Hair loss is a sensitive topic for many men, leaving many uncomfortable to even mention it. But when the conversation does begin, it’s often as toxic banter. The media fuels this with exposing headlines of celebrities, footballers and royals, analysing each follicle on their head.

By the age of 35, two thirds of men will suffer from hair loss. That’s 2.6 billion men globally with hair anxiety. Early signs can be noticed as soon as your 18th birthday. Dense Hair Experts decided to do something about it. Founders Ash Hashmi & Mo Ahmed experienced hundreds of devastated young men coming into their hair loss clinics for expensive hair transplants. Many are unaware of preventive treatments that could have been used to maintain their existing hair for longer and ease the emotional burden.

Our market research results showed men’s confidence is intertwined with hair as a form of hair power. However visual market cues showed disheartened men staring into a mirror holding an uninspiring bottle. Why does so much of the market convey hair loss prevention as a secretive, bleek experience? Why don’t we celebrate the positive outcome of hair density? That dense hair confidence.

Seeing the direct mental impact on men, Ash & Mo decided to launch their own hair loss prevention range targeting men between 18 to 30. DENSE® is on a mission to give men an early chance to keep a full head of hair for longer. Working with a range of experts, the DENSE® founders created a convenient, affordable, and effective preventive styling range; a world first.

Having trialled and tested their offering, they turned to KISS branding to help develop their hair care startup. We took the brand from generic barber shop supplement, to efficacious hair contender.

KISS re-modelled the brand across all aspects including audience, insight, brand positioning, visual identity, and messaging, right through to the creation of their distinctive packaging exploding the brand out into digital, social, point of sale and merchandise materials.

The launch offers a world-first hair styling range with active ingredients that work to prevent hair loss. Designed to be used as part of an everyday routine, the range includes shampoo & conditioner, salt spray, wax and vitamin gummies, familiar formats that work easily as part of daily routine for the modern man.

A fully bespoke packaging range was created. The DENSE D was used as a framework from which the full packaging range was built, creating a tactile and robust form that’s equally efficacious and empowering. This principle ran across all products and even the delivery box.

Ease of use, accessibility and science are paramount to the DENSE® brand.

A shoot was coordinated to create a range of how-tos, hair loss 101s and tips and tricks, as well as testimonials and founder stories to kick start the brand online. KISS conceptualised and art directed the process, working closely with Tungsten Media who executed the shoot.

The aim was to bring the brand into everyday life occasions – the bathroom and the gym room – featuring a locker room chat all about hairs effect on mental health.

The brand was brought online through the website and video production. The clear-cut strategy allowed a flexible and coherent social content strategy to be built and be deployed, leveraging the insights and consumer drivers to connect with our audience.

The breadth of the architecture and coherent assets created for the brand have allowed it have flex and longevity across the large variety of routes to market.

The full brand was applied across multiple channels and materials, ranging from product packaging, to investor decks and online Amazon shop fronts. Overall a robust and comprehensive brand system was created to enable a smooth transition and flex across it all. To capture all of this a digital brand guidelines was created and media library to organise the ever-growing icon and content resource.

“Over the years we have used many contractors and agencies. To summarise, the only company we are still working closely with is Kiss Branding! They have always genuinely cared for the brand and put the interest of the brand first. This is so incredibly rare. To then match the passion with absolutely incredible branding is what makes Kiss truly unique. The level of care, detail and understanding of the market. Absolutely every detail has been thought of no matter how “insignificant it may seem.”

Thanks go to Ash & Mo for creating such a game-changing business. Also to the talented people who supported us on this ace project; Ben Holden, Jordan Scott, Chris Redford, Adigi and Tungsten Media.