Summer Retail Displays: Lessons from Estée Lauder’s Campaign

Case Study: Estée Lauder’s “Capture Your Summer Glow” Display

At first glance, the display draws you in with its inviting sense of summer escape. It’s not loud or exaggerated. Instead, it’s elegant and imaginative. The display is crafted with the same refinement that defines the Estée Lauder brand.

Placed at eye level in a high-traffic duty-free area, this super-customized POS (Point-of-Sale) display instantly communicates a lifestyle. The scene features a miniature beach setup, complete with a sunbed, beach umbrella, palm tree, and even branded beach balls. Each prop is deliberately scaled to make the hero products—Advanced Night Repair serum, Perfectionist Pro, and eye crème—the center of attention.

Every design choice supports the campaign’s message: “Capture Your Summer Glow. Protect by day. Renew by night.”

It’s a concise yet emotionally resonant statement. In a busy airport terminal, travelers don’t have minutes to browse. They only have seconds. This tagline bridges aspiration and practicality: the idea that radiant summer skin can be achieved through consistent care, day and night.

What Makes This Display Unique

Every retail display tells a story, but this one goes beyond aesthetics. Estée Lauder’s summer setup in the airport doesn’t just highlight products, but creates an experience. Let’s break down the key elements that make this display truly stand out and why it works so well for a luxury beauty brand.

A. Elevated Miniature Worldbuilding

The Estée Lauder display turns a simple table fixture into a storytelling stage. Instead of standard shelves or acrylic risers, it uses miniaturized beach props to recreate a summer vacation in micro form.

• The sand-toned base simulates a sunny shore.

• A palm tree and beach umbrella instantly evoke the feeling of relaxation.

• A deck chair and mini luggage box subtly connect to the airport travel context.

• Each product is strategically placed where natural light (or LED reflection) enhances its glow.

This is more than decoration. It’s environmental storytelling. Shoppers instantly understand the theme without reading a word. It’s a visual metaphor: your skin deserves a vacation, too.

B. Integration of Luxury Cues

Despite the playful summer theme, the display never compromises the brand’s luxurious DNA. The mirror-finished tray, metallic accents, and the Estée Lauder logo subtly engraved along the base frame add sophistication. These finishes catch the ambient light, ensuring the setup feels premium and consistent with the brand’s in-store architecture.

In ODM’s experience designing luxury POS displays, balance is key. Too much playfulness risks diluting the brand, while too much minimalism can feel sterile. This display achieves equilibrium. It’s aspirational but grounded in brand authority.

C. Travel-Retail Specific Design

Airport retail is a unique environment: lighting is brighter, shopper flow is fast, and emotional buying is spontaneous. Estée Lauder’s setup takes this into account perfectly.

• Compact footprint: It fits within limited counter space yet still creates impact.

• 360-degree visibility: Passengers can observe it from multiple angles as they walk by.

• Dual messaging: “Summer Glow” appeals to emotion, while “Buy 2, Save 20%” delivers a tangible incentive.

The dual strategy (emotional storytelling backed by promotional urgency) makes it ideal for the duty-free context. Travelers are drawn by the visuals but converted by the clear savings message.

D. Cohesive Multi-Product Display

The setup doesn’t focus on a single SKU, but rather highlights a curated product collection designed for summer skincare, featuring protection, hydration, and renewal.
By grouping complementary items (serum, UV defense, eye gel, moisturizer), Estée Lauder demonstrates product synergy, encouraging cross-selling at a glance.

This approach also reinforces category authority. The brand isn’t selling a single hero item but a complete skincare ritual.

E. Lighting and Color Temperature

The entire back panel uses a sunset-to-dawn gradient, blending warm gold with twilight blue. It symbolizes the brand’s tagline: protection by day, renewal by night.

This subtle gradient lighting contrasts beautifully against the glass display counter and polished store flooring, drawing the eye naturally toward the centerpiece.

ODM frequently emphasizes lighting as one of the most underrated design tools in retail displays. Here, the lighting direction subtly enhances the product packaging and metallic reflections, making the bottles look radiant without artificial gloss.

Lessons for Beauty and Cosmetics Marketers

The Estée Lauder summer display provides a masterclass in seasonal retail marketing. Below are actionable takeaways for brands planning their own campaigns.

1. Anchor Your Display Around a Seasonal Emotion

Summer isn’t just about heat, but also energy, spontaneity, and escape. Align your product story with those emotions.

For example:

• Skincare → Protection, hydration, glow.

• Fragrance → Freedom, freshness, lightness.

• Makeup → Effortless, breathable, sun-kissed looks.

Rather than just displaying products, create scenes that evoke the emotions of summer. Props, lighting, and textures should all work together to create a unified sensory experience.

2. Simplify the Shopper Journey

In fast-paced retail spaces, shoppers rarely stop to analyze. They respond to clarity and structure. Your summer display should communicate three things instantly:

1. What it’s about (theme or benefit)

2. What’s on offer (product set or promo)

3. Why it matters (emotional reward)

Estée Lauder achieves this in one glance:

• Theme: Summer glow.

• Offer: Buy 2, Save 20%.

• Emotion: Protect and renew your skin while you travel.

ODM often encourages brands to adopt this “3-second rule.” If the display message isn’t understood within three seconds, it’s too complex.

3. Integrate Props With Purpose

Decorative props shouldn’t exist just for aesthetic value; they must reinforce the message.

In this Estée Lauder case:

• The palm tree and umbrella signal UV protection.

• The deck chair and mini beach ball communicate relaxation and leisure.

• The luggage box connects directly to the airport setting.

For your next display, map each prop to a brand narrative. For example:

• A sun hat could represent self-care.

• A mirror could symbolize reflection, or beauty, and confidence.

• A window frame backdrop might mimic travel aspirations.

When each element tells part of a story, the entire display becomes cohesive and memorable.

4. Offer Dual-Layer Messaging

Combine emotional storytelling with a practical reason to buy.

Travelers in duty-free stores are motivated by limited-time offers. However, emotion is what stops them first. Estée Lauder captures both: a poetic campaign line supported by a visible savings incentive.

Beauty marketers can replicate this balance by using:

• Top layer: Campaign tagline (emotion-driven)

• Bottom layer: Call-to-action (purchase-driven)

For example: “Glow Confidently This Summer” → Get 15% off your glow kit at checkout.

5. Create Mini Worlds, Not Just Product Displays

Micro-scenes have proven to be powerful conversion tools in cosmetics retail.

A display that recreates a small-scale environment, like a beach, vanity, or spa corner, invites consumers to imagine themselves in the story.

ODM’s in-house design team often calls this “immersive minimalism.” You don’t need large installations or digital screens to create immersion—just well-crafted props and lighting harmony.

This method is especially effective for pop-up or travel retail, where space is limited but traffic is high.

6. Match Materials to the Season

Material choice sets the sensory tone.
During summer, go for:

• Light wood tones for warmth.

• Brushed metal or glass for elegance and coolness.

• Soft beige or golden hues for luxury without heaviness.

Avoid overly dark or dense materials that feel out of sync with the season.

The Estée Lauder setup uses gold-mirror accents and sandy beige textures, instantly evoking sunlight without being literal. These details influence not only how customers perceive the display but also the product’s performance.

7. Design for Portability and Quick Setup

Many summer campaigns are temporary activations—rotated seasonally or moved across stores. ODM advises brands to design displays with modular construction, featuring lightweight panels, detachable props, and tool-free assembly.

A display that looks premium but is easy to transport between airports or malls ensures consistency across markets while reducing logistics costs.

8. Incorporate Social-Media-Ready Elements

Modern shoppers are content creators. A beautiful display attracts buyers and becomes free brand content when people snap photos or share stories.

Simple enhancements, such as a reflective base, an Instagram-ready tagline, or a mini LED glow effect, can turn your display into a shareable moment.

Estée Lauder’s “Capture Your Summer Glow” phrase is not only poetic but also perfect as a hashtag or campaign caption.

9. Use Light to Tell the Story

Lighting design can make or break a display. Warm light conveys comfort and luxury, while cooler tones emphasize freshness and purity. The best displays blend both.

Estée Lauder’s backdrop transitions from sunset gold to midnight blue, mirroring the day-night cycle of skincare use. For your summer campaign, consider programmable lighting that gradually shifts between warm and cool tones to mimic the natural movement of light.

10. Consistency Across Touchpoints

Your summer campaign shouldn’t end at the POS display. Align visuals across packaging, digital ads, and influencer kits.

Imagine a traveler seeing the Estée Lauder display at the airport, then spotting the same beach-inspired visual on their Instagram feed. This kind of cross-channel repetition reinforces memory and builds purchase confidence.

How to Build Your Own Summer Retail Display Strategy

For marketers planning their next seasonal activation, here’s a step-by-step approach inspired by Estée Lauder’s success.

Step 1: Define the Core Summer Narrative

Ask: What does summer mean for your brand?
Is it about adventure, glow, relaxation, or renewal?

Once you define that core emotion, let it guide every visual element, from tagline to props to lighting tone.

Step 2: Select Your Hero Products

Pick 2–4 SKUs that represent your seasonal story. For example, Estée Lauder focused on products that protect during the day and renew at night. The synergy between them makes the story feel complete.

ODM recommends grouping products by function or journey (e.g., “Travel Essentials,” “Hydration Ritual,” or “Summer Glow Trio”) to simplify consumer decision-making.

Step 3: Sketch the Scene

Turn your narrative into a visual scene. Will it be a beach, a vanity table, or a sunset skyline? Use miniature props to recreate the mood.

ODM’s design team often creates 3D renders and dielines to test scale, color balance, and viewing angles before production.

Step 4: Choose Materials Wisely

For travel-retail or temporary displays, durability and lightness are key. Consider:

• Acrylic or PETG for clear, glossy parts.

• Foamboard or corrugated core for structural lightness.

• Metallic laminate finishes for premium accents.

ODM also encourages brands to explore eco-friendly materials, such as bamboo composites or recycled PET panels, to align with their sustainability goals.

Step 5: Add Interactive Touchpoints

Even small gestures, like QR codes leading to skin quizzes, motion-activated lights, or fragrance testers, can make displays more engaging.

For airport setups, interactive features keep travelers entertained while waiting in line, turning passive visibility into active engagement.

Step 6: Measure and Iterate

Track sales lift, dwell time, and customer feedback. After the campaign, assess what elements worked best: Was it the color scheme? The layout? The promotional message?

Why This Display Works So Well in Travel Retail

Travel-retail spaces, like airports, pose unique challenges: high competition, limited space, and diverse customer demographics. Estée Lauder’s setup succeeds because it masters these factors.

By combining efficiency and emotion, Estée Lauder turns a small POS footprint into a high-impact experience.

Read More Marketing Campaign by Estee Lauder

We’ve featured several creative cosmetic POS displays before. Explore them for more inspiration and ideas for your next campaign.

NARS Cosmetics’ display counter has a modern and futuristic look that is extremely distinctive. This will intrigue customers to walk towards the store and see what they have to offer. 

Take a look at this cosmetic pop display by Benefit Cosmetics at a department store in the UK that caught the eye of our ODM staff.

We found a bold approach when it comes to freestanding display units. When everyone is making loud and flashy displays, Neal’s Yard Remedies has decided to create a minimalistic Cosmetic POS display.

We spotted an excellent cosmetic product display by Watsons at a shopping mall, and we absolutely love the setup. Their display is very engaging and customers were able to personally try their products.

During our trip to France, we spotted this bespoke shop display from the skincare brand. We love how the area gives off a warm and inviting atmosphere that quickly attracts attention and reflects a sophisticated brand personality.

Need fresh packaging ideas for your beauty line? Check out this article for creative and practical inspiration.

Final Thoughts

What makes the Estée Lauder summer display so successful is not just its beauty, but the strategy behind it. It tells a story that’s universal, emotional, and scalable.

As you plan your next summer marketing, remember: A great retail display is a bridge between brand promise and consumer experience. It translates your message into something customers can see, touch, and remember.

Whether you’re designing for skincare, makeup, or fragrance, focus on clarity, emotion, and cohesion. And if you want to bring those ideas to life with structural creativity and manufacturing precision, ODM is here to help.

Our team approaches each project from concept through to production, ensuring every element is optimized for both aesthetic appeal and functionality. Contact us today, and let’s start our first project together!

ODM is a pioneer when it comes to designing and creating store POS displays. Check out one of our creative and high-end display ideas.

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