• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, June 28, 2022

RoC Skincare, a leader in antiaging products, says women are even more anxious about looking older than most of us realize. So the brand is launching the RoC Look Forward Project, working with actress Sarah Jessica Parker to educate women about the scientific research connected to optimism.

The effort came about as the brand, acquired by Gryphon Investors from Johnson & Johnson in 2018, continues to clarify its purpose.

Besides selling retinol-rich skincare products, “we said, 'What else are we doing?’” says Vikki Williams Cornwall, vice president of global marketing and product development. (She’s also employee No. 7 on the new team.)

“Pretty quickly, we realized we want to help women look forward to more life and be happy about what’s to come.”

That refined purpose led to research that turns up startling imbalances in attitudes about aging, including the insight that more women worry about how aging makes them look (60%) than having enough money in retirement (43%.)

And 90% say they are anxious about getting older.

The research, led by Daisy Robinton, Ph.D., human biology and translational medicine, Harvard University, “really jolted us,” Cornwall says. “And it wasn’t just women in their 40s. Even women in their 20s and 30s have these fears. We thought, 'What can we do to help combat this tremendous anxiety?’”

She tells Marketing Daily that RoC, founded in 1957, already has a reputation for science and efficacy among its users.

So the new effort is expert-heavy and includes an online resource hub. And Parker will help facilitate online conversations based on insights from Robinton, who specializes in longevity, Deepika Chopra, Ph.D., who calls herself “the Optimism Doctor,” and Michelle Henry, MD, a New York City-based dermatologist. 

The campaign is running strictly on social media “since that’s the source of so much of our anxiety,” Cornwall says.

She adds the brand is also holding fast to its commitment not to retouch lines and wrinkles to portray realistic depictions of aging skin.

“And we’re also requiring our influencers to agree not to use filters or editing techniques.”

The push includes a bag of three products curated by Parker, with profits going to SeekHer, a nonprofit that aids mental health efforts.

The company’s target market is women, 30-plus. It’s currently the best-selling retinol eye cream, according to Nielsen, selling a tube every 30 seconds.

And while the entire beauty and skincare category has been on fire in the last year, Cornwall says RoC is outpacing the pack, growing at four times the rate of competitors.

“We have seen the benefit of consumers wanting to shift to more science-based brands,” she says. “It’s gratifying to see those results. It all goes back to who we were when we started and who we still are.”