Omega Pharma
Creation of the HairClinic campaign and TV advert

One of the key challenges in the HairClinic brand’s communications was to maintain the product’s positioning as a professional ‘hair expert’, whilst ensuring the brand spoke to its audience in a friendlier, more direct and memorable way. The advert had to both rationally explain how the product works and emotionally connect viewers with the issue of hair problems.

HairClinic’s target audience consists of women and men who experience problems with hair loss, weak or brittle hair. The communication therefore had to address them in a way that did not make exaggerated promises, but made it clear that it is worth paying attention to the warning signs your hair is giving you.

A particular challenge was that the campaign had to work not only on television but also across online and offline platforms. A creative concept was needed that could be told in a visually striking way in the TV commercial, yet easily adapted for other channels.

Progressive approached the task from an unusual angle: it presented hair problems not from the perspective of the target audience, but from the perspective of the target audience’s hair. This gave rise to the ‘talking hair’ concept, in which it is the hair itself – rather than the salon’s clients – that voices its complaints: it is brittle, falling out and has lost its body.

This creative solution made the problem both more understandable and more memorable. Rather than the film speaking directly about the condition of the hair, it personified it, making it easier for viewers to connect with the topic on an emotional level. The concept also retained HairClinic’s professional character.

We also built the role of the brand ambassador, master hairdresser Tamás Zsidró, around this idea. In the film, he is the one who literally ‘speaks the language of hair’, meaning he picks up on the signs that viewers should also be looking out for. This approach made his character more relatable, whilst reinforcing HairClinic’s positioning as experts.

In the TV commercial, we had to make the concept of ‘talking hair’ clear in just a few seconds using lighting and cinematographic techniques. We integrated the product demonstration into the filmed footage so that the advert would not be split into emotional scenes and rational explanations, but would function as a cohesive, easy-to-follow brand story.

The HairClinic campaign introduced a fresh, memorable creative solution to a traditional product category. The TVC refreshed the brand’s image whilst retaining its professional, expert tone and HairClinic’s positioning in relation to hair care.

The concept of ‘talking hair’ helped to present the topic of hair problems not merely as a rational statement, but as a more relatable, human situation. The campaign also reinforced Tamás Zsidró’s role as an expert, whilst lending a more likeable, direct brand voice to HairClinic’s communications.

The long-standing strategic partnership between Progressive and Omega Pharma provided an important foundation for the work. Brand awareness and integrated thinking enabled the TVC to be structured not as a standalone film, but as a campaign concept operating across multiple channels.