Different cares for different hairs

Hair care is one of the biggest cosmetics categories, to which one of the smallest, hair styling is closely connected. Large companies typically manage several prestigious brands in parallel and communicate with the different target groups through customised messages. In Henkel’s portfolio Schauma, Gliss Kur and Syoss offer both hair care and hair styling products, while Taft specialises in hair styling. Senior brand manager Zsuzsa Sipos told our magazine that besides consumers looking for mass brands with basic functions, a growing proportion of buyers are looking for quality products. The latter are also searching for additional product advantages such as natural ingredients. Unilever concentrates on hair care where they are present with their Dove, Baba and Sunsilk brands. According to category operations assistant manager Gabriella Székely, consumer demand for hair care products changes with the weather. Henkel’s expert opines that brand loyalty is more characteristic of the hair styling category: consumers are more open to try new shampoos but with conditioners they are less willing to experiment and stick with their good old brand. Unilever’s experience is that in the last couple of years consumers preferred trustworthy old brands like Baba shampoo – Baba products are now available in discount stores too. This year Henkel launched Schauma Superfruits Nutriotion and Superfruits Vitamin shampoos and conditioners. Their Gliss Kur brand came out with the Satin Relax product family – these products contain an anti-frizz formula. Henkel’s latest brand Syoss presented Syoss Smooth Relax shampoos and conditioners and Syoss Fix & Smooth styling products for women; for men they put Syoss Men Power & Strength and Syoss Men Clean & Fresh shampoos on the market. Unilever launched the Dove Repair Therapy product family that uses Micro Moisture serum and Fibre Active technology to restore the structure of hair and to prevent split ends. Henkel supported the launch with TV and magazine ads and POS materials. Unilever’s strategy is to use a wide range of marketing tools but they do not forget about the in-store visibility of their products either. Shoppers like price promotions, duo pack and trio pack solutions and extra (+25%) for free offers.