HERBAL ESSENCES
Establishing Performance Naturals in Southeast Asia
Challenge
The Natural Haircare segment in Southeast Asia was still small but showing rapid growth potential. Herbal Essences, once famous for its iconic 90s commercials and long-lasting scents, was no longer seen as relevant to today’s beauty shopper. The category itself faced a deeper barrier: consumers believed natural brands did not “work.” To them, efficacy belonged to cosmetic or salon brands, while natural care was associated with messy DIY remedies or dated heritage products their mothers used.
Insight
In-home immersions, KOL focus groups, and social listening revealed a core tension. Women loved the idea of naturals, but they didn’t trust them to be effective.
When they picked up a bottle labeled with ingredients like argan oil or coconut milk, they rarely knew:
Why these ingredients were good for hair
Whether the quality of those ingredients could be trusted
After all, they compared ingredient quality in food—why not in beauty? This gap in knowledge fueled skepticism.
The aha!
Efficacy is not just about “natural ingredients”—it’s about botanicals with proof.
By reframing naturals as botanicals backed by science, Herbal Essences could credibly bridge the gap between efficacy and nature.
How could Herbal Essences prove that “natural” can deliver the performance she expects—while still feeling authentic, modern, and relevant in her beauty routine?
Botanicals with Proof
Because natural should do more than look good on the label.
Action
‘Naturals’ Consumer Insight
Produced in-depth reports on the Southeast Asian naturals segment. We segmented naturals consumers across level of knowledge & involvement within the naturals space.
Identified culturally resonant touchpoints and sensorial cues that mattered most. What triggers an Aussie vs. Malay natural consumer (packaging, formula, visuals, textures) are vastly different!
Refined Herbal Essences’ brand architecture to serve diverse regional needs. Our ‘new to naturals’ segment enter via sensorial benefits (scent is still core to the brand!), and those more involved in the space enter via Performance Naturals — showing the authenticity of our botanicals & efficacy of our formula for her different hair needs
Partnership that centres on Botanical Fingerprinting
If consumers are discerning about ingredients in their food (Is it organic?Sourced from where? Is it the highest quality?), why not with the ingredients she uses in her haircare products?
We partnered with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, the leading authority in botanicals to help select the right natural ingredient to go in the product, certify the authenticity and quality of the botanicals that go in every bottle. Each botanical has a ‘fingerprint’, allowing scientists to check for the quality of the ingredients without adulterants, comparing it vs. their samples.
From this, we built a mutli-year campaign platform anchoring in scientific proof:
multi-year campaign platform anchored in scientific proof:
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Partnership: across all touchpoints (bottles, influencer & press trips to Kew Gardens, and beyond)
Sustainability Campaign: “Save 20 botanical species by 2020,” tying naturals to meaningful impact.
In-Store Digital Education: interactive content on botanical fingerprinting and provenance.
Creative Partnerships Online
Forged strategic collaborations across digital (TikTok, Google, Meta), e-commerce (Shopee, Lazada, Tokopedia), and offline retail.
In Indonesia, our online sales were growing ahead of offline (~40% of business was in eCom); so our TikTok campaign (#ShampooHealing) directed to a full dedicated eCom plan (drive search, fast starts, Livestreams, quarterly campaigns)
Impact
Reversed brand decline and delivered double-digit growth within one year.
Achieved #1 Natural Haircare Brand in Southeast Asia.
Drove +19% business growth, establishing Herbal Essences as the benchmark for Performance Naturals.
Herbal Essences Indonesia eCOM business grew by +61%, becoming the most talkable natural brand online.
Learning
Ground naturals in proven efficacy to overcome skepticism.
Not one segment (‘naturals’) consumer are the same. Cues are vastly different across markets, and may exist in a spectrum of knowledge & level of involvement. Design accordingly based on potential entry cues.
Leverage partnerships (scientific, cultural, and retail) to reframe category codes and drive trust.
