Launching a new brand into a competitive market

Challenge:

Create and launch a new brand into a highly competitive market.

Background:

In 2005, as now, skincare was a brutally competitive category. Clearasil, Clean & Clear, Neutrogena, Oxy – heritage brands with deep pockets – were all fighting for share of the lucrative teen spot treatment market. Our Client entered the fray looking not for victories in a few battles, but to win the war. We started with two big assets – a strong brand name and a uniquely effective formula. We were able to tell an audience desperate for help that ‘Freederm works’.

Solution:

We stopped talking about spots. We started owning freedom.

Our advertising-led media strategy became an integrated one:  TV, press, digital and social. We partnered with other strong youth brands, giving our audience the chance to be an MTV presenter for a day. We started making irreverent, entertaining Big Brother sponsorship idents. We sponsored BB again and made our most ambitious TV ad to date, ‘Good Morning Freederm.’ From 2014 we ditched the rulebook entirely and created a series of confidence inspiring brand characters on TV and online – Mr Scratchy, and Goose, amongst them. Freederm Gel is still about efficacy. But that truth gives us permission to do things that make teens love the brand. These days, we take Freederm out to meet our audience at events like V Festival. 

Results:

We did what we set out to do. Freederm has become the UK’s No. 1 spot treatment brand; the Freederm range is the 4th biggest medicated skincare brand.

In 2016 Freederm was voted one of the top ten most engaging brands for UK ‘youth’. Up there with Apple, Urban Outfitters and Nike.

Today, Freederm has grown up in every sense – new, smart packaging is broadening its appeal to the primary shopper (parents) as well as users (their teenagers). It is also now available and promoted in a broader set of channels, from Amazon Stores to TikTok.