Sunsilk's Latest
Thursday, January 4, 2007 at 10:27PM 
So the hot guy comes to the door, the hot girl with the gorgeous hair lets him in, and then they start to make out on the couch. As he reaches in the golden tresses he comes up with...Kleenex? At which point he realizes... "you stuffed your hair?"...and out comes the Kleenex. This is new to me - I hear that when women choose to "enhance" certain things with Kleenex, it's usually below the neck. As the hair deflates, so does the entire romantic scenario - especially the guy, he's the first to fall flat.
But that's the whole point: flat hair deflates everything else. The advertisement is both utterly hilarious and surreally disturbing - at least as much as one can be surreal in a 30-second ad spot. I've seen it twice already this evening, and I still find it completely weird. The obnoxious voice of Mario Cantone (remember him on Sex and the City?) tells all the girlfriends to go buy Sunsilk because they have flat hair, and that this deflation scenario could be their fate on the next date night. So a new shampoo will not only cure my hair issues but also my sex life? Now that is funny.
The ending tagline of the spot says "Get Hairapy" encouraging viewers to go to www.gethairapy.com, which I did...and found that the Sunsilk products are created and distributed by the Unilever powerhouse, and launched in the summer of 2006. The six main products are each united under a different color (I suppose it's for those times when you send your boyfriend to Walgreens with the objective to "buy the yellow one...") and come as shampoo, conditioner, and a 24/7 creme. This 24/7 creme is Sunsilk's "secret weapon" meant to be used between washing and styling to improve manageability. The Hydra TLC formula also includes a hydrating hair masque too. The product line's core ingredients center on plant and fruit extracts, with appealing fragrances in the fruity-floral notes.
To target the product's end-user and point out effectiveness, Unilever created solid problem-solving scenarios that include not only the hair issues, but mini-caricatures of the women who have them. Just who is this woman with the flat hair? How does she compensate for it? Ah, a "flip, fluff, and shake" maneuver - truly sophisticated. The entire branding presentation is witty, simple, colorful, and appealing.
In a truly market-forward move, Unilever also created two additional formulas that augment the Sunsilk line specifically for the Hispanic market: Anti-Caida, targeting dryness that is particular to Hispanics, and Anti-Esponja, that is meant to put "spongey" hair in its place.
Part and parcel of the entire brand are the Hairapy Guys - your best gay boyfriends to help you "laugh away hair and life dramas." The Hairapy Guys are the triplets of attitude found on the website that simply back up Cantone's voice-overs on the ad spots. While there have been a few other television spots, this one of the "deflating date" is the most memorable for me. The other memorable spots include "what's your dot?" with colorful dots pointing out the hair issues of the average girl-on-the-street, as well as the "fun toons" of retro-animated cartoons. My favorite is the one that makes a metaphor between an inflatable woman and flat hair - clever, especially in counter-point to the deflating date. The spots perfectly match the brand communication: colorful, funny, girlie, and clear.
I've said before that I'm a bit of a beauty-product snob, so the idea of paying only $3.59 for a bottle of shampoo sounds far too good to be true... So I ask you this philosophical question about marketing and brands: just because you like the brand, does it mean you must support the product? I know this gets right to the heart of the entire industry, but I wonder just what more Sunsilk could possibly do to make me cross over from a mere brand-appreciator into an actual brand-buyer...
Reader Comments (1)
Looks like we're both the type who love to analyze marketing :).