The New Nation - Internet Edition

BUSINESS REPORT

Sunsilk has recently handed over gift coupons to another 100 girls for availing makeovers at Persona. This activity is the follow up to the "Boishakhi bodoler din" campaign where a complete makeover including makeup, hairstyling, Boishakhi saree from design houses, ornaments and flowers were given free to 100 girls at the dawn of this year's Pahela Baishakh.

The activity was motivated from a universal research by Sunsilk where it was found that hair, more than anything else, influences and represents self expression and self esteem in a girl's life. The research found that more personal than clothes and more malleable than skin, hair defines the girl, and it can have a transformational impact on the way she lives her life. In fact it was found that more than any other girls in the world, Bangladeshi girls (96 per cent of them) use their hair to instantly transform their looks. Hair is the trigger that enables girls to make life happen now - and only Sunsilk truly understands the very real effect hair can have on a girl's happiness and confidence.

Inspired from all these findings, Sunsilk launched a consumer promotion for self-service store shoppers, who upon purchase of only Tk 250 worth of Sunsilk products could get the chance to participate in the promotion by completing the phrase-"What does Baishakh mean to me" and be one of the lucky 100 women to receive a Sunsilk makeover at Persona. The campaign was communicated through point-of-sales merchandizing and thousands of entries were received by the team who had to choose the best 100 answers that best exemplified the festive mood of the day and the "life can't wait" attitude that Sunsilk emphasizes. As Sunsilk believes that if their looks and especially their hair can be transformed they will be more confident in transforming their lives - to make life happen - because with beautiful hair now, life can't wait.

During the award giving ceremony, the winners were first introduced to the thought behind the new philosophy of Sunsilk "life can't wait" and the different variants and product formats that were launched recently.

Later they received a virtual makeover by uploading a digital picture on to the makeover machine software on the site www.gangofgirls.com, an exclusive Sunsilk website for Bangladeshi girls. The new website provides information on all the products of Sunsilk, hair care tips, shampooing advice and "life can't wait" stories of the international icons of Sunsilk - Madonna, Marilyn Monroe and Priyanka Chopra.

Persona, which is one of the leading beauty salons in the country, has supported this promotion and renowned Beauty expert Kaneez Almas Khan, who is also the exclusive hair style expert for Sunsilk, was present at the prize giving ceremony. She spoke about her long-standing relationship with Sunsilk for more than a decade and the importance of good hair care through the use of Sunsilk's complete range - shampoo, conditioner, lotion and treatment.

Mrs Khan said, "Persona shares the same belief with Sunsilk, that the style of a woman's hair has a transformational impact on her life and Persona has been working over the years in matching female's personalities with their entire look and making beautiful girls even more beautiful. We are very proud today in supporting Sunsilk in this." The winners also got an exclusive session with Kaneez to ask her about their hair care problems.

Through this initiative, Sunsilk tried to contribute in transforming looks of 100 girls which will indeed boost their confidence level and thus will enable them to change their life as well, says a press release.