H&S needed to reposition itself as the leading anti-dandruff solution in Japan, where it was far from top of mind and consideration and lagging in an overly cluttered market. In Japan, cleanliness (seiketsukan) and presenting yourself as immaculate is a foundational part of the culture. That’s why dandruff is known to be a sensitive hygiene issue and the Japanese market is still underdeveloped in terms of anti-dandruff solutions. Even though dandruff is common with 41% of Japanese men having experienced dandruff, very few men dare speak of their scalp issues openly and lack information about how to get rid of them.

In Japan, cleanliness (seiketsukan) makes dandruff a sensitive topic of conversation. To help h&s - the world’s leading anti-dandruff shampoo - stand out, we looked beyond category conventions and tapped into the loved anime context to create a character people could aspire and relate to.

In this series of films, we meet Ando, a suave spy who has all the right moves… but also dandruff, just like the audience. With a light-hearted approach, we showed how dandruff always gives him away, until he stumbles upon h&s Scalp, the solution to all his problems. A solution accessible to all men with dandruff out there.

The campaign aims to help men break free from the stigma that surrounds dandruff and open up conversations by approaching the topic in an unexpected way. By telling the relatable story of how dandruff can get in the way of everyday life and tapping into the popular anime context, H&S hopes to relieve Japanese men’s fear of judgment over dandruff in a new way; with a light-hearted tonality that destigmatizes the topic and offers a simple solution.

To stand out in the country of anime, we chose a 2.5D animation approach - mixing realistic settings with the liberties 2D animation allows for, heightening both the action and humour of the film.

In 2.5D, the backgrounds are created and rendered in 3D - giving each scenario a grandeur and stunning look that you don’t see in regular animation. Over these meticulously crafted locations, we overlaid characters that were designed to the smallest detail in 2D - a choice that gave us freedom and speed to animate and tweak as needed. And to create the intriguing contrast between background and foreground we were going for. Throughout this process, we faced a tight timeline, with reviews and tweaks on the same day. Therefore, the choice of 2D for characters was particularly important.

The campaign has been a major success for Head&Shoulders brand in Japan, reigniting the market for their male line, which had been stagnant for over 5 years.

The films have garnered over 131 million views on social media, 74 million views from TV, generating a 7000% + spike in conversations around our brand and the issue of dandruff, $16 million in earned media with coverage across 12 countries, an increase of 160% in brand search, a 27% Engagement Rate vs 3-4% benchmark, an 87% Reach vs planned 78%, and a 52.7% brand recall lift.

Using exciting and engaging entertainment, we broke all category conventions to build a unique and ownable space for Head & Shoulders in Japan.