1. Brand Overview
| Brand | Nykaa (nykaa.com) |
| Category | Beauty, Personal Care & Wellness Marketplace + Private Label |
| Country | India |
| Target Market | Women, 18to 35, urban and semi-urban |
| Price Range | ₹150 to ₹5,000 (mass to premium) |
| Positioning | India’s largest beauty destination ( trustworthy, and accessible) |
Nykaa operates as both a marketplace (selling international and Indian beauty brands) and a house of owned brands (Nykaa Cosmetics, Nykaa Naturals). This campaign focuses on driving sales for Nykaa’s own private label range, which carries higher margins and benefits most from direct paid social push.
2. Campaign Brief
Objective
Increase online sales for Nykaa Cosmetics new makeup launch via Meta (Instagram + Facebook) paid ads, targeting women across Tier 1 and Tier 2 Indian cities.
Campaign Name
“Made For Your Shade” Nykaa Cosmetics Launch Campaign
Campaign Duration
6 weeks
Budget
₹5,00,000 total
3. Audience Strategy
Primary Audience “The Beauty Enthusiast”
| Age | 18 to 28 |
| Gender | Female (95%) |
| Location | Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Pune, + Tier 2 (Jaipur, Lucknow, Chandigarh) |
| Interests | Makeup tutorials, Instagram beauty influencers, skincare |
| Behaviour | Follows beauty creators, engages with Reels, frequent online shopper |
Secondary Audience “The Audience Looking for an Upgrade”
| Age | 28 to 35 |
| Gender | Female |
| Behaviour | Currently uses drugstore brands, browsing premium alternatives |
Retargeting Segment
- Website visitors in last 30 days
- Instagram engagers (likes, saves, shares on product posts)
- Video viewers (75% watch on tutorial/demo Reels)
- Past Nykaa app users who haven’t purchased in 90+ days (win-back)
4. Objective & Budget Allocation
Beauty purchases are highly influenced by product demos and real user content, so the funnel leans heavier on consideration stage video content than a typical D2C campaign.
| Stages | Objective | Ad Format | Budget | % of Total |
| Awareness | Reach & Video Views | Reels, Influencer style Video | ₹1,00,000 | 20% |
| Consideration | Engagement | Carousel, Collection, AR Try-On | ₹1,50,000 | 30% |
| Conversion | Purchase / Add to Cart | Dynamic Product Ads | ₹1,75,000 | 35% |
| Retargeting | Win-back & Nudge | Single Image, Video, UGC | ₹75,000 | 15% |
5. Creative Strategy
Creative Themes
- “Find Your Shade” interactive AR (Augmented Reality) filter content + shade-matching carousel
- “Real Skin, Real Results” UGC and before/after content from real users
- “Get Ready With Nykaa” GRWM-style Reels featuring micro-influencers
Ad Formats Used
| Format | Stage | Rationale |
| Instagram Reels (15–30s) | Awareness | Beauty content performs strongly in Reels |
| Carousel Ads | Consideration | Show full shade range across one product |
| Instagram AR Try-On | Consideration | Reduces shade match hesitation key beauty purchase barrier |
| Collection Ads | Consideration | Browse full new launch catalogue in-app |
| Dynamic Product Ads | Conversion + Retargeting | Personalised, shows shade/product viewed |
Copy Direction
- Tone: Warm, encouraging, inclusive celebrates all skin tones
- Avoid “flawless skin” language, lean into “your skin, enhanced”
- Urgency drivers: “New Launch”, “Limited Edition Shades”, “Selling Fast”
- CTA: “Shop Now” for BOF, “Find Your Shade” for MOF
6. Optimisation Plan
Week 1–2: Launch and Analyse
- Run tests: GRWM video vs static product shot, 2 copy variations
- Monitor ad performance pull underperforming creatives
- Each viewer will see this ad a maximum of 3 times within a 7-day period, so people don’t get tired of seeing the same ad repeatedly
Week 3–4: Scale Winners
- If an ad is bringing back more than 4.5 times the money you put into it, increase its budget by 20 – 30% give the winning ads more money to spend
- Expand lookalike audiences from existing customer list (1–3%)
- Launch retargeting for AR try-on engagers (high purchase intent signal)
Week 5–6: Conversion Push
- Tighten targeting to BOF and retargeting only
- Introduce “Selling Fast” urgency creative for top 3 shades
- Run DPA (Dynamic Product Ads) with catalogue sync across full new launch range
7. Tools & Tech
| Function | Tool |
| Ad Management | Meta Ads Manager |
| Analytics & Attribution | Google Analytics |
| Creative Production | Canva, CapCut (Reels editing),Photoshop |
| AR Try-On Setup | Meta Spark AR |
| Reporting | Google Looker Studio (Meta + GA4 connector) |
What I Learned
- Influencer style content consistently outperforms polished studio content for cold audiences in this category
- Retargeting based on engagement depth (e.g., AR try-on) is much better than simple page visit retargeting
- Inclusive language and diverse shade representation directly affects ad relevance
What I’d Do Differently with Real Data
- Segment creative by skin tone/shade range shown, and measure Conversion rate per segment
- Compare customer review ads and influencer ads to see which one brings in more customers at a lower cost
- After customers make a purchase, encourage them to join Nykaa’s membership program so they keep coming back and buying again