Jenny Berich Babor is shipping in emergency supplies of one of its oldest products, Algae Vitalizer Ampoule Concentrate, to meet unprecedented demand created by a rave review published on The Sydney Morning Herald’s website.
Brandishing a hard to ignore ‘What the hell just happened’ headline, the review by beauty editor Natalie Reilly attracted more than its fair share of attention around Australia – and Babor salons around the country are now struggling to keep up with demand for the product which was launched more than 40 years ago.
In the “unsponsored post” Reilly, praised the ampoule, which was inside the Babor 2017 advent calendar gifted to her by the brand, for making her wrinkles disappear almost instantly.
“I cracked open the glass ampoule, as one does, and popped the mixture on my face not knowing what its purpose was… But I soon found out, because five minutes later I looked in the mirror and I swear to you, I had no wrinkles.
“It was at this moment I whispered to myself, ‘What the hell just happened?’
“See, I normally have bags under my eyes and laugh lines. I have plenty more than this, but these are the stand-outs. Well, they had disappeared. It was as if I had travelled back in time 15 years.”
Not surprisingly this extraordinary endorsement, published on Tuesday December 12, had an immediate impact on sales of the ampoules – they are already out of stock on the brand’s website as well as at numerous spas across the country.
Babor marketing and PR coordinator Tijen Engel said the company noticed an influx of website traffic on Tuesday and traced it back to the smh.com.au article.
“It was then interesting to observe user behaviour as customers browsed the product page for the Algae Vitalizer Ampoule Concentrate and branched out to explore the wide skincare range Babor has to offer,” she said.
“We also had a spike in calls to our head office from our spa partners wanting to order the product for their interested customers.”
She said the “excitement and overwhelming interest” from consumers increased “brand awareness” for the company as around 65 percent of the consumers making enquiries about the ampoules were “completely new to Babor”.
Although the unexpected surge in sales was welcomed by Babor, the company was disappointed it couldn’t meet the “immediate boom in demand”.
The beauty editor Natalie Reilly found the ampoule in a 2017 Babor Advent Calendar gifted to her by the company
“As the article was a non-sponsored feature, we had no forewarning that it would be released,” said Engel.
“However, we did not want to disappoint our customers so have been in discussion with Babor head office in Germany to arrange for an emergency shipment of the Algae Vitalizer Ampoule Concentrate to meet demand and re-stock our spas.”
The new stock is expected to be available in early 2018.
In the meantime Engel encourages the brand’s partners to use their expertise to not only promote the Algae Vitalizer Ampoule Concentrate but to maximise the opportunity to up-sell by “introducing new customers to other skincare products that would be suitable for their skin”.
According to Babor, ampoules are the hero products in the brand’s skincare range as their “potency and unique application offers clients amazing and sometimes instant results”.
Algae Active Fluid is designed to moisturise and revitalise dull, dry skin leaving it “looking thoroughly hydrated, rosy and fresh”. Its key ingredients include phytoplankton extracts of brown, green and blue-green algae which are “intensely moisturising and contain trace elements and amino acids.
Sold in a pack of seven, Algae Vitalizer ampoules retail for $73 on Babor’s Australian website.
