The Aspen Group (TAG) recognized the opportunity in the emerging market for medical aesthetic services, with 1 in 4 women considering a treatment. TAG acquired the medical aesthetic clinic Rejuv, based in Fargo, ND, a highly successful brand known throughout the Upper Midwest for its industry-leading aesthetic services, including laser treatment, injectables, and medical-grade skincare products—plus its highly skilled aesthetic advisors. Our goal was to create a holistic brand around the name Chapter, building on the success of Rejuv while evolving with the changing attitudes and expectations of the category. We measured success against three important metrics: brand engagement, consumer (patient) appointments, and product/service sales.
Leveraging the Power of Social to Create a Modern Aesthetics Brand
Today’s beauty brands are created and discovered on social platforms. Inherently visual and community-enabling, social delivers both inspiration and education to consumers seeking to express their best version of themselves. Leveraging the power of these platforms, we set out to orchestrate an engaging and persuasive Chapter brand narrative that introduced consumers to a new modern beauty-aesthetics brand and drove action towards our three key metrics.
Destigmatizing the Beauty Aesthetic Category
Though a compelling business opportunity, research showed that consumer barriers into the category are significant. And our social-listening tools uncovered barriers and misconceptions such as fear of a bad job, cost, and an overall feeling that “beauty aesthetics is just not for me.”
92% of consumers considering treatments have concerns, primarily around price and fear of long-term results.
Our social audit of aesthetic-service providers revealed that many were reinforcing the same barriers and stereotypes. At one end of the competitive landscape, there are plastic surgeons and high-end spas offering services to the elite, and at the other end are value med-spas, hooking consumers with low-priced treatment but lacking expertise.
Identifying an Opportunity Target, the Aesthetic Aspirationals
As a design target, the Aesthetic Aspirationals are more open and ready to embrace a new perspective on aesthetic services. They view beauty as multidimensional, seeing its many manifestations as an expression of individuality. They are proactive when it comes to prevention, embracing rituals and regimens that optimize their appearance and contribute to their well-being, as looking and feeling attractive and stylish are personal values. From our research, we know that social is a powerful influence on these values, providing inspiration, education, and community.
INSIGHT: “I want to look how I feel on the inside.”
STRATEGY: Making Beauty Aesthetics an Accessible and Celebrated Part of the Self-Care Routine.
IDEA: Chapter Empowers You to “Own Your Story.”
Inspired by the inherent meaning of Chapter’s name, the campaign idea, OWN YOUR STORY, is an invitation for Aesthetic Aspirationals to write their own beauty narrative—on their own terms. The social-driven brand idea celebrates individuality, confidence, and freedom to enjoy all the possibilities of being the best version of themselves.
Creating an Expression Built for Social
Visually, the rebrand campaign is a work of art, inspired by classic book design with loose, hand-drawn textures and painterly shapes, saturated colors, and authentic, realistic photos of people who serve to encourage consumers to see the beautiful possibilities for themselves. Messaging balances the poetic—aesthetic advisors are visionaries, artisans, and confidantes—with the practical, emphasizing that even though “flaws are fiction,” results are very real as proven by Chapter’s evidence-based process.
Bringing to Life Across Social Platforms
Instagram served as the content and conversation hub, whereas Facebook housed longer-form brand communication and information. Linkedin and Twitter provided a platform for thought leadership, recruitment, and real-time updates. Regardless of platform, our content was rooted in one of four pillars:
Empowered beauty encouraged consumers to think of self-care as a joyful, sought-out ritual
Empathetic expertise illustrated our consultative and educational approach to aesthetics
Insiders’ guide brought consumers into our studio space to experience our humanity and spirit
Thought leadership permitted us to feature and discuss new procedures and techniques
Social platforms allowed us to spotlight our aesthetic advisors as faces of the brand. They created a lively community, responding to followers’ questions, spotlighting products and services, and demystifying the aesthetics-services journey.
Data sources: Chapter original qualitative research and MRI-Simmons
By laser-focusing every aspect of the brand (from idea to expression to activation) on breaking down consumer barriers, we propelled a brand with purpose and meaning while simultaneously driving traffic and inspiring conversion from day one.
Increasing new guests
New in-office guests up 17% vs. prior year
1,410 net audience growth across social platforms (of FB, IG, TW, LI), up 170% YoY
Increasing relevance and engagement across social platforms
55k engagements, up 532% YoY across all platforms (FB, IG, TW, LI)
15.4k engagements—up 76% YoY on core platform IG
708 net new Instagram followers—up 35% YoY on core platform IG
