EMVI plans worldwide campaign for Harmony

EMVI, the newly-formed company which bought the Harmony brand from Unilever last week, is planning to talk to advertising agencies about a global campaign for the haircare brand.

The campaign, which is scheduled to break next summer, is likely to use the famous strapline created by J Walter Thompson in the Seventies. Mike Jatania, chief executive of EMVI, says: “We will certainly use the theme of ‘is she or isn’t she?’, as there is a lot of equity in that.”

Jatania is already talking to Young & Rubicam in the UK about developing the international campaign, though he says he has not ruled out using another agency. Y&R has a relationship with EMVI’s sister companies in the Lornamead Group, which owns wines, spirits and beauty products around the world.

Jatania would not specify how much EMVI plans to spend on the Harmony campaign, beyond saying it will have a seven-digit budget.

Jatania believes hair spray is a mature market and sees future margins for Harmony coming from the colorants range, which he plans to expand to include tone-on-tone and semi-permanent dyes, as well as hair mascaras – colours that can be brushed in.

EMVI paid 25m for Harmony. The bid was backed by venture capitalists Alchemy Partners, ABN Amro and the Royal Bank of Scotland. The company is intending to buy more personal care brands over the next few years, which it can develop through its distribution network which spans 60 countries.

News Analysis, page 23