A beauty brand that empowers women

For most women, Avon is a brand that has been around for as long as they can remember — it’s a brand that they spotted on their mother’s dressers while growing up and, for some, it was the brand of their first fragrance. No one illustrates this better than Avon beauty ambassador and Philippine STAR columnist, Congresswoman Lucy Torres-Gomez:

“The first time I really felt grown-up was when I was about to use Sweet Honesty, which was (Avon’s) perfume and I think it’s a product that they still have up to this day. It’s still one of their best sellers. I grew up in the province where the culture is very homemade and hand-made and we didn’t have malls, we didn’t have shops. So every household knew of at least one Avon Lady — or a Tupperware Lady! — so we chose from catalogs. That was very much the culture back then and it’s nice to see that some things really haven’t changed.”

Of course, where Avon Ladies are concerned, that certainly hasn’t changed, but all these years since we first spotted Avon on our mother’s dresser, the brand sure has come a long way. For instance, those catalogs happen to rank as the world’s number- one publication and the Avon Ladies across 100 countries have in turn established Avon as the number-one direct-selling company. While it’s a little difficult to imagine that products selected from something as archaic as a catalog (although Avon sales reps have since gone online in 2005), Avon ranked #47 on Forbes magazine’s list of the World’s 100 Most Innovative Companies in 2011.

As if to prove how deserving they were of this honor, Avon opened its largest research and development center in Shanghai outside of the US in August of last year. It is the company’s largest R&D center outside of the United States and is an addition to their R&D centers in Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Poland and South Africa. Created in order to offer first-to-market breakthrough beauty technologies specialized for Asian women, the Avon Shanghai R&D center is also the company’s first green R&D center. Having passed the rigid standards of the US Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System, the R&D center features highly efficient water fixtures, and energy-efficient lighting and Energy Star-rated office equipment and appliances that run on green power purchased for two years to help fund the renewable energy supply in China.

It took Avon 10 years to figure out how to take 10 years off your face, thanks to their patented YouthGen technology.

Having been invited as part of a press tour around the six immaculate floors of the 40,000 square-meter structure in Jinqiao Hi-Tech Park, I was able to witness first-hand just how rigorously Avon develops and tests its products. The facility houses scientists in the areas of product development, safety and quality testing, microbiology, chemical engineering and consumer research. Here, we found scientists testing the SPF protection of Avon products against their competition under controlled UV lights (of course, Avon performed better), testing hair color and care products on wigs made of real human hair, and even a male scientist mixing lipsticks in the color development floor. When I asked if he actually tries on the lipsticks that he formulates, he answered in jest, “It’s part of the job!” Dr. Xiaochun Luo, Avon’s global research and development group vice president and chief scientific officer, proudly describes the stages that each product must go through before being launched into the market: 

“I always tell people that there are four things that are really important to develop a product: The first is functionality: if we say the product will deliver wrinkle-removing benefits, it better do it. If the product says it’s going to provide sun protection, it better do it. So that’s our job — to assure that whatever we promise consumers, we deliver. Number two is product safety — that is to assure that whatever we do will not hurt our consumers. Like in our microbiology laboratories, we are sure than no bug will grow in the product, therefore, nobody gets sick. We are sure that we conduct all that skin compatibility testing, therefore, we are sure that when you put a cream on your skin, you will not get irritation and redness. We actually invite dermatologists quite often to come over to help us evaluate the safety of a product. I always tell my people that safety is number one.

“Number three is product quality, so whatever we produce in manufacturing, when the consumer gets it and uses it for a long time, the product will still have the right quality,” he continues. “That’s why you saw all those temperature chambers with temperatures as high as 48 degrees Celsius and as low as minus 30 degrees Celsius. We simulate all kinds of temperatures all around the world, so regardless of what happens, the product is still stable. The final step is to commercialize the product.”

Avon Anew Genics was officially launched during our last night in Shanghai: (From left) Dr. Zhi Lu, Avon Anew ambassadors Lucy Torres-Gomez, Dr. Xiaochun Luo, Miss World-Malaysia 2008 Soo Wincci, and APAC communications head Louie Migne.

Twenty years ago, Avon launched Anew, the company’s flagship brand. Famous for being the first skincare brand to mass market and pioneer the use of Alpha Hydroxy Acids (AHA) as an anti-aging technology — the beginning of the anti-aging era, as they say — Anew is a US$1 billion brand today. Put it this way: if Avon can sell four lipsticks every second, they sell 11,000-plus units of Anew every hour. “Every time I talk about Anew, I’m always filled with pride because Anew is one of the most recognized anti-aging brands in the beauty industry. As a matter of fact, since it was introduced 20 years ago, Anew has been the number-one anti-aging brand for many, many years,” Dr. Luo says. On the brand’s 20th anniversary, they decided to launch the latest anti-aging innovation that has been 10 years in the making for Avon: Anew Genics.

Ten years ago, Avon scientists came upon a research study from Italy revealing that some people can live longer and healthier because of an active youth gene. Inspired by this, Avon scientists began working on a formula that increases this gene’s activity inside the body: the result is the company’s patented YouthGen technology. The youth gene aids in repairing and protecting the DNA to ensure that skin cells are functioning at their best, while boosting proteins to help skin look up to 10 years younger and more revitalized. Yes, it took Avon 10 years to figure out how to take 10 years off your face, but to their credit, they were 10 years ahead of their time — and this definitely isn’t the jar of Anew that your mother had on her bathroom counter. In vitro tests show that Anew Genics can soften expression lines instantly, reduce the appearance of wrinkles overnight, and make skin look visibly younger and greatly revitalized in just eight weeks.

And let’s not forget what Avon stands for: it’s the company for women. In Avon’s R&D center in Shanghai we read the company’s vision and mission statement: “This is the company that puts mascara on lashes and food on tables, that fights wrinkles with one hand and breast cancer with the other; that knows the value of a perfect lip, but still opens its mouth and speaks out against domestic violence and for women’s financial independence. This is the company that not only brings beauty to doors, but also opens them. The company that supports 6.5 million representatives in over 100 countries. This is Avon. The company that, for 125 years, has stood for beauty, innovation, optimism, and above all, for women.”

Located in Jinqiao Hi-Tech Park, the beautifully designed Shanghai regional R&D center features state-of-the art meeting rooms and laboratory spaces.

A brand that has simultaneously empowered and beautified women for the last 125 years? In that sense, I suppose, Avon really hasn’t changed all these years and I can’t wait to know what Avon and Anew develop another 10 years from now for the daughters of this generation.

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The Anew Genics Treatment Concentrate is available through Avon Representatives nationwide for P1,799. Text AVON to 2929 or log on to avon.com.ph to find out how you can contact an Avon Representative. You may also connect with Avon through Facebook.com/AvonPhilippines and on Twitter @AvonPH.