Kérastase
The Brand
In the luxury hair care category, Kérastase has no peer. With an undeniable heritage behind it—they actually invented luxury hair care in the 1960s—the brand makes elite Parisian beauty rituals a reality in salons and homes around the world. With a modern combination of culture and innovation, the brand cause, Power Talks, is an extension of its longtime tradition of listening to women and responding supportively.
The Task
At the dawn of the ‘20s, Kérastase burst forth with a new blockbuster range, Blond Absolu, and an audacious new attitude to go with it. By 2022, the tag line You Dare, We Care had become a battle cry, not just for ballsy bottle blondes but as a call to women around the world to harness their inner power and join forces to change the world. With feminist Brand Ambassador Emily Ratajkowski at the helm, Kérastase forged a new era as a culture-shifting brand.
After months of research, Kérastase learned that 74% of women say they lack confidence in their career-defining moments. The brand began to search for a way to help close the “confidence gap,” the distance between the way women view their abilities, self-worth and futures compared to men. It wasn’t enough to come out with a campaign and tagline stating its support for women’s issues—Kérastase wanted to leverage its status as a beauty industry leader to become a true cultural force that would help women understand what they are capable of.
The Execution
In 2022, Kérastase unveiled Power Talks, a new brand cause and platform where women share their stories and support one another through IRL mentorship. Working closely with the Kérastase team, we shifted the narrative from legacy hair brand to that of a vital cultural force. After building a lexicon and verbal structure to express the brand’s pro-social aspirations, we developed a series of internal documents and press releases to guide all brand markets, as well as the public, on the nature of the Kérastase purpose and how it relates to advanced hair care.
The Power Talks project began with a multi-part event in Paris combining a power-woman summit with a classic Kérastase soirée. Featuring Ratajkowski as well as influencers, artists and business leaders from around the world sharing their struggles and triumphs, the global event is a microcosm of the brand’s post-pandemic identity. Now in its second year, Power Talks has yielded content for many platforms and media, including a book, a podcast and social campaign. Kérastase continues to work with non-profit organizations in several countries to offer on-the-ground, flash mentorship programs to support young women.
Projects
Event Copy:
Power Talks Paris 2023
74% of women say they lack confidence, compared to men, in their career-defining moments. In an effort to close the “confidence gap” the Kérastase brand cause provides mentoring for young women. Understanding intimately the power of storytelling to change the world, the brand hosted it’s annual global “Power Talks” event in October 2023, featuring copy by c.black on the walls of Paris’ iconic Palais de Tokyo.
Publicity:
Editorial Dossiers
Each groundbreaking Kérastase product launch requires a hard look at how the new range will fit into the brand’s unique positioning. With every drop, we create a verbal world for the new product line to exist and a detailed, multi-page press kit that highlights the hair technology as an answer to consumer desires and editors’ demands.
Print Collateral:
Power Talks Book
To commemorate the brand’s first-annual Power Talks women’s empowerment conference, we edited a compilation of speeches and conversations that took place at the event in October 2022. Featuring advice and allegory by celebrities, artists and business leaders such as Emily Ratajkowski and Kérastase President Rosa Carriço, the book includes powerful pull quotes and original introductions in an impactful, artful layout that brings the brand cause to life.