The majority of the cultural context has been described in the entry above. The main point to highlight is that in the UK, the three competitor hair colourant brands all have long-standing contracts with well-known local celebrities, whilst Clairol Nice ‘n Easy does not.

As also touched on in the written presentation, the way that beauty is portrayed in the media and by brands has undergone a step change in the UK in recent years, with the most forward-thinking make-up and fashion brands challenging traditional stereotypes through their choice of language, communication style and talent. This is not the case in the hair colourant category.

We set out to get women to regard going grey as a normal, beautiful part of life.

Our uplifting campaign #FaceYourFirst acted as a call to action to our audience to embrace their first grey with the same positivity as other challenging life moments.

Bolder still, our stirring short film encouraged women to find the confidence not to colour their first grey if they wished - something a perfection-focused competitor simply couldn’t do.

Supported by specially commissioned research to support our findings, vast press and influencer coverage highlighted the relative ages at which women were happy to embrace various milestones, dramatizing the stigma associated with first greys.

To the media at large, our open letter was a call to arms: to quit the “grey shaming” rhetoric, and join the #FaceYourFirst revolution.

Ethnographic research revealed a paradox: FGWs believe that the beauty industry solves - but also creates – a lack of confidence; setting unattainable goals whilst promising deliverance. They recognised hair colour brands as part of this problem, feeling that our competitors’ overpaid celebrities don’t relate to British hair realities.

We decided NNE should be the brand to initiate a paradigm shift – challenging the media-enforced link between confidence and outward perfection.

Seeking a human truth to overcome this challenge, we began at the start of the consumer journey: finding that first grey hair. Through social listening we discovered thousands of “first grey” mentions, with 65% expressing “sad” sentiment (Pulsar). In short: women regarded this experience as a dreaded marker for ageing.

Engrossed in these heartbreaking reactions was a revelation. This was not the only difficult first for our audience. In fact, women’s lives are full of experiences that are initially tough, but ultimately represent positive, life-affirming transitions: your first period. Your first bra. Falling in - and out of - love for the first time.

Our strategy: NNE would eliminate the media-fuelled stigma around this very natural milestone, by reminding women of the strength with which they’d endured many others.

Our emotive video was syndicated across multiple platforms and achieved a VTR of 48% versus industry benchmark 22%. Press and influencer coverage was 100% positive and – boosted by communities embracing our #FaceYourFirst hashtag – secured reach of more than 113 million.

Most importantly, the online conversation around first greys was transformed virtually overnight. In the first week of the campaign, sentiment for “first greys” comments skyrocketed to 67% “joyful” (+91% positivity versus pre-campaign).

Numbers aside, there was no better indicator of the emotional revolution created by this campaign than the voices of those it reached. Comments championed our #bodypositive message, celebrated “a totally counter-intuitive campaign from a colour brand”, and praised NNE for “taking a stand against hair colour norms”.

But perhaps most gratifying of all, the words of @MumFullOfDreams: “Love the #Faceyourfirst campaign - I shall wear my greys with pride as more and more appear!”

Job. Done.