Nair Takes Iconic 'Short Shorts' To A New Level With A New Campaign

Nair, the depilatory with which many Baby Booming girls came of age in the 1970s to the tune of "Who wears short shorts?," is saying goodbye to all that with a new commercial campaign called "Like Never Before."

With sexy moves, hot clothes and club-like music representing the evolution of the 77-year-old brand, the campaign--developed by The Joey Company out of New York--acknowledges the brand's equity, "Short Shorts," but morphs into a new "girl power" production number.

Fatima Robinson, famed for her choreography for "DreamGirls" and this year's Academy Awards, created and directed the number for Princeton, N.J.-based Church & Dwight, which markets Nair.

The effort backs recently launched product lines, Nair Sensitive Formula Collection and Nair Pretty, which targets teens.

New Nair products work on all body parts, not just legs--and contain natural botanicals with fresh scents. They also work quickly, in as little as three minutes (a third of the time it used to take).

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The $11-12-million campaign debuted yesterday and runs through July, targeting women 18 to 34, and appearing in 15- and 30-second spots on network and cable during such shows as "American Idol," "Dancing With the Stars," and "Desperate Housewives" as well as on MTV and other programs involving music and dance.

Print will run in such magazines as Shape, Style, Glamour and Us Weekly. A full online campaign will focus on beauty and fashion and include iVillage as well as weather.com, where Nair's target often goes to check on beach weather.

For Nair Pretty, print will show up in Cosmo Girl and Seventeen magazines, with Seventeen's June issue carrying a sample of the kiwi spray and peach cream. Stacey Feldman, VP/ Women's Health and Personal Care, says Nair also targets the first-time hair remover. "We are a safe way for young teens to go about it and we advertise as well to their moms in places like Redbook," she says.

"It's really important to have a holistic message and reach your consumer not only on TV, says Feldman. "What we've done is taken the message from TV, converted it to print and will do the same in store and online. The target will see the same visuals, the same graphics.

"For Nair Pretty, we're giving out product samples in Delia's ,and their dressing rooms will have our messaging as they try on bathing suits and shorts."

Feldman says the company has been improving the product for many years now and every year launches improvements, adding fresh scents and making it easier and faster to use as well as less irritating.

It also has product for men called, appropriately, Nair for Men, which it is marketing via word of mouth at the time. Feldman says the company plans to start promoting the products online and next year in print. "It's really got a wow factor in stores; it comes in a bright silver bottle and it does pop," she says.

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