AS Watson Group, the world’s largest international health and beauty retailer, today announced the launch of ‘Global Smile Campaign’, as the kick-off event to mark its 180th anniversary in 2021.
The theme of the campaign is ‘Smile Inside-out’, with the purpose of “putting a smile on customers’ faces”, a notion that has been with the business from the very beginning of its establishment. The campaign will be rolled out to over 15,800 stores, across the Group’s 12 brands that are operating in 25 markets around the world.
Mental Wellbeing is a Necessity
2020 has been a difficult year for all of us. The campaign is launching to promote a culture of happiness around the globe, encourage customers and colleagues to foster positivity and raise awareness of mental health and wellbeing.
Malina Ngai, Group COO of AS Watson Group and CEO of AS Watson (Asia & Europe) commented, “The health and wellbeing of our customers, colleagues and communities continues to be a key focus for AS Watson. COVID-19 has made both physical and mental health the top priority for everyone in the world. The implementation of social distancing and lockdown measures can really impact a person emotionally and we see mental health becoming an even bigger issue. Smile Inside-out advocates mental wellbeing and we want to build a culture of happiness for our colleagues and our customers. The campaign has been chosen as the first global initiative to kick off the 180th Anniversary of AS Watson, as everything we do starts with our purpose – putting a smile on our customers’ faces.”
“To support the Global Smile Campaign initiative, we have appointed 13 millennials in the company to be our Chief Smile Officers (CSO). They are on our Global Millennials CSR Committee who has set a mission to get billions of smiles on the faces of our people and our customers.”
Bringing Smiles to Our Customers for 180 Years
AS Watson Group is one of the world’s longest-standing retailers and when the business was founded, we were just a small dispensary, giving out free medicine to the people in need. The spirit of supporting and helping those in need and to bring a smile to people’s faces still lives on in the business today. Our purpose and our love to our customers has remained unchanged for over 180 years.
Smile Inside-out is the debut of the ‘Billion Smile Club’, a taskforce from the AS Watson Group’s Millennials CSR Committee, who will be the advocates for mental wellbeing, both internally and on social media globally.
Christie Yeung, one of the Chief Smile Officer commented, “Our Millennials CSR Committee has tried to answer the needs of our customers in the ‘new normal’. We believe this campaign is the key to bringing more smiles to our customers in a sustainable way, with a life changing impact. Mental wellbeing is as important as physical health in this rapidly changing world, and our brands from all over the world will help foster positivity in our communities, so that everyone can smile inside out.”
Smiling Makes You Healthier
AS Watson Group’s Global Health Survey 2020 conducted by WISE, involving 5,500 respondents in 10 markets in Asia and Europe, revealed that 91% believe that smiling and laughter has positive health benefits. However, one third of the people surveyed said that they don’t smile enough. When asked the reasons they don’t smile, 90% of respondents said that stress was the top reason, followed by busy life.
We believe that smiling is one of the most powerful ways of influencing others and spreading happiness. We will team up with our business units and business partners to launch a series of Smile Inside-out activities focusing on the three main wellbeing aspects: Get Active, Think Positive, and Love Yourself & Others.
Our retail brands and CSO will bring smiles and love to over 5.3 billion customers across 25 markets with engaging social media contents, in-store activities and charitable donation, in order to motivate more people to care about mental wellbeing of themselves and those they love.
