By Elaine Wong

Pantene enjoyed its pop-culture moment back in the mid-1980s when model Kelly LeBrock shampooed her hair on TV and told the world not to hate her because she was beautiful. Millions of women with frizzy, split ends hated her anyway—but they ran out and bought lots of Pantene.
Procter & Gamble’s workhorse line of hair-care products has changed since then. Pantene switched from a product line based on hair type (dry, fine, oily) to the “end look” (smooth, moisturized, shiny) in the late 1990s—and helped change the way women shop for shampoo. Today, Pantene’s tagline is “Healthy makes it happen,” a sentiment that’s a tad less exclusionary than the chic-and-mean exhortations of the go-go ‘80s. But category fragmentation (the haircare aisle seems to add another “new” formulation every few weeks) and competition from branded collections (Walgreens’ bioInfusion and TreSemmé by Alberto Culver, to name just two) has pushed Pantene dangerously close to the distinction of being your mother’s shampoo.
P&G hopes to stop that slippage with a major brand restaging that will feature a new formulation (including 13 new ingredients used for the first time), bolder packaging, easier-to-organize collections and, interestingly enough, a reduction in the real estate it takes up on the shelf. In the past, Pantene’s rainbow of formulas clawed its way all the way down the aisle. Now, P&G says it will organize Pantene’s varieties into “pillars.”
Time will tell if these measures will suffice, especially since the sector “hasn’t been growing at all,” according to P&G North American haircare marketing director Julie Marchant-Houle. In fact, the $1.1 billion shampoo category has been in decline for years. Sales were down 2.3 percent last year, per SymphonyIRI, a market research firm whose data does not include Walmart sales. Unilever’s Suave Naturals was the only one of the top four sellers to see growth, with dollar sales up 2.8 percent. (Sales of Pantene Pro-V Color Revival regular shampoo, for instance, are down 6.3 percent.)
Onto this challenging landscape comes the revamped Pantene—whose new formulations seem to have returned, at least in part, to the old days of categorization by hair type. Pantene is now divided into four distinct hair structures: fine, medium-thick, curly and color-treated. Within each category, women can choose a variety according to their individual needs. For example, a shopper with fine hair has her choice of the subformulations “Flat to Volume,” “Dry to Moisturized” and “Fragile to Strong.” That’s still a lot to choose from, of course, but the four-pillar organizational structure does simplify things from what they were before.
P&G also has a specific kind of shopper in mind for the new Pantene: “Women who are really looking to improve their hair, have a lot of dissatisfaction [with it] and want to have the best hair possible,” according to Marchant-Houle. P&G’s labs have been busy for six years working on the new varieties, which are based on the company’s studies of how different hair fibers react to shampoo, conditioner and styling products.
In the past, shoppers could only choose from what P&G terms “vanilla,” or preset, formulations. The new Pantene line allows women to zero in on a formula that’ll actually do what they need. “The intent, in going toward a more customized design, is that you can better deliver on the benefit,” says P&G senior scientist Jeni Thomas. “It’s still focused on delivering an ‘end look,’ but doing it in a way that’s right for the hair.”
P&G has launched a new marketing campaign (via Grey, New York, and SMG United) to get the word out about the Pantene revamp. It’s a full-court press of TV, digital, print, in-store and social media components. The line has already started showing up in major retailers like Target, and P&G brass expects a full roll out by the end of this month.
Pantene’s marketers clearly recognize that, with so many bottles and brands already clogging the store shelves, sampling and education will be very important. The Web site is already set up for that. Visitors to Pantene.com are told, “New Pantene is here!” and then presented with a series of tabs—including one for a “personal consultation”—that walk them through the new products. P&G also launched a “Reality Hair Star” contest that’ll give the winner a chance to appear in a TV ad alongside brand spokesperson Stacy London. (Broadcast journalism student Marissa Hopson was announced as the winner last month.)
Some observers are skeptical about just how new Pantene’s new formulations are—or whether another batch of colorful, innovation-laden bottles is really what’s needed to jumpstart the sluggish hair-care category. But Taya Tomasello, senior analyst with Mintel, gives P&G credit for innovating while also making the effort to reduce the category clutter.
“They’ve taken a look and [asked] what consumers want, what they need and how they can give them [that] without giving them too many options,” she says. “We might see other brands follow.”    

TreSemmé’s Parlor Game

In the posh and pampered realm of high-end hair salons, “dry shampoo,” a spray or powder product used to keep hair looking fresh between washings, has long been a key part of any stylist’s toolbox. In today’s time-starved world, dry shampoos are very popular, but there were no brands selling it on store shelves for ordinary mortals—until recently. In April, Alberto Culver (maker of Nexxus and VO5) introduced Fresh Start as part of its best-selling TreSemmé brand. The timing seems just right. The still-sluggish economy has seen women cutting back on costly salon visits and looking for hairdresser-approved results on their do-it-yourself tresses. TreSemmé has actually been around since 1947 and for years was a salon-only brand. Alberto Culver purchased it in 1968 and has been getting marketing mileage out of its salon heritage ever since. (The company’s sales rose 11.8 percent for the second quarter, largely because of TreSemmé.) According to Derek Bowen, global vp for TreSemmé, Alberto Culver, continues to focus on making consumers aware of what he calls the brand’s “professional-affordable” positioning. “Regardless of the economic climate, consumers appreciate a salon-quality product without the salon price,” Bowen says, echoing the brand’s tagline. TreSemmé products are popularly priced (a 32-oz. bottle of TreSemmé Shampoo Natural With Vitamin C and E sells for $4.95 on Amazon), and most come in industrial- looking black containers (another salon touch). Though Bowen says that the brand’s marketing isn’t necessarily geared toward recession-era austerity, the stretch-your-dollar message is clearly woven into the constant reminders that TreSemmé is what the pros use. TreSemmé’s recent introductions, for example, include Color Revitalize, which will protect your expensive dye job for up to 40 washes.
     TreSemmé has inked print and digital partnerships with media entities like Hachette Filipacchi-owned Elle. Last month, it kicked off “Dirty Little Secret,” a print and digital Web graphic novel that chronicles “the lives of savvy, stylish and single women living in NYC.” Alberto Culver will roll out the 10-Webisode series on a bi-weekly basis, while print ads will drive consumer traffic to the site, where, by the way, you can watch videos of professional stylists using TreSemmé products. — E.W

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