2023 Winner
SilverBest in Video Platforms
BronzeBest use of Technology
Shea Moisture
"We Are Hair"
PHD
"We Are Hair"
PHD
Shea Moisture is one of the most popular natural hair and skin care brands for women of color. With a long legacy of promoting and supporting diversity and inclusion.
However, with hundreds of new SKUs launching in the category every year, Shea Moisture has been struggling to maintain its expert position and capture the interest of their core demo of
black millennial women.
Major beauty and personal care brands have expanded their offerings to include products specifically formulated for curly and textured hair. While that is a step in the right direction for representation, it also results in a cluttered and confusing landscape for shoppers.
Black consumers spend 9x more on haircare than any other ethnic group, and yet over half of them report being unsuccessful in finding products suitable for their hair. Influencers have gained significant importance in recent years, as they are able to share their experience, advice, and tutorials on platforms like YouTube and Instagram.
Creators now represent 86% of all beauty content on YouTube and have become an important source of information for the natural hair movement. To reinforce our expertise, Shea Moisture needed
to be heavily invested in this community, helping shoppers make the right decision in the right
moments of consideration.
Beauty content on YouTube is a vast and deep well of information for consumers. And while it represents an immense opportunity for advertisers, it can also be difficult to be hyper
relevant to the content.
To be seen as experts, they had to act like it. This meant being present in the precisely right moments. To that end, they partnered with Silverpush to leverage “Mirrors”, the world’s first and only Visual and Audio recognition A.I. for YouTube. This allowed us to go beyond broad keyword, category and channel targeting and instead apply a frame-by-frame analysis of YouTube Video IDs.
This next-gen A.I. technology helped Shea Moisture target BIPOC hair and beauty influencers with messaging that was highly aligned and relevant to the content audiences were watching.
This creative to contextual alignment was key in building the trusted connection and peace of mind that only experts can provide.
They targeted videos with specific faces, such iconic BIPOC women, celebrity hairstylists, founders of black owned hair care and much more. For example, numerous videos were targeted where these celebrities were seen, either performing or in an interview about hair products.
They targeted videos with specific competitor hair product logos and black-owned makeup brands. They also included specific curly hair brand product logos such as Cantu and others, which kept Shea Moisture top of mind for audiences.
Targeted videos with relevant hair-related actions and objects –these included objects such as wide tooth combs, edge brushes, foam rollers and much more. They also targeted actions such as braiding hair, deep conditioning, and detangling hair.
The precision of Visual and Audio A.I. allowed us to be as tailored in their advertising as their products are for the diverse needs of textured hair.
By reaching a new level of granularity they were able to reinforce their expert position by producing a great user experience. They were able to optimize frequency to ensure brand lift across target audience and saw performance lift on viewability and VCR as a result.
The campaign was successful in breaking through in a highly competitive and cluttered environment with a 33% higher VCR than beauty category standards.
They effectively reached their core demo, with 30% of all campaign visitors coming from their primary millennial audience.
Most importantly, they increased interest in the brand and drove a 5% uplift in branded searches. They also delivered an 18% increase in website visitors during the campaign period. All helping to reinforce Shea Moisture’s leading position as an expert in the space of textured and curly hair.
However, with hundreds of new SKUs launching in the category every year, Shea Moisture has been struggling to maintain its expert position and capture the interest of their core demo of
black millennial women.
Major beauty and personal care brands have expanded their offerings to include products specifically formulated for curly and textured hair. While that is a step in the right direction for representation, it also results in a cluttered and confusing landscape for shoppers.
Black consumers spend 9x more on haircare than any other ethnic group, and yet over half of them report being unsuccessful in finding products suitable for their hair. Influencers have gained significant importance in recent years, as they are able to share their experience, advice, and tutorials on platforms like YouTube and Instagram.
Creators now represent 86% of all beauty content on YouTube and have become an important source of information for the natural hair movement. To reinforce our expertise, Shea Moisture needed
to be heavily invested in this community, helping shoppers make the right decision in the right
moments of consideration.
Beauty content on YouTube is a vast and deep well of information for consumers. And while it represents an immense opportunity for advertisers, it can also be difficult to be hyper
relevant to the content.
To be seen as experts, they had to act like it. This meant being present in the precisely right moments. To that end, they partnered with Silverpush to leverage “Mirrors”, the world’s first and only Visual and Audio recognition A.I. for YouTube. This allowed us to go beyond broad keyword, category and channel targeting and instead apply a frame-by-frame analysis of YouTube Video IDs.
This next-gen A.I. technology helped Shea Moisture target BIPOC hair and beauty influencers with messaging that was highly aligned and relevant to the content audiences were watching.
This creative to contextual alignment was key in building the trusted connection and peace of mind that only experts can provide.
They targeted videos with specific faces, such iconic BIPOC women, celebrity hairstylists, founders of black owned hair care and much more. For example, numerous videos were targeted where these celebrities were seen, either performing or in an interview about hair products.
They targeted videos with specific competitor hair product logos and black-owned makeup brands. They also included specific curly hair brand product logos such as Cantu and others, which kept Shea Moisture top of mind for audiences.
Targeted videos with relevant hair-related actions and objects –these included objects such as wide tooth combs, edge brushes, foam rollers and much more. They also targeted actions such as braiding hair, deep conditioning, and detangling hair.
The precision of Visual and Audio A.I. allowed us to be as tailored in their advertising as their products are for the diverse needs of textured hair.
By reaching a new level of granularity they were able to reinforce their expert position by producing a great user experience. They were able to optimize frequency to ensure brand lift across target audience and saw performance lift on viewability and VCR as a result.
The campaign was successful in breaking through in a highly competitive and cluttered environment with a 33% higher VCR than beauty category standards.
They effectively reached their core demo, with 30% of all campaign visitors coming from their primary millennial audience.
Most importantly, they increased interest in the brand and drove a 5% uplift in branded searches. They also delivered an 18% increase in website visitors during the campaign period. All helping to reinforce Shea Moisture’s leading position as an expert in the space of textured and curly hair.
Credits
PHDAmbica Chaudry, Director, PHD Canada
Camille Manosca, Planning Manager, PHD Canada
Sneha Iyer, Senior Manager Social, PHD Canada
Unilever
Maureen Kitheka, Brand Manager
Silverpush
Jeff McCann, Account Manager