How John Frieda By Kao Is Using Out-of-Home to Turn A Relaunch Into A Shared Cultural Experience

Digital advertising can follow consumers almost everywhere now, which is exactly why so much of it disappears into the background. For a 38-year-old legacy haircare brand, there are different methods to announce a meaningful reinvention. Physical visibility carries a different kind of cultural weight because it unfolds in shared public environments people collectively experience in real time. That's the thinking behind a recent campaign activation to support John Frieda’s global relaunch, which pushed bold new creative across the London Underground and UK bus networks to make the brand feel newly present, not just newly promoted.

Claudia Sternberg, Senior Global Brand Communications Manager for John Frieda at Japanese beauty company Kao, is part of the team driving that strategy and direction along with Kathryn Hill and Armin Haery. Based in London, she built her career around global brand consistency and localized messaging and marketing activations. At Wolverine Worldwide, she previously led a global product launch that sold through 100% of stock in ten days and won a Drapers award. Now, she is applying that rigor to a heritage haircare brand that is looking to be seen, and heard, differently.

"Out-of-home is a great channel to be more creative and physically attention grabbing because it does stop people in their steps. Online, there are digital ads, social, so much content, it’s information overload. It can be harder to stop people and create that interaction," says Sternberg. For the relaunch, the team deliberately expanded into out-of-home channels as a way to create the kind of physical presence digital channels often don't deliver. The campaign leaned into hyper-local, contextual copy across the London transport network, and was a collaboration between the Global and Local brand team. They used lines like "See it. Smooth it. Sorted" a line inspired by the London Underground slogan and "Stand Clear, Big Hair Coming Through" to make the relaunch feel woven into the city itself.

Tone-of-voice balancing act

For legacy brands, getting louder can easily tip into sounding forced or disconnected from the identity consumers already recognize. John Frieda addressed that challenge by building clear tone-of-voice guidelines designed to keep the relaunch expressive without drifting into inauthenticity. The team created a messaging framework rooted in the founder’s beliefs and the brand's original story, separating communications into two modes: expressive creative for channels like out-of-home and television, and a more functional voice for product pages and owned digital platforms. "One is more expressive, which we lean into for more creative ways of messaging like out-of-home or TV," Sternberg explains. "The other is more functional for our product pages and website, though still infused with our brand personality. Whenever you hear from John Frieda across different channels and markets, it sounds consistent."

Maintaining that balance required close coordination between the global brand team and local markets applying the work in real-world environments. Regular cross-market sessions gave teams space to share creative learnings, discuss local audience behavior, and collaboratively shape campaigns that fit both the broader brand strategy and regional context. The process allowed ideas tested through the London Underground and UK bus network activations to inform later out-of-home executions in Germany without flattening local nuance. "Markets often come up with great ideas, and at the end of the day, it all needs to be filtered through a consistent brand lens," Sternberg notes. "That's what helps consumers across the globe really understand or relate to a brand."

From awareness to affinity

For John Frieda, the relaunch ultimately extends far beyond a single out-of-home campaign. The Global John Frieda team views physical media as one part of a broader communications ecosystem designed to create shared experiences that begin in public spaces and continue circulating online through social sharing, earned media, and community conversation. Alongside the London Underground and UK bus activations, the brand is expanding into in-real-life events in markets such as the US, Canada, France, Australia, and Mexico, as well as tutorials, partnerships, and a redesigned mobile-first website, all supported by a growing global TikTok presence and ongoing social listening across markets. "Even if people aren't experiencing it physically themselves, seeing the experience online still creates that connection," Sternberg says. "We're leaning into being more bold and more expressive, and we know that in doing that, you do generate more reaction organically. Seeing that organic reaction is a great added bonus."

The relaunch is also anchored by a new 60-second portfolio film in partnership with award-winning creative agency VCCP, designed to reinforce the brand’s broader creative world. Set to a custom-composed soundtrack, the spot introduces an immersive "John Frieda street," where every resident moves through a stylized neighborhood shaped by great hair and recognizable brand moments. Instead of relying on traditional product-heavy messaging, the campaign focuses on atmosphere, confidence, and emotional immersion as a way to visualize the brand in everyday life. "It's a really fun, entertaining video, and the goal was not to push product or messaging," notes Sternberg. "Instead, it’s an invitation to look at this John Frieda street where no moment in life is to small for great hair, it’s elevating that feeling of incredible hair every day."

Taken together, the relaunch signals a broader shift in how the company approaches long-term brand building. Sternberg says the focus now extends beyond short-term campaign spikes and toward building sustained affinity through consistent touchpoints and emotionally recognizable experiences. The "Salon Attitude. Every Day." platform acts as the connective thread tying the strategy together, linking out-of-home, tutorials, TikTok content, events, and portfolio storytelling into a unified communications ecosystem designed to keep the brand culturally relevant over time. "We really have a vision where what we're delivering is going to make people feel their best, about themselves and their hair," Sternberg concludes. "I think this relaunch has given us a future-proof platform and foundation to be able to continue to engage with consumers and have long-term partnerships."