Tryvertising in a tube

Touted as Europe’s first beauty testing program, recently launched Brand New You Tube sends subscribers a tube full of beauty products to test. (The venture is related to Brand New You magazine, not YouTube.) Customers sign up for GBP 20 + 4.95 shipping and handling, and are promised at least four beauty products worth a total of GBP 80 or more, delivered to their door. Brands that have signed up so far include Nivea, Lush, L’Oreal, Elizabeth Arden and L’Occitane en Provence. The price seems a bit steep, especially since customers are required to fill out a questionnaire about the products before receiving a new tube. In that sense, previously featured SheSpeaks is a better deal for consumers: that program rewards participants with free products in exchange for their valuable feedback. But the idea is good, and ripe for introduction to other countries and products. If you’d like to take the concept a step further, why not set up a tryvertising intermediary for a number of product categories, working for well-known and up-and-coming brands in each category, taking care of logistics and providing them with the consumer insights they need? (Related: Sampling salons for cosmetics.)