The Brief Bring young users to the brand. Create a campaign to convince them to try femfresh and it part of their daily personal care routine without feeling embarrassed. Audience: women 18-24 year olds who spend more time looking after themselves, who are actively looking for beauty messages.
Initial Ideas KEY - THE BRAND NEEDS TO BECOME COOL TO GET RID OF NEGATIVE ASSOCIATIONS AND NOT BE EMBARRASSED TO USE IT. Using the concept book I had been reading I applied different methods of advertising to approach this brief such as selling to the opposite sex, making the negative association the positive, don’t reveal - imply etc. This allowed me to come up with various ideas and really establish what I needed communicate.
Initial Research I tried to aid my ideas by finding visuals. Through this type of idea generation I was able to establish what was working from each idea and what wasn’t. Through a process of elimination I discovered the tone of voice I needed to use to be able to approach the audience. I needed to make sure the campaign idea stayed away from the connotation of smelly attached to the brand as that suggests they need to buy the product due to this reason which is not the case. The negative had to be approached in terms of the brand being uncool, not youthful and embarrassing due to its nature of care.
Research One brand that approaches the beauty word with a strong tone of voice is Anatomicals. This is humorous, bold and confident and voices about body problems without embarrassment. This is the kind of ethic I wanted to apply to Femfreshs reformed brand identity as it really connects with the young audience.
Aesthetic In order to engage with the target audience of 18-24 year old females I chose a campaign tag-line that was straight to the point and would actively achieve the two needs of the campaign; to get rid of the embarrassment attached and to tell them to try the product: ‘Forget the taboo, use bum shampoo’. I made design decisions about how to display this statement and connect with the young audience. I visualised a over the top characterised female pulling a shocked face when I saw this statement. This kind of expression is a bit over the top and silly but add to the humorous aspect.
Due to the campaigns approach of it being a ‘taboo’ I chose a modern take on the vintage 1950’s and pop art atheistic. This is due to a ‘taboo’ being an old-fashioned term as well as the fact that it’s characteristically old fashioned to be embarrassed about such topics in the present day. This is an atheistic that the target audience can engage with as the retro, kitsch style is still very popular within young females in fashion and other areas of design. This can be seen similarly in current brands such as Soap ‘n’ Glory, a cosmetic range which uses vintage black and white photography as part of there brand identity.
Design Development As the aesthetic I was going for was vintage 1950’s I sourced old images of females from that which tended to be painted illustration or over the top photography. As I found it hard to find the right expression being used in this decade I sourced other images of just the right expression trying to get that exaggerated look.
Design I found an image of Marilyn Monroe which fitted the expression as well as the styling of that decade. It was important the features such as the hair and accessories of the image I based my design on worked with the vintage styling to get that overall look. Using one image in particular I used the colour palette and line strokes for inspiration.
I went over the photograph in illustrator creating my own pop art vector illustration. I experimented with various typefaces to try and get the right one to work with the phrase. It needed to be bold and make a statement without taking away from the actual phrase with decoration etc. I chose this font because it worked alongside the illustration was popularly used in 1950s advertising.
Layout I experimented with colour and layout incorporating the polka dot pattern to reinforce the modern vintage style. I tried to use the femfresh bold blue to bring hierarchy to the phrase in the campaign as well as apply there current brand identity to it without making to much of a strong connection with the past brand.
The final advert uses eye catching imagery and bold colours to attract the attention of the audience. Femfresh’s bold blue is also used to highlight the key tag-line of the campaign by outlining the speech bubble which is acting and reinforcing that it is the voice of the brand, giving it a strong hierarchy over and strong contrast against the rest of the bold elements.
It's expert care for down there.
#BUMSHAMPOO
#BUMSHAMPOO
#BUMSHAMPOO
The Campaign The fun and light hearted campaign as well as the combination of deliberately selected media will help tackle the embarrassment of the type of products femfresh are associated with and battle the brands past negative stigma.
Copy Short snappy rhymes would be used as the brand language. This allows the brand to speak to the audience about different things whilst still maintaining the campaigns concept. The copy can be pushed, developing the campaign over time once the healing of the past associations has begun, creating conversation amongst the audience and the brand.
These phrases could be used to connect with different narratives in which the target audience may associate with, extending the campaign. Narratives of getting ready for an event or a daily beauty regime as an overall process with the product built in as part of it will normalise the use of the product as well promote it’s need.
It's Expert Care For Down There.
DON’T BE SHY GIVE IT A TRY #BUMSHAMPOO
Femfresh - The Trial
The concept from the tag-line can be carried on extending the original adverts into a campaign carrying a recognised brand message and a new identity. To enhance publicity of this new identity and interact with the target audience it would use a viral social media campaign alongside it’s printed advertisements. In order to reach the audience who are actively seeking new beauty methods and products the campaign would be advertised around and before beauty you-tubers, bloggers and on fashionista sites/blogs. By linking the product with these well known and trusted personalities the audience would gain confidence in the product and it’s image. As an extension of this Femfresh could create beauty videos of young females within the target audience that have trailed the product and who openly discuss the positive effect it has had for them. This helps element the taboo of using a specific product for ‘down there’ and creates a familiarity for the audience. People feel more comfortable about a topic after seeing someone similar speak about it so confidently. It encourages them to be at ease with the topic to, removing embarrassment.
It's expert care for down there