In 2010, the Suave brand was expanding their Professional hair care line to include six new products infused with natural ingredients. In addition to garnering attention for a product line extension the brand suffers from low quality perception by consumers. The challenge given to Weber Shandwick was to gain attention for the new products and surprise consumers with the salon quality performance of the entire Suave Professionals line.

To generate mass awareness of the Suave Professionals® salon proven performance, we needed to get product into consumers hands so they could try it for themselves, drive traffic to the Facebook page and Web site so consumers can get more information and bolster our beauty credentials to prove the salon quality commitment of the brand. As a solution, the Weber Shandwick team signed on a team of celebrity stylists and created a “surprising” event that elevated the brand’s beauty credentials.

Partnering with Modern Family actress Sofia Vergara, the team treated New Yorkers to a surprise “hairography” flash mob performance in Times Square, representing the surprising performance of Suave Professionals products with almost 200 dancers sashaying and swinging their beautiful hair!

As part of the New York appearance, Vergara and Suave Professionals\ gave spectators free full size bottles of product and one-on-one consultations with the Suave Professionals Celebrity Stylists - Luke O’Connor, Theodore Leaf and Leo Rocco.

To spread the message beyond New York City, the first 100,000 people to visit Suave.com nationwide received a free full-size product and hair advice from Suave stylists at www.suave.com/AskTheProfessionals. For every bottle given away, Suave made a donation to The Women’s Funding Network, a coalition of foundations around the world that contribute to women's and girls' organizations dealing with social justice, global security, financial power and women’s health.

Research:

The performance brought to life the results of a new survey where Suave invited 1,000 salon stylists to test a “mystery” product and share their feedback. After trying Suave Professionals® shampoo and conditioner, 70 percent of the stylists said the products work as well as or better than what they use in the salon.

OBJECTIVES

• Generate mass awareness of Suave Professionals® salon-proven performance
• Get moms to proactively choose Suave Hair products for herself (and her family) by making the brand more culturally relevant
• Drive new product trial


STRATEGIC APPROACH

• Put the spotlight on Suave Professionals’ performance credentials through a surprising and attention-grabbing activation
• Drive new product trial and significant buzz for Suave Professionals through a compelling consumer promotion
• Issue a consumer call-to-action to garner traffic to the new suave.com
• Build Facebook presence and increase fan interactions

EXECUTION

Modern Family star Sofia Vergara helped showcase Suave Professionals® surprising performance by making a surprise appearance and performance in Times Square.

• Almost 200 dancers participated in a flash mob performance
• 24 media outlets/photographers attended
• 11 on-site interviews conducted with SofiaVergara
• Brand ambassadors delivered key messages to consumers with a full-size sample of Suave Professionals Almond & Shea Butter Shampoo

At the surprise performance, Vergara announced a free-bottle giveaway for 100,000 consumers at suave.com. Facebook ads also drew attention to the free offer, building our fan base and driving engagement. After the performance, the flash mob video was posted to YouTube and our Facebook page for fans to view and pass along.

In the days leading up to the performance, Vergara appeared on the Today Show and the Rachael Ray Show to tease the performance and announce the 100,000 bottle giveaway.

RESULTS

Vergara conducted 13 media interviews, including two in-studios, to promote the new Suave Professionals® line. The actress promoted our surprising news by explaining the salon-quality performance of the products, while also driving traffic to both the Suave Beauty Facebook page and Suave.com. Media coverage included high profile television, print, radio and online placements—including placements in US Weekly, People En Espanol, People.com and E! News.

• More than 1,200 media stories, ANR placements, blog posts and tweets
• Sofia conducted 11 interviews at the event
• 77 + MM impressions
• The Facebook page garnered over 64,000 “likes” – an increase of 979% in five days
• The 100K bottle giveaway lasted only three hours