L’Oreal Creates First Xbox App Specifically Aimed at a Female Market, Knows What It’s Doing

AllthingsD, after they make sure we know that videogame consoles aren’t just for gaming anymore, has the scoop on a new marketing app coming to Xbox Live, from a company that you wouldn’t necessarily associate with the platform. L’Oreal. But for Jacqueline Corbelli of BrightLine, the marketing firm that built the app for L’Oreal, it makes nothing but sense.

“She says Microsoft’s data says that, in the U.S., a full 40 percent of its 20 million Xbox Live users are female,” matching the oft quoted 4o/60% gender ratio in the gaming community as a whole. And though L’Oreal is apparently the first company to try and reach women through an Xbox app, Corbelli says that they shouldn’t be. The potential audience is simply overlooked by advertisers.

The app itself is pretty obvious marketing: L’Oreal and Lucky Magazine will keep it updated and running for at least a year with fashion tips, video tutorials, and an in-app store for buying L’Oreal products. Here’s a bit of a preview:

I have to admit, there’s something really weird and futuristic about seeing a fashion ad with “Press B to skip” discretely written across the bottom.

(via AllThingsD.)