GARNIER
The Blends' Room
In February 2017 beauty care giant, Garnier UK, celebrated the re-launch of the Ultimate Blends hair care range with their #BlendedWithLove campaign. To amplify the campaign, Worth was appointed to design, build and activate a 3-day pop-up store in the heart of London’s Soho, called the Blends’ Room. Across the 3 days, consumers were invited to try out the latest hair trends, enter a GIF booth to share The Blends’ Room experience using the #TheBlendsRoom hashtag, receive a personalised shampoo bottle and take part in a number of wellbeing and fitness classes – all for free!
Client /
Garnier
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Role /
Design Director
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Agency /
Worth Retail
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Year /
2017
Strategy
The aim of Garnier’s first ever UK pop-up was to raise awareness of Ultimate Blends and express their fun and cheeky personality – something that is difficult to achieve on shelves alone. Garnier also wanted to further their ‘feel good, do good’ motto by focusing on the natural goodness of the ingredients. To achieve this, Worth devised an experiential pop-up strategy which focused on the senses – allowing consumers to see, touch and smell the honest components of the products.
“The smell in here is great! There’s a braid booth and you can print your own label for your bottle which is such a cute idea. It’s a really nice experience and there’s lots to see and do.”
Fearne Cotton
Garnier Brand Ambassador
Pop-up design & build
The Blends’ Room, hosted in 15 Bateman Gallery, was totally transformed with every inch of the space representing the Ultimate Blends brand. Over 500 hours, 100 litres of paint, 60 square meters of white oak flooring and solid wall cladding cut to size on site, culminated to one impressive feat and the most ambitious build the gallery has seen to date!
Look, touch & smell
Consumers were immersed into the world of Ultimate Blends the minute they stepped inside with an array of scents leading them to the engagement zone. Here, they could uncover the full product range, discover their preferred blend and personalise a free 400ml shampoo bottle with a label featuring one of the 6 ‘declarations of love’ designs. Stepping down in to the activity room, shoppers could have their hair braided, enter a GIF booth and share their moments on social media for a chance to win a year’s supply of Ultimate Blends. Over 3 days, 800 customers had their hair braided, 1,600 collected a personalised bottle and over 1,900 GIFs were taken with 57% of those shared immediately to Facebook and Twitter!
The live art
To help consumers visualise the natural goodness of the Ultimate Blends ingredients, Worth commissioned the wonderful artist, Ana-Marie Pasescu, to create 4 seven-foot tall shampoo bottles made from live art pieces including fresh flowers, natural honey and wheat. These were dotted across the pop-up and helped bring the brand to life.
The events
Inside The Blends’ Room event space, visitors could attend inspiring wellbeing talks and trendy fitness classes. Over 3 days, 10 experts held 17 classes which included: an exclusive ‘Beyoncé Barre’ class by FRAME fitness studio, a talk from the founder of Boom Cycle, Hillary Rowland, a coaching session from Mikaela, founder of She Almighty and a talk by fitness blogger The Food Medic aka Dr Hazel Wallace, amongst many others!
“What we truly loved about Worth's approach was the concept of the live art – it’s a really beautiful way to express the brand and it brings the modernity that we were missing before!”
Lizz Wainwright,
Senior Product Manager, Garnier
The publicity stunt
A 10-foot tall live art piece of the Honey Treasures bottle was strategically placed in nearby Neal Street with the aim of disrupting passers-by and amplifying the campaign. Hit squads circled the area and promoted the brand by handing out 23,000 monodose samples and providing directions to the pop-up. The live art gained traction both in the street and on social media, with the likes of Holly Willoughby sharing it on Instagram. Those who posed beside the piece and shared their moments using the #BlendedWithLove hashtag, were entered into a prize draw. The lucky winners received a holiday to South Africa!
Media & online coverage
Over 30 pieces of pre-launch media coverage in publications such as Time Out London, Metro and Stylist, intensified the ripple effect surrounding The Blends’ Room, attracting impressive crowds. Garnier also trialled Facebook Live for the first time in the brand’s history, in a bid to amplify the pre-event buzz and build excitement. The video was received with tremendous success, garnering more than 2.8 million views and over 800 reactions. Click here to watch the video.
Results
Over 3 days, more than 2,000 customers visited The Blend’s Room; a personalised bottle was collected every minute; 23,000 mono-dose samples were given out; the pop-up reached over 174,000 social media users; more than 17,000 Facebook users clicked to find out more about The Blend’s Room; 2.8 million individuals viewed Garnier’s Facebook Live video; and showbiz OTE reached nearly 60 million. For the full results see the infographic below (photo credit: Event Magazine). The pop-up was a resounding success and will undoubtedly be the first amongst many future Garnier pop-ups.
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