Harry's Inc Launches Haircare Brand Headquarters

At this time last year, Harry's, the direct-to-consumer razor and shaving brand, was poised for the ultimate DTC exit—acquisition by a major conglomerate, to the tune of $1.4 billion. But as 2020 has proved, a lot can change in a year, and such has been the case for Harry's. The FTC sued to block personal care giant Edgewell's deal offer. Eventually, Edgewell walked away, and Harry's was left as an independent entity. On top of that regulatory action, a similar acquisition between P&G and Billie, a DTC razor brand for women (and competitor to Harry's brand Flamingo), also fell apart in recent weeks. Together, those government rulings all but ensured that any conglomerate that already owns a razor brand will not be able to add a DTC competitor to their portfolio. Faced with a more limited avenue to quicker growth in the DTC space, Harry's was spurred to move in another direction: It would become a conglomerate on their own. That first step toward that goal can be seen with the debut of Headquarters, a new haircare product line. Headquarters launches today with three versions of the brand's four core products: A shampoo, a conditioner, a scalp scrub and a nourishing treatment. There are three sets of the products, each one targeted to a specific scalp type—oily, balanced or dry. Each product costs $7.50, or is available as part of a bundle. The brand will launch both at Walmart and, of course, through its own direct-to-consumer site. Prestige products without the high price Similar to the newly-launched Harry's deodorant, the introduction of the new product line was driven by specific consumer requests and an indication of wider demand for hair care, said Nicole Williams, head of creative and communications at Headquarters. It is rooted—pun intended—in the idea of focusing on a person's roots and scalp. In terms of the marketing, Harry's message is about catering to the issues each individual faces by applying its approach to skincare to the area of haircare. Though such products exist, Williams said the majority of the options were in the prestige category. That prestige price tag thus rendered those products inaccessible to a large number of shoppers. "We felt that there was a real need for products that go beyond the superficial quick fixes that the haircare category is so known for," she said. "Products that promote hair and scalp wellness, but at an affordable and attainable everyday price, is something that we just haven't seen a lot of." Headquarters debuts with four products in three types Creating a product that's accessible to the masses is also a driving factor behind Headquarters teaming up with Walmart as the exclusive retail launch partner. Williams said: "It's really important to actually be able to reach the consumer in a space that makes sure that the brand is attainable, accessible and available where she is." Eschewing the marketing of yesteryear Headquarters also wants to be a different sort of haircare brand when it comes to its marketing and imagery. Instead of showcasing hair at its most styled, glossy and blown out, the Headquarters imagery features the act of hair washing. Headquarters photos simply show models lathering up in the shower. "There's a lot of opportunity for us to really move away from hair commercials of yesteryear, with flowing locks that are an ideal and unrealistic," said Williams. "We want it to come from a place that honestly felt a lot more real and spoke to the idea that people care about the health of their roots, scalp and hair, regardless of how they choose to wear it." Headquarters is just the latest expansion from Harry's. Besides the aforementioned deodorant, which rolled out, in 2018, it launched Flamingo, a woman's counterpart to the original Harry's razor brand. More products are sure to come from the company's brand development arm, Harry's Labs, which has brought forward brands like Cat Person, which sells feline-focused products and food and debuted last year. The company's mission, Williams said, is simply to create products "that people like more." And looking to a future post-attempted Edgewell merger, the company is charting a new course, to be "the next generation of consumer packaged goods company, with many brands under our umbrella." She said: "Whether that's brands that we're incubating internally through our labs team or brands that we are acquiring, we want to have a pretty exciting assortment of brands under the Harry's Inc. umbrella, that all ladder up to that same central mission."

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Harry's Expands Growing Empire with the Launch of Haircare Line

Dubbed Headquarters, the brand is looking beyond mergers and marketing of 'yesteryear'

Diana Pearl

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Diana Pearl