Yep, like we informed you on Twitter, Max Factor officially arrived in Indonesia, as its 76th market worldwide, last Friday.
The name Max Factor is almost as famous as the word makeup itself. In fact, according to the brand fact sheet, it was Max Factor who coined the term “make up” in 1920. The brand was founded in 1909 by Max Factor who then created some of the most iconic products in the beauty industry. From lipgloss to pan cake foundation to matte lipstick, I think it’s safe to say that Max Factor is indeed a pioneer and a very important figure and brand in makeup history.
In 2006, the legendary Pat McGrath, the Global Creative Design Director of P & G, joined as an artistic supporter behind Max Factor, helping to create new products inspired by the runway. While in Indonesia, Max Factor chose celebrity makeup artist, Gusnaldi to be their brand ambassador.
I had a chat with Fabio Stefani, Director for Max Factor Asia, during the press launch, where he talked about Max Factor in Indonesia, their partnership with Gusnaldi and of course, product recommendations!
Hi Fabio! Congratulations on the launch of Max Factor. We’ve been waiting for quite some time for it to happen!
Thank you, that’s really nice to hear.
So there are quite a few of makeup artist brands in Indonesia already, how are you planning to position Max Factor differently from those brands?
Well you’ll get an international brand with an international know-how but we’re partnering with some of the best local talents. So what we have is a brand that has heritage, innovation, research and development and we’re complimenting the local talents with that background. When we work with Gusnaldi is really about local relevance but with an international credential, so that’s what makes us different. A lot of other brands focus on celebrities, but Max Factor is more than ever about servitude and relevance. The Max Factor make up artists serve as a window of information to customers about the latest and coolest trends from backstage.
Could you explain a little bit more about your collaboration with Gusnaldi?
Sure. There are a very defined set of expectations we have for our employee, so Gusnaldi will be training the beauty consultants, doing outposts and roadshows, coming to events like today, helping to create local trends, doing advertorials. We know that we need to work with Gusnaldi and most importantly, Gusnaldi is inspired and motivated to work with us. That’s the first thing that I look for when we work with makeup artists, how genuinely excited they are with the brand and if they are, then you’d have a truly great partnership. And ever since I met him for the first time, I felt that.
Sounds like a great collaboration! So when you said “creating local trends” what do you mean by that?
What I refer to is you take the existing assortment but you localize the end benefit to be visualising what the local customer wants. However, we do have R&D team based in Beijing which channels only Asia. They already came to Indonesia to look at the skin tone and there are plans to introduce Asia-specific products. So I would say yes to answer your question.
You came to Indonesia and introduce your False Lash mascara as the first product. Any reason why?
Of course. Generally, you’ll have to go with your strength. If somebody is to put up a gun to my head and ask me what our best product is, I would say mascara. The technology that we have is such that I would have the confidence to tell you that we have mascaras that are the best you’d ever use.
Last question, and I just have to ask you this, what are Max Factor products that you think any woman should have in their makeup bag?
I would say False Lash Effect mascara for a big round lashes, Miracle Touch foundation because it’s been pleasing so many women around the world and lastly I would say, Lipfinity Color and Gloss. We have a heritage with long wear lip color this is an interesting long wear product that also gives you the appearance of gloss. And stick around because in the next 12 months, we’re going to launch some more exciting products in Indonesia.
Excellent! I’m lucky enough to get my hands on ALL of the products that Fabio recommended and of course as usual…review is coming up!
So what do you think of Max Factor, ladies? What product would you want to see in the shelves as you go to their counter?
Max Factor products will be available in April 2011 in major department stores.
