How AMOREPACIFIC Became a Globally Successful Cosmetic Company through Unconventional but Sensational Marketing?

AMOREPACIFIC has rapidly grown to become a successful global brand by persistently seeking and achieving success in foreign markets. In 2011, AMOREPACIFIC was ranked as one of the global top 20 cosmetics companies. What makes AMOREPACIFIC's global success noteworthy is that AMOREPACIFIC challenged the France and the US market, where competition level is the toughest. Lolita Lempicka, AMOREPACIFIC's perfume brand, was chosen as one of the top seven most popular brands in the women's perfume market in France. In addition, Amorepacific, AMOREPACIFIC's namesake skincare brand, is currently recognized as a top prestige brand in the USA. Their success played a significant role as a bridgehead for AMOREPACIFIC in becoming a global cosmetics company. The main object of this case study is to analyze how AMOREPACIFIC became a global cosmetic company through building key brands such as Lolita Lempicka and Amorepafic, among others. Therefore, this study reviewed AMOREPACIFIC's unconventional approach in launching Lolita Lempicka in France, and Amorepacific in the US by focusing on how they foresaw the future opportunities and employed innovative marketing strategies. Specifically, we focused on Amorepacific's marketing strategy under the critical period when AMOREPACIFIC achieved great success in France with Lolita Lempicka (between 1997 and 2004) and in US with the brand, Amorepacific (2003-2008). The case of AMOREPACIFIC's success in the global markets can give valuable lessons to companies that want to extend their businesses to foreign countries and ultimately become global. One such lesson is the importance of building a successful pioneer brand in a powerful bridgehead market. While domestic competitors first entered into less competitive markets such as those in South-East Asia, AMOREPACIFIC challenged the toughest markets such as the French and US markets where the incumbent companies waged the most intensive and severe battles against Lolita Lempick and Amorepacific. Through the success in France and US market, however, AMOREPACIFIC built a powerful base for its successful global expansion. Another valuable lesson is the importance of foresight in uncovering great opportunities hidden behind the trends without losing focus on the brand's core character and values. Lolita Lempicka and Amorepacific showed excellence in foresight competition, which led them to succeed against the intense competition from Goliath companies. If Lolita Lempicka and Amorepacific had just followed the popular market trend at the time, they would have never succeeded.