First Round New York 2025

The greatest products, actually the greatest brands in my eyes, are built from a crucial human insight. Airbnb for instance, understood travellers crave local, personal experiences and homeowners need economic opportunities. They addressed the gap. 

Fenty Beauty launched in 2017 with 40 foundation shades (now expanded), setting a new standard for inclusivity in the beauty industry. Their insight? That beauty isn’t one-size-fits-all, people want to see themselves represented and included.

Similarly Dense came to us with a crucial insight around men and hair loss. Most men don’t realise that hair loss is highly preventable and can be delayed with the right action at the right time.

A few weeks ago me and Matt presented at the First Round conference in New York. Where some of the best studios around the world presented their first round of creative that was shared with the client. As a design practice, human insight is a key driver in our creative solutions. So it was a no-brainer to present our first round of Dense concepts. It was a project so deeply rooted in human emotion that we wanted to share their story. 

Most men will experience hair loss at some point in their lives, a change that often triggers shame, anxiety, and a loss of identity. Dense wanted to build on the empowering truth that early, informed intervention can significantly slow down or even prevent hair loss. The real problem wasn’t just hair thinning, it was men feeling helpless and uninformed in the face of it.

We helped Dense reframe hair care from a reactive, shame-fueled industry into something proactive, science-led, and optimistic. The rebrand brought clarity and confidence to a deeply emotional issue by:

• Combining clinical expertise with straight-talking education. This was achieved in the tone of voice through character illustrations, messaging on packaging and website and via the hair mentor accreditation. A business strategy which we helped develop involving training barbers around hair loss prevention. 
• Creating an empowering brand, no-BS identity to appeal to modern men. The identity purposely moved away from grey sad storytelling of hair loss to one of positive prevention. The brand embraced this through colour, phytography style, illustration and simplifying the steps and explanation of why it works. 
• Leading with prevention, not panic. This was achieved through the video social content, explainer videos, how the products are talked about and providing the education to men about prevention habits through their barbers. 
• Proactive care. Every touch point echoed this. From the tactility of the bottle to videos and footage of real mean stories, to the email sales funnel. Every time you engage with Dense you’d feel you’re improving your hair density and your mental health.

Dense offers a range of topical products that not only allow for early adoption of hair care through hair waxes, shampoo, and salt spray that enhances styling but also address hair density with super ingredients like capilia longa. The product texture and smell and feels good, so naturally you’ll use it more. They also had a range of topical medical sprays which hugely reduced side effects. 

Over a span of two years we delivered:

• A full-stack brand creation from research, strategy, identity, structure design, content creation to packaging and art direction.
• The impact of the project was a conversion 0.4 % to 2.3 % on online sales and the rebrand opened investor talks of ~£1 m funding.
   
• The project also received industry recognition, winning Diamond and Gold at the Transform Awards and Bronze at the Dieline Packaging Awards.

Dense turned a silent struggle into a powerful moment of control — not just about keeping hair, but about owning your story. 

This project was the first time we owned every creative lever as a consultancy, extending into structural packaging, video, and photography. This opportunity really allowed us to ensure brand consistency across all deliverables and take the client on the journey from briefing to final output.

If you’re a brand at a pivotal moment, where the brand work will truly matter, get in touch with me at poonam@kissbranding.co.uk