Pantene's "Breakup Salon" 11.11 campaign hits those heartache haircut feelings

While brands prepare for China's biggest shopping day of the year,?Pantene has launched a new campaign to join the annual festival's hype.

The campaign, which is titled ?The Breakup Salon", was?created under Pantene?s new??Great Hair Changes Everything" brand platform. Hosted by Chinese celebrity Jiang Sida, it centres around a beauty salon that has invited?newly-single women to go through the familiar post-breakup ritual of changing their hairstyles while talking about their relationship woes.?Three break-up stories were chosen for the series from an entry pool of thousands.

Mckey Lin, brand director of P&G, also said ?Seeing people go from breakup to breakthrough brings to life our brand and ambition. And being able to provide this platform was a first for our brand. By helping people embrace life changes that starts with great hair, this becomes a testament of why great hair changes everything.

Concluding the story-filled ad is the slogan ?Turn break-ups into breakthroughs", as Pentene aims to seem like it can play an active role in motivating those in desperate times and enable them to become confident about their future. It also hooks itself handily onto the singles day theme.

?Whether it?s a Blow Wave Him Goodbye or a See You Around Bob, we?re hoping The Breakup Salon helps more people discover great hair is the best revenge," said?Michael Knox, CCO of Grey Hong Kong.

It's a fine ad, if slightly drippy in feelings but it should relate to a lot of people who've gone through discovering themselves again once there's no longer a partner in the equation. Frankly, it's done the job without dipping too far into melodrama.

One thing that should help the ad's visibility is that this year's field of 11.11 ad entries has been rather sparse. Whether that's a cautionary response to larger socio-political issues, fears the 11.11 festival may be starting to lose cultural steam, or a fluke is hard to say. Regardless, Pantene has delivered a heartfelt attempt to incorporate hair into a singles story in an honest, natural way and would likely stand out in any event.

Credits

Grey Hong Kong

Global CD Pantene?Javier Bonilla

Chief creative officer?Michael Knox

Group creative director?Christopher Lee

Creative director Claudia Wong

Creative director?Jason Cornelius

Creative director?Laura Petruccelli

Creative director?Rohan Cooke

Copywriter?Jia She and Lisa Wan

Junior designer?Kimmy Kong

Business partner?Duffy Lau

Business director?Claudia McInerney

Senior account director?Jesppie Poon

Senior account manager?Frankie Lo

Senior account executive?Fred Yeung

Head of strategy?Owen Smith

Strategic planner?Alice Atherton

Head of TV production?John Lo

P&G

Brand director Mckey Lin, Yammy Yang

Communication director Heidi Wang

Brand manager Wilson Li

Communication manager Erric Li