Developing a new professional hair colourant: L’Oréal
We proudly consider ourselves experts in both consumer and business research; and interestingly often find the 2 worlds of B2C and B2B aren’t quite so separate as we sometimes think.
Another of our long-standing multi-national clients, L’Oréal, approached us with a fascinating business issue. They had developed a revolutionary professional hair colourant, and now needed to understand the most relevant product positioning.
We developed a bespoke and truly unique approach based on pro-conso studies:
Firstly, all day salon workshops (during which we tested product formulas with hairdressers, observed the applications, and interviewed both consumers and professionals whilst the product was being used).
Then followed up with focus groups with professionals at the end of each workshop; and diaries with consumers to understand their satisfaction with the end result over a 4 week period.
The learnings we gathered from the first wave of research helped the team adjust the formulation; and back we went into field, with a second wave of activity, which consolidated our knowledge base. The combination of consumer and professional insight over a longitudinal study gave the team a validated product positioning and absolute confidence in their winning formulation.