In its biggest product launch since the 2001 debut of Garnier Fructis in Canada, the L’Oreal brand is launching a new line of anti-dandruff haircare products targeted at Canadian men.
With TV and OOH creative by Publicis in Montreal, online creative by Sid Lee in Montreal and media by ZenithOptimedia, the idea was to “sell a shampoo like we would a beer,” says Samuel Bussieres, group product manager, Garnier Hair Care.
TV features a man cracking open a bottle of Garnier and then pouring it on his head in the shower, mimicking the sights and sounds of a traditional beer ad. The spots are airing on sports specialty channels, including TSN, Sportsnet and RDS, from September to January. TV will also
include sponsorships on TSN’s That’s Hockey and CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada.
Online, the “Brewed for Men Only” theme continues with a video to be distributed via social media, which shows 10 different ways to “Crack open a fresh one” (meaning shampoo) and invites people to submit their “crack open” videos. An interactive game within leaderboard and big-box ads will run on websites frequented by guys.
In addition to drumming up awareness, another goal of the campaign was to get the product into the hands of Canadians to experience for themselves, Bussieres says. A partnership with Good Life Fitness in Toronto, Nautilus Plus in Montreal and Fitness One in Vancouver will see Garnier Fructis Anti-Dandruff Shampoo placed in the gyms’ shower shampoo dispensers, accompanied by indoor posters, samples at front desks and branded shower curtains. Products will also be handed out at sports events in November at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto and the Bell Centre in Montreal.
The launch campaign will push on through Christmas (ending Jan. 3) with a sponsorship of the World Junior Hockey Championships
in Buffalo, NY.