Olaplex on Wednesday (April 2) launched a multichannel campaign, “Designed to Defy,” showcasing the way its science-backed hair care products can overcome the damage that daily life and styling can do to hair. The effort, which helps introduce a larger brand revamp, represents the first creative work under CMO Katie Gohman.

“Designed to Defy” launches with a spot that highlights the power of healthy hair with “Bridgerton” star Nicola Coughlan, fashion designer Jenna Lyons and Olympic sprinter Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, alongside their personal hair stylists. The full campaign, which includes out-of-home (OOH) ads and a pop-up experience, was crafted with emotion in mind, marking a departure from the premium brand’s previous strategy.

“This idea [that] Olaplex can deliver your healthiest hair and it can allow you to defy expectations and have confidence in your everyday life — that’s a platform that people really want to be a part of,” Gohman said. “That’s probably the biggest difference between anything that you’ve seen from Olaplex for the last three to five years, which was always beautiful hair … but there was never as much soul as what you’re going to feel from this.”

The ad kicks off as Coughlan asks her stylist, “What should we do?,” to which he responds, “With hair this healthy? You can do anything.” The focus then shifts to the rest of the talent lineup, including Lyons and McLaughlin-Levrone, each a symbol of confidence in their own right. Together, the women and their stylists discuss how they should approach their looks, whether it’s “go big,” “go bold,” “let it go” or “let it grow.”

The spot will run in six-, 15-, 30- and 45-second versions across connected and online TV. In addition to flexing the confidence that Olaplex offers, the work is meant to embrace the relationship that clients have grown to have with their personal stylists, Gohman said.

Rooted in emotion

Emotionally-led marketing is not only at the center of Olaplex’s latest campaign, but also its larger refresh, Gohman explained. The brand, founded in 2014 and developed by chemists, has always been rooted in science, asserting that its patented bond technology can repair disulfide bonds, which provide molecular-level structure to hair. The products were originally marketed to professionals and didn’t enter consumer channels until 2018.

In a brand tracking study assessing how consumers regard Olaplex, the marketer’s science bona fides rang through. However, a deeper connection was lacking.

“Research all showed that we scored really high on science and efficacy, and the consumer loved the brand and product, and the pro loved it, but there wasn’t necessarily an emotional space that people went to when they thought of Olaplex,” Gohman said.

That sentiment was also shared by Gohman, who stepped into the CMO role in July. While the beginning of the refresh work pre-dated her arrival, one of the executive’s first conversations with CEO Amanda Baldwin was around better aligning the brand with values, such as confidence, that the product delivers.

The refresh unveiled on Feb. 25 is meant to strike a chord with both pros and everyday consumers. A redesigned logo embraces Olaplex’s existing font system but appears bolder, while a new typography underneath the logo swaps previously all-capitalized letters for text meant to feel calmer on the eyes. The refresh introduces a new color, dubbed “Olaplex red,” to the formerly black-and-white brand visuals intended to signify the passion of the pro.

New creative will feature eight global ambassadors for the brand, each of whom are high-profile stylists or colorists, alongside their clients. The creative emphasizes “hands in hair,” according to Gohman, and the movement of healthy hair, even in a still image.

“The way we re-shot the product was to be much more evocative of a world that you want to be a part of versus a plain pack shot on a white ground that you might have seen historically,” said Gohman.

Building better bonds

Supporting the marketer’s campaign is a pop-up event called the Olaplex Bond House that will kick off April 5-6 at 45 Grand St. in New York and exist in various forms over the next year and beyond. The space invites consumers to take part in a digital hair analysis scan and have their results presented to them by experts before receiving an Olaplex service. Then, participants can step into a studio for a photo moment designed to immerse them in the campaign.

Rounding out the push are digital OOH ads in areas including lower 14th Street in New York City and wild postings at some of the brand’s key retail partners in the city’s SoHo neighborhood. Olaplex also unveiled a new product around its refresh, the No.0.5 Scalp Longevity Treatment. The offering, which retails for $44, is designed to help with long-term scalp and hair health.

Olaplex’s brand refresh was supported by consultancy Fundamentalco while its “Designed to Defy” campaign is executed by Droga5. The campaign will run throughout the year.

A refreshed brand and marketing campaign could help Olaplex rise above a difficult period for business. After several consecutive quarters of sales declines, the marketer posted a full-year net sales decrease of 7.8% to $422.7 million in fiscal 2024, per an earnings statement.

Gohman is a key part of the company’s efforts toward generating consistent sales growth, CEO Baldwin said around her appointment. The executive is tasked with overseeing the execution of Olaplex’s global marketing and driving affinity with both stylists and consumers. Gohman views moving the brand further into the digital space and prioritizing analytics — two areas that were most in need of a boost when she arrived — as key to advancing Olaplex forward.

“Continuing to create great brand communication, but build it for the digital space specifically, and then being able to test and learn and iterate and understand and be able to measure is just critical for the brand’s success,” Gohman said.