Bio-Oil has been a staple of the skincare market for three decades, their Oil has been loved by people with scars and stretchmarks the world over.
In 2018, they came to us with their new product - Dry Skin Gel. It is a revolutionary product, but in a very different category with a very different target consumer. To-date Bio-Oil had been a much loved but very specific solution. Dry Skin Gel was designed to move them into every bathroom in the UK. We'd have to effectively start from scratch.
We were briefed to develop a strategy, creative campaign and media plan that would drive awareness and then trial of Dry Skin Gel.
With such a complex challenge, a smart and robust approach was needed:
1. Research
Launching a new product to a new audience meant that all the brand's insights to-date were only partially relevant. We got into the shoes of the dry skin sufferer and uncovered three biases that would get in the way of purchase: the perception that the causes of dry skin are limited, and underlying fear of oily products, and "premium" being the reserve of face-care. We therefore needed to educate consumers before we could expect trial and purchase.
2. Creative
No one wants to be preached to or "educated" by a brand, so we used social-first video as our primary weapon. We focused on distilling complex, and scientific, information into snappy, digestible and human copy and combining it with an eye-catching (and thumb-stopping) visual character to match. Alongside the social-first video we harnessed Stories, animation, studio photography and user-generated content to package that information in digestible, and repeatable, ways.
3. Targeting
Using customer data we built an audience of 10 million people who fitted our consumer profile amongst whom awareness and consideration needed to be built. We then created a media plan that used re-targeting to bring control to the consumer journey - the wrong piece of content at the wrong time could alienate our already sceptical target audience.
4. #GoodbyeToDry
One of the key biases we had to overcome was the mis-perception that the causes of dry skin are limited and unique to those with eczema. The truth is that thousands of everyday things - air-con, travelling, washing your hands, certain clothing fibres - cause irritation and dryness. Understanding the effectiveness of "peer" recommendation in the world of skincare, we worked with a series of influencers from all walks of life to show the everyday parts of their life that give them dry skin, and of course how they say #GoodbyeToDry with Bio-Oil.
5. Social Sampling
The final hurdle for any great, new product is to get it in people's hands. We worked with SoPost to deliver 20,000 samples of Dry Skin Gel via Instagram and Facebook to get the product in the hands of the most engaged fans and followers, and collected valuable consumer data for the client along the way.
