CPB creates a fresh face for Oxy

Coley Porter Bell has refreshed the branding and packaging for Glaxo SmithKline’s teenage skincare range Oxy, as the pharmaceutical giant moves to revitalise the brand in a bid to grow market share.

The work is the culmination of a ten month project for the group, which was appointed after a three way credentials pitch.

GSK group brand manager John Parton says the company realised it needed to implement a major overhaul of the brand to continue to appeal to its core teenage audience.

‘Teenage consumers are extremely savvy and can easily spot an imposter,’ he says. ‘Our positioning moves away from health messages and appeals to both boys and girls because it reflects their irreverence and passion for life.’

According to Coley Porter Bell creative director Stephen Bell, the group’s audit of the competition revealed a category that ‘traditionally presents spot treatments as clinical and sanitised’.

‘The rest of the category is all about efficacy and is targeted at a female audience. There is an assumption that [these products] need blue [colourways], bullet points and a generic language’.

Oxy’s revamped packaging features a red colour palette and updated logo, with an ‘X’ formed by two figures dancing. A male figure is included to underline the product’s unisex appeal.

‘We wanted to get to the heart of being a teenager,’ Bell explains. ‘It’s about being funky, attractive and flirty and focuses on the benefits of feeling and looking good.’

Tone of voice and copy has also been updated – with descriptors such as ‘get it off’ for face wipes and ‘get steamy’ for shower gel – that Bell describes as ‘adding wit to a medicinal category’.

The teenage skincare sector has seen a spate of activity in recent months. Clearasil rolled out range extensions last year (DW 13 February 2003) targeting older consumers.

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