The hair care market is fiercely competitive. With the wide range of choices available customers are able to select from a repertoire of preferred brands, taking advantage of price promotions. This is especially true of TRESemmé's key target audience -Savvy Style Seekers - who are always on the lookout for the next best thing. Traditional advertising has been successful in maintaining strong levels of awareness for TRESemmé, ensuring the brand remains top-of-mind; however brand loyalty is harder to instil.

For the brand to truly shine, spot ads alone weren't going to wash so a different approach was needed to create a deeper connection. The TRESemmé and Britain & Ireland's Next Top Model partnership on Sky Living HD was a UK first to include both sponsorship and product placement within a show. The key objectives of the activity were to: Improve loyalty, Improve brand positioning, Increase purchase consideration and Drive word of mouth.

To differentiate the brand, TRESemmé's unique positioning needed to be brought to life. Savvy Style Seekers can be tricky to reach through TV, but they are passionate consumers of fashion and style content. To create maximum impact it was important to find a credible way to enter their lifestyle and become part of the conversation. The solution was to partner with a can't-miss programme for this audience: the Next Top Model franchise on Sky Living HD. However, broadcast ads alone were not enough; full congruence and a multifaceted campaign was needed (details attached).

The overall campaign increased both talkability for the brand (69% for viewers aware of PP and sponsorship vs. 45% for non-viewers) and advocacy (79% vs. 61%) at mid-stage ii. Other brand value measures which moved positively include 'professional', 'value for money' and 'salon quality'. Those aware of the product placement element recorded enhanced scores across all these measures. In a tough market where premium products are under pressure, the TRESemmé brand was up 8.1% year on year [IRI £ sales 52 week ending 5th Nov 2011].

Overall the results were extremely persuasive, and convinced TRESemmé to extend its association with Next Top Model and Sky Living HD for the 2012 season. "We've found the ideal property which has significantly improved consumer brand attributes giving great results for long term brand health - and that's why we're coming back to make it work even harder for the new series in 2012." Mark Bleathman, Brand Director - Hair Category, Unilever