A hairy crime

September 1, 2009 at 11:22 pm (Media Relations, PR Campaigns, PR stunts, Strategic Communication) (beauty, crime scene, Dove, hair)

Exhibit A: hair crime victim, Zoe.

A creative take on the traditional media release has seen PR agency, One Green Bean, transform an upmarket hair salon in Sydney’s Walsh Bay into a crime scene for a day.

Dove’s new range of Heat Defence Therapy hair products was launched with a crime scene theme in an effort to engage beauty editors with the products, and position them as the solution to the “self-harm epidemic taking place across the nation’s bedrooms and bathrooms.”

One Green Bean creatively used the launch as a way to “create a memorable experience for editors, who are bombarded with new product launches.”

The media component of this launch successfully leveraged support from the key publics’ most likely to report on the efficacy of the products, instead of blanketing many journalists – they even included beauty bloggers.

The launch was a great length to go to instead of just sending out a media release, but I think it speaks volumes about the dwindling effectiveness of the out-dated release format. Also, creating a memorable experience for the targeted beauty journalists/writers is a great relationship building tool that will serve Dove well in the future. I ask you, what beauty editor wouldn’t love to be chauffeured to a salon set up as a ‘Hair Crime Unit’ complete with coffee and cinnamon doughnuts?

To set the scene further, staff from Dove and One Green Bean dressed up as crime scene investigators and handed out ‘evidence’ of hair crimes, that included images of mutilated hair shafts as seen through a microscope and then showing a solution, as well as a demonstration to prove the results.

Exhibit B: hair crime victim, Yasemin.

The outcome of the launch was many editorial leads for the brand, including a story on beauty website www.primped.com.au, and coverage in a range of weekly and monthly publications.