Colour Direct hires agency for 2m launch of hair dye

Summerfield Wilmot Keene & Partners has won the 2m business to launch a new range of hair colour-ants. The advertising agency was formed after the purchase of the Bastable Hazlitt Partnership (BHP).

Colour Direct has been on trial in Boots for the past year and is likely to be distributed nationally through other multiples, such as Superdrug, by the end of this month.

SWK will handle sales promotion, PR, and media planning and buying. It will devise a TV campaign for the brand to run next year.

Colour Direct comes in the form of a stick which is rubbed through the hair, cutting out the traditional mess and wastage associated with existing products.

The brand was recently bought by Armour Trust, the chemicals to personal care company.

Robert Priestnall, managing director of Solid Products, which manufactures Colour Direct, says: “We believe this brand has tremendous potential. The product is available in semi-permanent form but we have plans to extend the range into other formats.”

Malcolm Summerfield, SWK chairman, says: “We will take a multimedia approach to the launch.”