P&G’s Toronto Pop-Up Hosts 7,000 So Far

P&G's stylists keep Canadians looking fab for spring.

Procter & Gamble has given 7,000 Canadians a makeover in the last few weeks at its Look Fab Studio.

The pop-up store opened in Toronto on April 13, showcasing P&G beauty brands including Pantene Pro-V, CoverGirl, Olay, Nice 'n Easy, Crest and Venus. The Studio could host another few thousand consumers before it closes on May 13.

This is P&G Canada’s first pop-up store, but it’s the third year the company has run a spring promotion using the theme “Look Fab.”

The street-level storefront houses three zones, showcasing makeup, skin and haircare products. Visitors get a free hair styling session, makeup lesson and a facial from professional stylists. Displays in P&G’s traditional retail outlets bring Look Fab branding to those channels, too.

While the studio is open, P&G is airing “showmercial” ads starring beauty expert Paul Venoit on CTV (Canadian TV). The network, which worked with P&G and its agency, Upshot, to film the ads, also built a dedicated Web site, LookFab.ca, to reach consumers outside Toronto.

The studio has an online kiosk where people can visit the site to enter P&G’s Ultimate Idol Experience sweepstakes for a chance to win tickets to the “Canadian Idol” finale and a makeover by a P&G stylist. That is a joint effort with CTV, which handles the online sweeps in-house.

"The Look Fab Studio highlights P&G Beauty's ongoing commitment to making beauty accessible for all consumers,” said Julie Marchant-Houle, director of beauty care for P&G Canada, in a statement. "We are really excited with this vibrant studio venue and feel that it is a welcoming environment for Canadians to explore different elements of beauty.”

Upshot has handled P&G’s Look Fab campaign for three years now.

The pop-up store ratchets up the umbrella branding strategy that P&G began in 2005. That year, P&G ran a joint sweepstakes with two beauty magazines, “Fashion” and “Wish.” Winners got a makeover and were featured in advertorials in the magazines. P&G also hosted Look Fab activities in supermarkets, drugstores and mass-merchandise chains. (A sister campaign for household products, called Live Fab, ran at the same time but was discontinued after one year.)

In 2006, P&G partnered with TV network Global to film four “showmercials” that aired for four weeks as lead-ins to “The Gilmore Girls.”