In a saturated category that is littered with claims and promises that consumers hardly ever listen to, Pantene needed a campaign that would engage the jaded consumers in the Philippines and break the ice with them.

It was a tall order but Grey Group Asia Pacific in collaboration with Grey Kuala Lumpur and Grey Group Singapore took on the challenge, even if it meant skating on thin ice – literally and figuratively.

There was renewed interest in ice-skating which was triggered by Michael Martinez, a Filipino ice skater – the first figure skater from Southeast Asia and the tropical zone to compete at the Sochi Winter Olympics. Riding on this trend, the team found a way to make the proposition relevant with the campaign, Pantene Hair On Ice.

A billboard-sized image of a model with luscious hair was printed on water and ice proof material, and installed on to the ice of an Olympic-sized rink. The image was manually doused with over 2,500 gallons of water and was frozen for 30 days in -5 degrees Celsius temperature. Pantene’s name and tagline were also branded on the rink’s ice-smoothening truck. All in all, it took eight weeks to complete.

The hair installation was then opened to ice-skaters where the ice inevitably got scratched therefore, damaging the hair visual. During the ice surface maintenance, which occurred every three to four hours, the Pantene branded truck came into the rink to repair the damage which demonstrated to the public what Pantene delivers in real life.

The campaign garnered 100% participation from the ice skaters and there were up to 700 participants a day, and a 7.6% share of conditioners category in May which represent a 16% increase versus the same month in the previous year.

“Ice skating rinks have been available for a long time but no one has harnessed its potential as a communication medium in this way. The Pantene Hair On Ice campaign innovatively allowed us to show that Pantene can in effect repair hair damage and the results were incredibly good,” Grey Group Asia Pacific regional executive creative director Javier Bonilla said.