Brave joins £20m Sunsilk relaunch

Peter Simpson, PR Week UK, Friday, 31 October 2003, 12:00am,

Lever Fabergé (LF) has hired Brave PR as part of the £20m UK relaunch of its Sunsilk brand, eight months after appointing Cairns & Associates. Brave takes over the account from January, after a four-way pitch involving the incumbent, Revolver Communications and Freud Communications.

Brave account director Helen Trevorrow will lead a six-strong team and report to Sunsilk brand manager Ali Morris. Brave joint managing directors Annabel Hillary and Charlotte Ashby will have ‘hands-on’ roles.

‘Some major changes are planned for PR during next year,’ said Trevorrow. ‘LF was looking for an agency that can give a broader reach, because it is to launch new Sunsilk products next year.

‘We have an absolute client split and we offer across-the-board reach to make the brand stand out in what is a very crowded category.’

Sunsilk shampoos and conditioners were discontinued in the UK more than a decade ago. Sunsilk hairspray was discontinued last year. The brand returned to stores in March 2003 in a multi-million-pound bid to revive its past successes.

Cairns, handed the Sunsilk account last February without a pitch, retains consumer PR for LF’s Impulse, Sure, Timotei, Vaseline Intensive Care and Persil Non-Bio brands.

‘We didn’t have a lot of time to prove ourselves,’ said Cairns deputy managing director Charlotte Clarke. ‘The client appointed a new marketing and brand manager a few months after we were hired and she had different ideas. It’s a one-off situation and we still increased business with LF on several accounts.’