VO5 - "Headless"

Havas London

Havas London London, United Kingdom

16114

Brand: VO5
Country: United Kingdom

Advertiser: Alberto-Culver Company

Title	Headless
Agency	Havas London
Campaign	Headless - Alberto Culver
Advertiser	Alberto-Culver Company
Brand	VO5
Date of First Broadcast/Publication	2010 / 2
Product	Extreme Style
Business Sector	Hair Care Products
Tagline	Break the mould
Story	Headless features a storyline that revolves around the insight that how you feel about how you look affects your self confidence. In the story, a guy who feels his hair doesnt look his best, loses his bottle and fails to chat up a girl. We dramatise this loss of confidence through the metaphor of his head coming off. Once styled with VO5 Extreme Style, and his confidence restored, his head can come back on and he can reconnect with the world around him. In this instance, he connects, not with the blonde who caught his eye before but, instead, with a brunette girl who is carrying her head under her arm, clearly also suffering a crisis in confidence. Our hero hands her the VO5 Extreme Style so that she can sort her hair out.
Philosophy	It needed a differentiated and engaging execution that would appeal to 16-34 year old men and women, and stand out from the plethora of formulaic haircare ads. The VO5 Extreme Style brand appeals to those who reject set conventions & expectations, preferring to express their own sense of style. The VO5 Extreme Style strategy is positioned around one clear emotional end benefit. This is to allow our consumers to assert their individuality, & express their personality, through their hairstyles. The brand can enable them to stand out from the crowd, and attract the opposite sex. This is summarised in the brands strapline Break the mould.
Problem	VO5 Extreme Style range was launched 2003 with the Break the mould advertising campaign. The creative idea behind the campaign is a simple one: VO5 Extreme Style allows you to break out of conformity, express your individuality and escape the norm. The campaign launched in the UK with the Factory commercial in 2004 and, by the end of 2005, had driven the brand to be the UKs number 1 styling range. With the ongoing support of the Break the mould campaign, the brand has retained its top slot in the UK continuously since 2005, driving strong growth that has consistently outpaced that of the overall sector and allowing it to have double the share of its nearest P&G competitor. Finally, the campaign has smashed the goal it was originally set, which was to drive penetration amongst a younger user base for VO5 as 42% of the brands users are now aged under 24. The brief for Headless was to develop a new execution within the existing Break the Mould campaign that would continue to drive the brand, helping maintain its No. 1 market position.
Media Type	Television
Market	United Kingdom
Production Company	Rattling Stick
Copywriter	Glenn Gibbins
Copywriter	Chloe Davies
Art Director	Glenn Gibbins
Art Director	Lisa Morgenthau
Account Planner	Chloe Saklow
Agency Producer	Jodie Potts
Director	Sara Dunlop