Chesca Garcia Kramer, Dawn Zulueta-Lagdameo and Solenn HeusaffInt’l beauty brand launches Solenn, Dawn and Chesca as first local ambassadorsBeyonce Knowles, Diane Keaton, Eva Longoria, Julian Moore, Penelope Cruz, Jennifer Lopez, Scarlett Johansson, Blake Lively and Freida Pinto—Hollywood’s biggest names have all given seals of approval to French beauty and cosmetics brand, L’Oreal Paris, as brand ambassadors. And now to add to that growing list of empowered women as Philippines’ endorsers are Solenn Heussaff, Dawn Zuluetan Lagdameo and Chesca Garcia-Kramer.The trio of beautiful celebrities was chosen to represent three different age groups and three L’Oreal Paris products, as announced at a grand launch on March 2 at a beauty and makeup fair at Century City Mall in Makati.“It’s very tough to actually get a local ambassador because it’s not just ‘you need someone, you get someone.’ It’s also about timing,” L’Oreal Paris Philippines Marketing Director, Barbara Ramos told The Manila Times in an interview. “Right now, you have to find the right fit; the brand has to be something that the endorser believes in; and of course, the endorser has to be someone who embodies the brand.”Ramos continued, “It is also very important nowadays to have a local spokesperson because we are so ingrained digitally that consumers want to be able to interact and communicate with the brand and learn as much as they can about products that come out.”According to the marketing director, especially since L’Oreal Paris launches products on a regular basis, there is a more compelling need to provide tutorials for consumers, which is where their brand ambassadors come in as the face of the brand.”Makeup for the makeup artistHeussaf—the half-Filipina, half-French celebrity, actress and artist all rolled into one—is as passionate with makeup as she is with her acting career. As such, she is the new face of the L’Oreal Paris’ makeup line.A makeup artist herself, Heusaff said confessed she had long wanted to endorse the brand, which was the very first cosmetics she ever got her hands on as a teenager.At the launch,Ramos was enthusiastic to explain why they chose the multi-faceted celebrity—who previously completed a six-month makeup course from Ecole Fleurimon in Paris and a Minor in Prosthetics and Body painting at the Make Up Forever Academy—to represent their cosmetics line.“We’ve seen Solenn to be the perfect fit for this because she truly loves the brand. That’s a big plus for us because it’s easy to get an endorser but for an endorser to love the brand from the onset is a blessing,” she said.More importantly, Heussaff ably educates makeup enthusiasts via tutorials on the brand’s YouTube and Facebook accounts.DIY hair color for busy beesFor hair color, L’Oreal chose Chesca Kramer as their local endorser.“I was super impressed when I learned that she really colors her own hair at home. I mean almost all celebrities have theirs done in the salon, so this solidified our choice,” shared Ramos.The busy wife to baller Doug Kramer and doting mother of three admitted she resorts to DIY dyeing because of her tight and packed schedule as a working mom.“Chesca is perfect [as ambassador]—she’s a busy mom, she’s devoted to her husband to her kids and yet she sees herself as equally important. So there’s no neglect there. There’s a lot of self-love, not for vanity’s sake but because she knows that whatever she gives herself she gives it back to her family and to her work,” Ramos further noted.Age defying product for the age ‘defyer’Finally, the brand launched the ever young looking Dawn Zulueta who is praised by all for aging gracefully in an industry that is very critical when it comes to looks.“To be honest, skin care is a very hard category to get an endorser for because you need to have proof—that is, you cannot have an endorser who isn’t using your products,” Ramos added.True to her word, Zulueta revealed she has been using the brand’s age defying products for a decade now, way before they even thought of tapping her or tapping any local endorser for that matter.“To find out she’s actually a L’Oreal user was something that basically gave us the right encouragement to bring Dawn into the brand. That and because she’s at the right age where she has gained credibility,” Ramos explained.“When you listen to her, you can’t help but be inspired. I mean, if you’re not a user of the brand, and if you’re just basically beautiful, parang walang sincerity walang depth. But with Dawn, because you know that she has used the brand for years, it comes out very natural to talk about her experience,” she added.Openly justifying their choices for the first ever set of L’Oreal Paris Filipina endorsers, Ramos proudly described them as “women of truth.”“They are authentic, they are admirably intelligent, and they are all sophisticated in their own rights. I think it’s the choices they’ve made in their lives which made us choose them in return,” she concluded.
