Say goodbye to the same old Avon lady. The 125-year-old firm is promoting and selling Mark, its latest brand of beauty and fashion products, almost exclusively through digital storefronts, Facebook and other social media.

The strategy is the brainchild of Bentley graduate Annemarie Frank ’88, who joined the company in April 2009. Her charge: a makeover for Avon’s direct-marketing model, which for years had relied on door-to-door sales and house parties. Frank knew the way to a Gen Y girl’s heart — and pocketbook — was through cyberspace.

“I saw a huge opportunity to bring together two elements of the perfect storm: direct selling, which is social in nature, and social networking,” says Frank, a Management major who went on to earn an MBA in finance and information technology from New York University’s Stern School of Business.

Mark set up shop on Facebook in December 2009, becoming the first beauty brand to conduct commerce via the world’s largest social-networking website. Shoppers can even search their friend list for a Mark sales representative.

The facelift continued last July, as the company’s 60,000 representatives gained the tools to build and operate their own e-boutiques. The virtual storefronts, customized to feature up to six Mark products, can be promoted through the seller’s Facebook newsfeed.

If the marketing strategy caught Mark competitors by surprise, it did likewise for the honchos at Facebook. “They were knocking on my door wanting to talk,” Frank says with a laugh. “‘How did you do this? Can you share any business results with us?’”

Indeed, orders that arrive via Facebook are, on average, 10 to 15 percent larger than those made through Mark’s traditional e-commerce website.

“Our representatives love the Facebook commerce tools,” Frank reports. “It allows them to find new customers — and target existing ones — in a fun, relevant way.”

The company’s next innovation arrives in April, as Mark begins rolling out a mobile application for smartphones, so customers can shop anytime, anywhere.

Having attended Bentley a full decade before the dot-com revolution, Frank could never have imagined she’d be a trailblazer in social-media marketing. But she’s thankful for the opportunity.

“What woman wouldn’t love working with cosmetics and fashion?” she says. “I'm always on a quest for innovations, and for ways to implement those new ideas. That is very fulfilling.”