Drugstore Love-In

Madison Avenue is certainly not tired of that famous three-letter word, SEX, but it is increasingly captivated by a four-letter word, LOVE. That is the name of a new line of cosmetics that has been brought out by Menley & James, a subsidiary of Smith Kline & French Laboratories. Love was in splashy four-page ads in almost every leading woman's magazine (Vogue, Redbook, Cosmopolitan) and in regional editions of LIFE. At a time when advertising is bolder and nuder than ever, the multimillion-dollar campaign leaves little to the imagination.

Eau De Love cologne, say the ads, has "the light fragrance you should wear all over." Shadowing sticks called Love-shines are announced as available in a number of colors, including Sexy (a rosy pink); they are to be used to "contour and color your eyes, face, all your other kissable little curves and hollows." Television commercials show a model applying Loveshines to the cleavage in her bosom. In another TV spot, a young man watches his girl friend spread Love's Basic Moisture over much of her body and sighs: "It's done wonders for her whole mental outlook. And our relationship has improved 100%." Just in case that fails to lure the customers, most of the Love cosmetics are sold in tall, bullet-shaped containers that, the designers say, are frank Freudian symbols.

Turning Purple. The campaign is the Love child of the Wells, Rich, Greene agency. President Mary Wells Lawrence and her staff not only wrote the copy but helped design the packaging and watched over most other stages of marketing for the Philadelphia manufacturer. The word love, says Mary Lawrence, was selected because "it will be as nice a word in 1980 as it is today." Of Love's new lipstick, she says: "They turned purple in Philadelphia when we thought of the word Lovesticks."

Wells, Rich, Greene got the account in 1967, when Menley & James, which also makes Contac cold capsules, wanted a place in the $2 billion-a-year cosmetics market. At first, the company considered acquiring an existing cosmetics firm. President Peter Godfrey, who knew the then Mary Wells only by reputation, solicited her advice. Counseled Mary: "Don't buy a going concern. You'll get stuck with its image."

The campaign demonstrates anew Mary Lawrence's knack for attracting the attention that has made Wells, Rich, Greene one of the nation's fastest growing agencies. Just two weeks ago, it won the Royal Crown Cola account, which raised the three-year-old agency's annual billings to $100 million and put it among the top 30 ad agencies. Like Braniff Airways, a former WRG client, and American Motors, a current one, Royal Crown trails the leaders in its hotly competitive field and counts heavily on snappy advertising for recognition.

Limited Line. In promoting Love, the agency is out to generate high volume on a limited line of products. Revlon, Elizabeth Arden and other established companies put their cosmetics into department stores as well as drugstores. Menley & James will sell Love only in drugstores, where 40% of all cosmetics are moved. The company already has strong drugstore connections built through Contac. Love is slanted primarily for women aged 18 to 35, but Mary Lawrence, 40, feels that the new cosmetics will also appeal to oldsters like herself who "want to look fresh and honest on weekends after being out in a man's world all week."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.