How Many Ingredients Must I Use to Nourish My Hair?

CHALLENGE: Branded hair oils were declining in sales because people were shifting to home-made / unbranded hair oils.

In the beginning of 2023, Kumarika was facing a massive problem. The inflationary economy and shrinking disposable income meant that people were moving away from branded hair oil and into unbranded or home-made hair oils. Especially among the younger consumers, hair oiling as a ritual was not well established, making the category less relevant for them. Thus, there was significant volume degrowth for the entire branded hair oil category.
Kumarika was the market leader in the branded hair oil category and something needed to be done to stop the brand from being dropped out of the purchase basket.

From a consumer perspective, branded hair oil - unlike soap, toothpaste, or even detergent powder - is not an essential item. The vast majority of Sri Lankans still apply unbranded coconut oil to their heads. Looked at this way, Kumarika was a “challenger brand” in the broader hair oil market.

Kumarika was now losing share because consumers believed that every hair oil is the same – oiling your hair is just a basic step / everyday habit, and that every hair oil does the same thing. For people, there was no reason for choosing to pay for something “expensive” when the (unbranded / home-made) oil at home does the same thing. We needed to give consumers a reason to stick with Kumarika Hair Oil.

Furthermore, as the market leader, Kumarika needed to build the category the category and establish why it is important to oil your hair using a branded hair oil.

IDEA: Why should you be trying different home-made therapies (oils) when you have everything in Kumarika?

Through this campaign, we wanted to focus attention on the whole range of natural ingredients in Kumarika – as a means to justify the price premium.

The creative hook was achieved by highlighting the stress caused by people’s behaviour in searching, sourcing, processing, and applying the raw ingredients on their hair while all of it is available in a bottle of Kumarika – ready to apply with ease and better efficacy.