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Platform thinking. Design. Content. Data and Analytics. UX. UI
Lakmé entered the digital era with formidable offline brand equity, decades of association with Indian beauty, a flagship fashion week, and a roster of iconic brand ambassadors. But brand equity built in a TV and print world does not automatically translate into digital engagement, and Lakmé was facing increasing competitive pressure from both directions: global giants like L'Oréal, Maybelline, and MAC were investing heavily in Indian digital markets, while D2C challengers like Nykaa and Sugar Cosmetics were building digital-native communities that legacy brands found difficult to replicate. Younger, digitally-native consumers were discovering beauty through Instagram Reels, YouTube tutorials, and influencer recommendations, channels where Lakmé's presence was inconsistent.
The strategic challenge was not simply to be present on digital platforms, but to be the destination the brand that Indian beauty consumers turned to first when they wanted inspiration, education, or a product recommendation. This required a fundamental shift from campaign-led thinking to community-led thinking: from telling consumers what Lakmé was to creating the conditions in which consumers would discover and share what Lakmé meant to them.
Langoor built a consistent, platform-specific brand presence across Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. Each platform was treated according to its own content logic, Instagram as the visual and aspirational hub for product and runway content, YouTube for long-form tutorials and Fashion Week immersion, Facebook for community and broader reach, and Twitter for real-time brand conversation. The strategy shifted Lakmé from sporadic posting to a structured content operation that maintained brand standards while adapting tone and format to the expectations of each platform's audience.
Langoor developed a content production model capable of sustaining the volume and quality that modern social media audiences demand. Content was organised around five pillars: beauty tutorials and product demonstrations; Lakmé Fashion Week coverage including backstage and real-time runway content; digital-first product launch campaigns; user-generated content programmes inviting consumers to share their Lakmé looks; and seasonal trend content covering beauty forecasts, colour stories, and style inspiration. Each pillar was designed to be both brand-consistent and algorithmically performant.
Langoor built an influencer network spanning beauty content creators, professional makeup artists, and fashion creators selected for authentic alignment with the Lakmé brand rather than follower count alone. Collaborations were structured to produce both reach and credibility: influencers were integrated into product launches, Fashion Week content, and tutorial series, creating peer-to-peer recommendations that carried the social proof that traditional advertising cannot replicate. The programme created a distributed content production capability that amplified Lakmé's owned content across new audiences.
Lakmé Fashion Week was reimagined as a year-round content property rather than a once-annual event. Langoor built a real-time content operation around each Fashion Week edition, capturing backstage moments, runway highlights, celebrity appearances, and designer interviews, and used that material to fuel weeks of social media content after each event. This model maximised the content value of Lakmé's flagship property and created a continuous connection between the brand's fashion heritage and its everyday beauty product range.
Performance-driven media buying amplified high-performing content and drove reach to new audience segments, particularly younger consumers discovering beauty for the first time. Alongside paid amplification, Langoor built a community engagement model that responded to consumer comments, surfaced user-generated content, and created the conditions for the kind of word-of-mouth that beauty brands depend on. UGC campaigns were designed to make participation easy and shareable, turning Lakmé's customer base into an active content community.
Langoor's digital brand programme for Lakmé strengthened the brand's social media presence, grew its engaged community, and established it as India's leading digital beauty destination.
India's #1
Beauty brand digital presence built across all major social platforms
Multi-plm atform
Integrated social strategy across Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter
Fashion Week
Transformed from annual event to year-round content engine
Social media strategy and management · Creative content development · Content pillar design · Influencer programme design and management · Campaign design · Media buying and optimisation · Community management · User-generated content campaigns · Fashion Week content operation · Product launch digital campaigns · Brand storytelling
Instagram · Facebook · YouTube · Twitter · Influencer marketing platforms · Social media management tools · Meta Ads Manager · Google Ads · Social analytics and reporting · Content scheduling platforms · UGC management tools
Lakmé is India's most iconic beauty and cosmetics brand, owned by Hindustan Unilever since 1995. Founded in 1952 as India's first domestic cosmetics brand, Lakmé has grown into a full-spectrum beauty portfolio spanning colour cosmetics, skincare, and salon services. The brand's flagship property, Lakmé Fashion Week, is India's premier fashion event and a defining moment in the Indian beauty and fashion calendar. Lakmé's brand ambassadors have included some of India's most celebrated Bollywood stars, making it a cultural touchstone as well as a commercial leader.
This case study is part of Langoor's digital brand and FMCG practice. See also:
