Pierre Fabre

About Pierre Fabre

Established in 1962 by pharmacist Pierre Fabre, this laboratory has grown into a global pharmaceutical and dermo-cosmetic group with over 43 subsidiaries worldwide. Their extensive portfolio includes renowned brands like Eau Thermale Avène, A-derma, Klorane, and Naturactive, Ducray and René Furterer, sold in over 120 countries. With a focus on family health, Pierre Fabre generated 2.7M Euros in sales revenue in 2022, with international sales accounting for 69%.

Social listening at Pierre Fabre

In 2015, the group launched their social media presence on LinkedIn and Twitter.

"We saw need for crisis management and for monitoring the social conversation to see what people were saying about our brands," explains Céline Cassagnes Febvre, Social Intelligence Manager at Pierre Fabre.

To achieve this, Pierre Fabre started using Brandwatch in 2016. The social listening tool was then gradually rolled out throughout the organization, accompanied by a large-scale training and onboarding program across the group's different brands and countries. The company reached a turning point in 2019 when it decided to develop a transformation plan to adapt to the digital world. "One of the aims of this plan was to place the consumer at the center of the group's strategies. Social listening, therefore, became an even more meaningful and valuable strategy in this transformation to help us achieve this goal," Celine explained.

Sharing and governance of social data within the group

1. The Social Hub

The Social Hub is a subdivision of the CORE Department created to monitor the online reputation of the group and its brands. The Social Hub is responsible for steering the governance of social listening at Pierre Fabre to coordinate the use of social data within the Group.

"This steering committee helps us bring together all social data stakeholders here at Pierre Fabre to make sure we're all headed in the same direction and are in sync with the group's strategic priorities," Céline tells us.

How The Social Hub use Brandwatch Consumer Research:

• Defining the scope and deliverables of the social listening efforts
• Monitoring and managing reputation, including crisis management
• Developing competitor analysis
• Benchmarking major corporate communication campaigns, such as Melanoma Awareness Month, and Pink October
• Undertaking ad hoc social listening projects to gather consumer insights

2. Marketing & Consumer Experience

Marketing & Consumer Experience team (later referred to as the Research Department) was developed to understand consumer feedback better and meet the marketing team's needs through ad-hoc research focused on specific issues, brands, categories etc. for marketing purposes.

"In late 2019, the Research Department expanded their responsibilities to include social listening. As a result, we have implemented a systematic process of providing this service to our marketing teams. The goal is to ensure that social data receives the same level of consideration as traditional research data in informing their decision-making." explains Florence Lucas, Social Listening Manager at Pierre Fabre.

How Marketing & Consumer Experience use Brandwatch Consumer Research:

• Category-based monitoring: Utilizing dashboards to continuously monitor mentions within our market segments, creating a valuable data repository for gathering insights whenever needed.
• Conducting ad hoc social listening and consumer insights projects to enhance the development of marketing strategies.
• Voice of Consumer (VoC): Providing a comprehensive digital overview of a specific product range by summarizing Brandwatch data, search data, and online reviews, offering a 360° view of consumer sentiment.

Real-life examples and results from Pierre Fabre

Let's now look at some specific examples where social listening allowed Pierre Fabre to inform and implement positive changes for the company.

#1: Crisis management

In 2021, the group experienced a major crisis that was immediately covered by local media. By the next morning, Pierre Fabre had used Brandwatch to set up real-time signals and alerts to share crucial information with all the stakeholders affected, including the crisis communication team.

Celine was tasked with monitoring the situation on social media. "Brandwatch enabled us to monitor mentions on a daily basis in order to provide the crisis communication team with all the information made public in the press and on social networks," she explained. "That way, our team could react and adapt our communication messages accordingly."

Daily monitoring of online mentions allowed the company to understand how the public perceived the situation, which helped guide the responsive communication strategy. Brandwatch Consumer Research also helped identify the escalation of topics and the conversations among essential communities, such as pharmacists.

Over the following weeks, the crisis management unit followed the media coverage and conducted a retrospective analysis to generate a comprehensive report on the online impact of the event. This report facilitated the sharing of the lessons learned across the organization.

The transparent and factual communication strategy proved to be successful and effectively reassured the company's stakeholders.

#2: Product launch

Another example is the launch of a new product. Before launching a menstrual cramps treatment product for their Naturactive range, Pierre Fabre wanted guidance from social listening insights.

“Since discussing painful periods is considered a taboo, our initial objective was to uncover lesser-known facts about the subject to generate awareness among women and captivate their attention. By doing so, we could then examine the most effective communication strategies to promote our innovative product, Naturactive Painful Menstruation.” explains Céline. "The idea was to delve into women's expressions regarding menstrual cramps. The specific terms they use, the challenges they face, and how they discuss painful periods in general."

This made it possible for Pierre Fabre to achieve two objectives: Adapt their content marketing efforts to include relevant themes and improve their SEO by using better keywords on the website.

Using Brandwatch Consumer Research, the team discovered that many of the important discussions were taking place on forums. These became the primary sources used in the analysis. Here, the team found many useful insights that enabled them to understand the challenges their audience face. This enabled them to launch the product with deeper knowledge of their consumers and with relatable content.

"[Using Brandwatch Consumer Research] ensure that our product attains the optimal position in the market while establishing a relatable vocabulary that resonates with consumers."

Thanks to the launch success, Naturactive Painful Menstruation was voted “Product of the Year 2022” in France. According to Openhealth (Sales Volume MAT 12.22), 1 in every 2 products bought in the period pain market is Naturactive.

#3: Product innovation

A final example shows how Pierre Fabre uses Brandwatch for product innovation.

The René Furterer brand, Tonucia, is positioned in the hair vitality segment. The brand aimed to introduce innovation by addressing the concept of hair aging.

"It was interesting to see how consumers perceived this concept of hair aging. The social listening research helped us innovate and target new, more specific consumer demands." said Florence Lucas, Social Listening Manager at Pierre Fabre.

Tonucia's product line underwent a series of strategic measures to successfully reposition and enhance sales. Firstly, the product range was meticulously tailored to appeal to a more youthful audience, effectively positioning Tonucia as a brand that revitalizes both hair and scalp. To bolster this repositioning effort, three exclusive youth ritual products were meticulously developed: a rejuvenating shampoo, a nourishing mask, and a restorative serum.

Since the product re-launch in 2020, Tonucia experienced a remarkable surge in sales revenue. The growth was substantial, with sales figures showcasing a significant double-digit percentage increase. These impressive results underscore the triumph of the repositioning strategy, the successful introduction of the youth ritual products, and the incorporation of the innovative hyaluronic acid extract into the Tonucia range.

What have Pierre Fabre learned from working with Brandwatch so far?

The integration of social data at Pierre Fabre has played a crucial role in achieving the group's digital transition objectives. Not only has it facilitated a smooth transition, but it has also paved the way for the development of a cutting-edge system that extracts valuable customer insights. This system empowers Pierre Fabre to fine-tune their strategies and make informed decisions based on a deeper understanding of their customers.

Overall, the implementation has yielded significant results, including:

1. Comprehensive understanding of social listening and the essential elements required to achieve a certain level of maturity over the years.
2. Effective dissemination of social data across the entire organization, facilitated by a dedicated team specializing in promoting social media insights among different teams and countries.
3. A concerted effort toward digital transition and customer-centricity, contributing to strategic decision-making within the company. This has been supported by a robust partnership with Brandwatch, resulting in notable success stories.