VO5
/ ABOUT
VO5 was once an iconic British haircare brand that had lost its way. In January 2025 it relaunched with new packaging and two new products, Curl Detangling Milk Spray and Dry Heat Protect Spray, and needed social content that gave Gen Z a reason to care and felt at home in an organic feed, not like an ad.
The Idea
The overarching idea was "Whatever your hair day": hair is different every day, and VO5 is for all hair types. Curl Detangling Milk had one territory, "The Village", built on the brand team's insight that brushing curly hair can be a challenge, and on the idea that you don't need a village of products, just one. Dry Heat Protect had a dual benefit: it protects hair from heat damage, and it lets you restyle dry hair between washes. That gave it two territories, "The Morning After" and "The Text from the Ex". Each was built as a suite of 15-second and 6-second cuts for 9:16 social, designed to sit naturally in an organic feed. With mirror and phone POV, scrolling type and TikTok-style transitions, the films read as native content, not corporate ads.
Social Concept 2: “The Morning After“
Social Concept 1: “It takes a village“
Social Concept 3: “The Text from the Ex“
Original storyboard, with camera and post notes.
Storyboards & Animatics
The relaunch's new identity, and its animated AMP in particular, was the natural way to land the work, but in the original storyboards the AMP came at the end of each film, over the talent's face, and the transition at the centre of the before-and-after moment lacked impact and brand equity. We pulled the AMP forward and had it emanate from the product, so it marks the moment of change, shows the product's impact, and doubles as the screen wipe in a TikTok-style transformation reveal. The brand's identity animation became the moment each film turns on, and it carried through all three routes.
Animatics
From there I planned the production. I decided what we needed in camera and what in post. All three routes were storyboarded, covering each scene, product placement, graphics and UI, and I turned the boards into timed animatics with the graphics and transitions in place. That let us refine timings and explore the motion possibilities before we set foot on location.
On The Day
On a single location shoot in South East London, with talent, hair, make-up and wardrobe, I co-directed the creative on set with Creative Director Tim Noble. I ingested and edited footage live against the animatics, so we could see each shot working in the cut as we captured it. With the problem-solving already done, the day could focus on the look and the performance.