TL;DR (A QUICK SUMMARY)

To sustain momentum from Nair’s successful Worship Yourself rebrand, we launched Prep & Smooth Face, a modern facial hair removal innovation designed for younger women who were dissatisfied with traditional methods. In a crowded category and against outdated perceptions of Nair, we introduced a product-led campaign that reframed facial hair removal as a personal choice, not a social mandate. Through our campaign “Bossy Hand,” we reclaimed control over the face, spotlighted the product’s ease and skin-friendly benefits, and re-established Nair as a modern, relevant brand for the next generation.

THE BRIEF

Background

In 2022, Nair reintroduced itself through the Worship Yourself brand platform, driving strong sales growth and gains in unaided awareness among women ages 18 to 24. With renewed relevance and cultural momentum, the brand was poised for its next phase of growth.

The following year, Nair expanded its hair removal portfolio with a new innovation, Prep & Smooth Face. The product was designed to help consumers easily remove facial hair while creating a smooth canvas for skincare and makeup application.

Featuring an ergonomic applicator, Prep & Smooth Face offered a touch-free, mess-free solution for removing peach fuzz on the upper lip, chin, and cheeks in just minutes.

Target

• A crowded facial hair removal category with many competing methods and tools.

• Outdated perceptions of Nair among younger consumers, with few viewing the brand as modern, mess-free, or gentle on skin

• The need to balance a strong brand point of view with clear communication of a new product benefit

Assignment

Develop a product-focused campaign that encourages young women to reconsider Nair and choose the brand’s new facial hair removal innovation, Prep & Smooth Face.

Strategy

To develop the strategy, I synthesized cultural signals around women’s faces and bodies in the public eye, conflicting beauty expectations, and the tension between choice and judgment in personal grooming. Rather than reducing these inputs to a single-line insight, I wrote a strategic manifesto to capture the emotional contradiction at the heart of the category. This became the north star for creative, grounding the work in self-agency while clearly laddering back to the product and brand platform.

The Idea

Bossy Hands.

Society believes it gets a say in how your face should look, but it is your face and your decision.

Bossy Hands uses a bold, memorable creative device where hands intrude, point, block, and gesture, symbolizing the outside voices that constantly comment on women’s appearances. By physically placing these hands around the face, the work makes social pressure tangible while reinforcing the product’s core benefit: facial hair removal, clearly and immediately.

The idea allowed us to elevate Nair’s brand meaning while keeping the focus firmly on the face, ensuring fast recognition of what Prep & Smooth Face does and why it matters. At the same time, it reframed facial hair removal as an act of self-choice rather than compliance, reinforcing Nair’s modern point of view for a younger audience.

Results

• 4% lift in unaided awareness

• 5% lift in consideration

• 6% lift in purchase intent

• In November 2023, Prep & Smooth drive $5.5M in total sales.