Could Someone Please Pass the Excedrin?

Just call me Sybil the freakin' Soothsayer.

Today's Ad Age reports Revlon will have lost $95 million in the second quarter of this year, most attributable to lackluster response to its Vital Radiance line of products for women age 50+. 

Jack Stahl, President-CEO of Revlon, blames low sales figures in larger chains like Target and Wal-Mart.  Citing heightened competition from L'Oreal and P&G (who are spending big bucks to promote their own lines), Stahl said,

"Our efforts to create awareness for the new brand were not having the total impact that we had thought they would."

Revlon's answer to the problem?  Pull Vital Radiance completely out of larger stores and eliminate some of the line's products altogether.

Oh yeah.  That's gonna do it.  Keep addressing women as though they were all the same, continue talking all about product when it's really about the customer and downsize your distribution.

Please, please, please... make this throbbing in my head go away.

Tags: Revlon, Vital Radiance

Comments

[Mary Schmidt]

I'll pass you the Excedrin, if you'll pass me the martini shaker.

Yes, indeedy - pull it off the shelves. That'll do it. And, you wanna bet that some of those lines have devoted users? (That's usually my luck - when I love something, that's a sure sign it'll be discontinued.)

[Kathy]

You know - I can't even remember any Revlon ads of late - I don't even remember the Vital Radiance intro....hmmmm and I'm a woman near 50.

[Jeffrey Eisenberg]

They are simply cluesless about the long tail. That's the title of a book that is competing with "Waiting For Your Cat to Bark?"; and a real phenomenom that modern marketers have to deal with. They need a copy of each book. I do wonder; have they considered a new idea in 30 years?

[Kare Anderson]

How ironic you are writing about this, Michele because I just spoke at an annual conference of women CPAs (thus not marketing types) ... during the luncheon conversation did get down to our "must-have" favorite products in our lives and two women were raving about L'Oreal... tried it because of the ads... then another ripped into Revlon. Me, the former tomboy with minimal make-up witnessed a ten minutes conversation on just that topic.. you are spot on.

[ann t]

I found your site searching for info on Vital Radiance. I also found an article about Perelmen and his treatment of Barkin, but that's another story. These men make so much money, and they're such idiots. When Vital Radiance came out, I was astounded at the prices. Here's what's wrong, and I am sorry if I am repeating something else on the site. If women want to spend that kind of money, they'll buy department store stuff, and get good quality, and a GWP. I kept waiting for real sales somewhere, real coupons....they never came until one day I got some items at Target - they were being d/c'd and I got $ 5 gift cards for buying 2 items each! I knew something was wrong then! Another problem - no testers. It's just a ridiculous thing - and I hate drugstore makeup for this reason. Just when you get to like something,they discontinue it. BOOH!

[Paula]

I work at W-Mart part-time and have spent some time in our makeup section. The first thing I noticed about this line was that it was extremely over-priced for a line that W-Mart was going to carry. During the time that Vital Radiance was brought in, some of the cheaper lines were phased out of our store (Love My Lips, Face, etc. Line was one of them). Most of the shoppers who buy their makeup at W-Mart aren't going to be lured by a new line that has dept. store prices. Also, I'm not a particular fan of Revlon anyway...for the very reason some of the rest of you have posted for..they discontinue products long before they're given a chance to catch on with the public. Now with Vital Radiance, I'm not sure that it ever would because it was just too overpriced to be in a discount retailer. But they have discontinued MANY, MANY fragrances and other products over the years and I've written letters & made phone calls to the company with little encouraging response. Revlon is oftentimes the reason other beauty lines are being pushed out. So, for once, I'd say that it was some much deserved cutting down for Revlon because they thought they could oust some other lines by bringing in an upscale, overpriced line. It didn't work and while the products might have been really good, I wasn't going to spend $17 on a blush to find out.

[Terri]

So,does anyone have any ideas about how one could find L'Oreal's discontinued Love My Lips products??