in skin structure, with the lack of Claudin-5 identified as the root cause for sensitive skin. In developing the Extra Care Essence, Winona starts from the above research finding to introduce an innovative concept of "point-line-plane 3D repair" for precision skincare.

In the "point" dimension, the Extra Care Essence incorporates Winona's specially developed high-purity prinsepia utilis royle pro. This active ingredient effectively targets Claudin-5, thus fortifying fragile barriers in sensitive skin from the root.

In the "line" dimension, the Extra Care Essence is formulated with salvia miltiorrhiza root extract and custard apple extract. These ingredients effectively target the "pain switch" transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1) and work synergistically on the "pain reducer" cannabinoid 2 (CB2) receptors to improve sensitive skin.

In the "plane" dimension, the Extra Care Essence features the EBI-Booster penetration core technology, enabling five layers of profound repair. This technology ensures precise penetration and offers a multi-dimensional solution to sensitive skin, promoting healthy and resilient skin from within to the surface.

As time progresses and science and technology advance, the concept of "skin repair" has evolved into a more holistic approach. In line with the prevailing trend of "precision medicine" in targeting sensitivity issues, a "point-line-plane" precise repair methodology rooted in biological science and signal pathways is set to shape a new trend in sensitive skin care. This holistic R&D logic is vividly demonstrated in the development of Winona's Extra Care Essence.

Winona not only leads in medicine and technology but also showcases unparalleled consumer insights in the development process of the Extra Care Essence.

For example, in response to market demand, the Extra Care Essence is developed for five common scenarios that cause skin issues among consumers: the skincare routine of vitamin C in the morning and vitamin A at night, special beauty needs, staying up late for extra work, the change of seasons, and prolonged exposure to the blazing sun. This exemplifies Winona's distinctive positioning in the essence market: catering to the growing and diverse essence category while also considering the differentiated demand for sensitive skin repair. This positioning establishes a a competitive yet cooperative dynamic with existing essence products for "Morning C Night A" routines in the market. By strategically marketing to the sensitive skin segment across all phases, Winona has enhanced public awareness of new products, culminating in significant product and brand breakthroughs.

Developing Innovative Product Marketing Strategies Through Scientific Communication Systems

In terms of marketing, Winona's process for developing new products is also exemplary.

In recent years, Winona has integrated its marketing strategies closely with its R&D efforts. In this way, Winona aims to build a brand story rooted in technology R&D foundations and scientific communication systems, thus shaping the core competitiveness of products. In marketing the Extra Care Essence, Winona used a comprehensive approach by incorporating theoretical mechanisms, practical efficacy, application scenarios to enhance brand communication. In addition, with a strong product foundation, Winona has successfully captured consumers' trust in the reparative efficacy of the product.

Specifically, since August, Winona has cooperated with over 100 KOLs, including Doudou Babe (豆豆_Babe), Tang Xindan (唐心蛋), Exquisite Uncle (精致大姨夫), and Xiaomaoshuo (小茂说) to engage in promotion on platforms like Xiaohongshu, Douyin, Weibo, and WeChat. After the pre-sale period began, Winona chose premium products for essential traffic support to ensure effective brand communication, reaching up to 200 million views. This effort further contributed to the launch of new products.

On August 29, Winona highlighted the product selling point of "prinsepia utilis royle pro for your 3D skin repair" and launched a television commercial (TVC) campaign for the Extra Care Essence. This campaign spanned over 100 cities, with offline exposure reaching to an impressive 36.3 billion, further enhancing the recognition of the new product. On September 6, Winona, together with several authoritative experts and dermatologists, released the 2022 China Guidelines for Precise Repair of Sensitive Skin, which provides consumers with new skincare ideas for precision repair while deeply interpreting the root cause and occurrence mechanism of sensitive skin.

On September 19, Winona unveiled the Extra Care Essence during a live broadcast hosted on People's Daily Douyin channel. In this live event, renowned host Jiang Changjian and Olympic champion Hui Ruoqi were invited to delve into the secrets of skin protection for the Chinese using botanical technology. In addition, Winona invited laboratory testers from the globally recognized authority SGS to perform on-site tests, showing the notable changes in skin data before and after using the essences. This proves the excellent efficacy of the product and makes the marketing more convincing.

On the same day, brand spokesperson Shu Qi made a guest appearance on Winona's official Douyin live streaming. In the interactive session, Shu Qi, known as the Goddess of Changing Beauty, not only engaged in the quick Q&A challenge but also shared her personal preferences. Together with the audience, she witnessed the professional and precise repairing function of Winona's Extra Care Essence, solidifying her endorsement of the brand. This rational product endorsement has undoubtedly driven up sales, further enhancing Winona's product presence and brand influence while also connecting a wider range of brand users.

As of the press release, statistics show that Winona's hashtag campaign #Who is the Repairing Boss?# launched before the pre-sale had received 110 million views and 20,000 discussions on Weibo.

As a whole, the marketing matrix significantly enhances Winona's product presence and reaches a wider audience. In the marketing of new products, Winona wisely avoids chasing short-term top-selling items, presenting a trustworthy and consistent brand image to the public. Winona consistently upholds the principle of being "customer demand-oriented", prioritizing dermatological expertise and botanical technology. This commitment ensures the preservation of Chinese people's skin health and enhances their quality of life.

Winona's Solid R&D Foundation: A Pillar of Big-Hit Products

Besides the Extra Care Essence, Winona boasts a wealth of successful experience in developing big-hit products.

For example, the Sensitiveness Relieving Moisturizing Tolerance-Extreme Cream, a flagship big-hit product specially developed by Winona for sensitive skin, is truly a star product in the industry. This assertion is supported by the cream's successful completion of clinical effect assessments by dermatology departments in several domestic hospitals and receiving professional certification from the Skin Research Center at the University of Franche-Comté in France. Moreover, the product has won many industry awards, including the Tmall Beauty Awards and the "Popularity Award for Best Cream (Moisturizing) of the Year" from BAZAAR Beauty Awards. Above all, the cream has made appearances twice at the quadrennial World Congress of Dermatology, representing Chinese sensitive skin products.

Today, the Extra Care Essence is combining forces with the cream to create "Winona Extra Care CP". Driven by the philosophy of "homologous ingredients for synergy, layered ingredients for efficacy, and integrated internal and external repair for effectiveness", the duo has achieved a 4.3-fold increase in reparative efficacy.

In reality, big-hit products often arise from top sellers, which are chosen through intense competition in the market rather than being crafted subjectively by companies. Therefore, the emergence of big-hit products is often accidental, yet contingent upon a necessary condition—strong R&D foundation.

After over a decade of progress, Winona has integrated medical expertise and botanical technology into its product R&D. This has led to the establishment of a robust scientific and technological system, enriched content construction, and a strong foundation for scientific communication.

In advancing the exploration of medical expertise, Winona has collaborated with dermatologists both locally and internationally to conduct extensive basic research and analysis into the causes and mechanisms of sensitive skin among the Chinese population. Nowadays, Winona has cultivated a core competitive edge through academic resources and clinical data. In order to study the efficacy and safety of products, Winona has cooperated with dermatologists from 63 renowned hospitals in China, as well as international dermatologists from the University of Franche-Comté in France, to observe and validate the effect of key products until their safety and efficacy are thoroughly confirmed.

So far, Winona has contributed to creating 15 dermatology-related medical guidelines and expert consensuses, along with 29 association standards. Moreover, the company has led the development of 11 enterprise standards and currently holds 98 patents along with 11 core technologies. In particular, the book Collection of Clinical Application of Winona Cosmeceuticals features 154 papers highlighting Winona's product research and clinical validation published in core journals worldwide.

In addition to considerable medical expertise, Winona is also unrivalled in botanical technology. In view of Yunnan's abundant plant resources, Winona's team of dermatology experts has chosen thousands of plants for active ingredient extraction and efficacy studies. Notable among these are Winona's premier patented ingredients, such as prinsepia utilis royle, purslane, camellia reticulata, and paris polyphylla. For instance, prinsepia utilis royle targets skin barrier repair, while purslane relieves skin irritation.

Today, after a decade of research on sensitive skin repair, Winona has gradually developed into plus product lines for sensitive skin, including areas like sun protection, whitening, anti-aging, and functional makeup base. In the future, as part of the PLUS strategy targeting sensitive skin, Winona aims to categorize sensitive skin types and conduct R&D on specialized products tailored to these categories. This will involve exploring target pathways related to the pathogenesis of sensitive skin. Simultaneously, Winona will strategically introduce products designed to address different sensitivity symptoms to meet the evolving demands of consumers with sensitive skin.

Generally, marketing events and new products reflect a brand's essence. Nowadays, with a portfolio of successful products, Winona's launch of the Extra Care Essence further elevates the brand's professionalism, solidifies its position as a leader in China's cosmeceutical industry, and propels its transformation into a globally recognized brand.