NEW YORK — By dint of the rarity of their hair color, redheads are natural attention-grabbers. And now, with a new range of color-protective products dubbed Radiant Red, John Frieda Professional Hair Care is doing its bit to see that fiery types have a permanent home in the spotlight.
The third entry in a “trilogy” of color-specific hair care collections, Radiant Red follows in the successful footsteps of six-year-old Sheer Blonde and year-old Brilliant Brunette, both of which have helped push Frieda’s U.S. retail volume past the $200 million mark. In particular, the brunette range has been a standout, and is expected to exceed first-year sales projections by 30 percent.
Launching at the end of January, Radiant Red is aimed at an admittedly small slice of the consumer pie. According to Frieda’s research, only 14 percent of the U.S. population has red hair. Within that group, only 2 percent are natural redheads. But evidently, those who are red by design tend to be hypercommitted to their color.
“Women who decide to be redheads — and the majority of them are color-treated — have such passion for their color,” said Brigitte King, assistant vice president of marketing for Frieda. “We’ve traveled the country talking to redheads, and there’s this whole psychology attached to being a redhead. They’re all about their hair color.”
And they’re all about keeping that color, too. Per Frieda’s research into dye technology, red pigments are smaller than those used to create blonde and brunette shades. Consequently, during the everyday shampoo and rinse processes, red dyes tend to leach out twice as quickly, kicking off rapid color loss. “Fading is the number-one problem for redheads,” said King. “And because so many of them are color-treated, their hair fades faster than blondes, faster than brunettes.”
Another fading-related redhead woe is what King describes as “color shifting.”
“Color goes brassy, or they may get more brown than they’d like, or orange,” she explained. “Those shifts really bother redheads.”
To keep red color-true, Frieda has developed shampoo technology that both prevents the swelling of the hair shaft and makes dyes less water soluble. Via two types of silicones, the conditioners act as a further pigment trap. Even the styling products are laced with a proprietary “red defend” ingredient complex.
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In total, there are six Radiant Red items, each priced at $6.50: Color Keep Anti-Fade Shampoo and Color Last Conditioner for brighter, more vivid shades; Color Keep Anti-Fade Shampoo and Color Last Conditioner for deeper, richer shades; Color Envy Daily Color Sealer, and Color Finish Super-Hold Hairspray.
In a continuation of the “House of Experts” approach to brand development that aligned Sally Hershberger with Sheer Blonde and Richard Marin with Brilliant Brunette, Frieda has tapped editorial superstar Kerry Warn as the guiding light behind Radiant Red. London-based Warn, a hairstylist who has been affiliated with Frieda since 1991 and holds the title of international creative consultant, has numerous magazine covers to his credit, as well as ad campaigns for Prada, Chanel and Gap.
But perhaps more importantly, Warn is the go-to guy for one of the world’s most prominent redheads: Nicole Kidman. Since parking himself on the set of “Eyes Wide Shut” for nearly two years in the mid-Nineties, he has collaborated with Kidman on virtually all of her recent movies, including “The Hours,” “Stepford Wives” and the upcoming “Bewitched.”
“Kerry has been a wonderful contributor, in terms of helping us evaluate what redheads really care about,” said King. “The opportunity to work with him made this a very creative, fun project.”
To support the launch, Frieda will break a print campaign in April books. Shot by Patrick Shaw, the ad visual features a model sporting what Frieda determined is the “most aspirational” shade of red. “We wanted really flowing, vibrant red hair,” said King. “But we also wanted a very impactful visual, because redheads have a lot of attitude.”
Boasting a streamlined, sophisticated look with a colored background, the Radiant Red ads were the catalyst for a subtle tweaking of both the Sheer Blonde and Brilliant Brunette imagery. By mid-2005, the entire color care lineup will be unveiled in a new multipage campaign. “We’ll lead the portfolio with the red image, followed by the brunette and then blonde,” said King. “I think we’ll see a real John Frieda impact in print that we haven’t had before.”
Although Frieda executives would not discuss figures, industry sources forecast a first-year retail volume of $20 million for the Radiant Red collection.
“Radiant Red completes the vision,” said King. “When we launched Sheer Blonde, we were targeting the 21 percent of Americans who are blonde. With Brilliant Brunette, we reached another 60 percent. Now, with Radiant Red, albeit so much smaller, we’re addressing an additional 14 percent. So when you add up those numbers, John Frieda finally has a voice for 95 percent of the population. We’ve reached critical mass.”