As the largest healthcare and beauty care chain store in Asia, Watsons was looking to develop a new range of botanic haircare products to communicate with the growing Muslim market in Southeast Asia. Using dedicated ingredients and extracts from nature such as black seed oil, black cumin and jasmine, the halal range needed to communicate a balanced appeal that was natural and sophisticated, yet bring out the unique culture of the region.

Drawing inspiration from in-depth research on the Muslim culture, and Indonesia’s batik art, the team from Brandimage China created a family of illustrations with a clear and strong product identity, maximizing impact with ownable and unique visual elements. The colors provide subtle hints as to each product’s key functions, such as utilizing green for the Ice Cool shampoo.

As the target market is more mature than teenagers (18+ years) and possesses substantial purchasing power, the product range needed to stand out against traditional competitors and pop out on shelf. Hence, the packaging had to strike a delicate balance between sophistication, culture, natural-ness, and beauty.

The range is advertised as both halal and containing natural ingredients, and was first launched in Malaysia and Philippines before rolling out to the rest of Southeast Asia.

About the Author

Aaron Song graduated with an MA from the University of Auckland and joined Ogilvy Action, later moving to TBWA Shanghai and then working as Senior Account Manager in OOOKINI prior to joining Brandimage.