Know How’s strategy is headed by Pearlfisher

Pearlfisher has created the brand strategy for hairdresser Michael Van Clarke’s nascent haircare brand Know How, in a project worth over £100 000 in fees to the group.

The 15-product range launches in the UK next month ahead of a planned international launch later this year. The group has designed the product’s packaging, identity and created the Know How name.

According to Van Clarke, the group’s brief was to provide an identity that would stand out from the ‘hundreds’ of other brands in the hair-care market.

‘There’s too much out there and most of it is not serving the customer but causing confusion,’ Van Clarke says. ‘I wanted a professional quality product for a mainstream audience. The packaging – the colour, shape, textures and fragrances – all had to be instantly attractive.’

Pearlfisher creative partner Jonathan Ford says the creative treatment combines Know How’s brand values of style and clarity.

‘Knowledge is the new luxury and consumers want that knowledge,’ he says.

‘None of the packaging for this range talks about marine ingredients or botanical elements. The product is plain talking and the copy has a straightforward, stylish tone of voice.’

Pearlfisher deputy creative director Sarah Butler says the group has tried to distinguish the products’ ‘smoothing and volumising’ capabilities in the identity.

‘We chose the cool blue for smoothing, to signify cleansing and champagne pink to signify the more nurturing benefits of the volumising products,’ she explains.

The group has been working on the project for a year and was appointed after a credentials pitch against an undisclosed number of consultancies.