Client: Garnier (L’Oreal)
Agency: oOh!media
Brief: Centrepiece of Garnier Shopping Centre Activation
For Garnier’s recent promotional spend, oOh!media asked Big Kahuna to create four jumbo-sized Garnier shampoo bottles to serve as the centerpiece of the beauty brand’s shopping centre activation currently winding its way through Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.
Working with Melbourne-based aquarium manufacturer Aquatic Creations, Big Kahuna convinced oOh!media that, whilst cheaper, vac-forming the bottles would present an inferior product not worthy of the client’s delicately-powerful product.
To vac-form the bottles would have created a seamy, bubble-magnetic, hollow bottle requiring a coat of translucent spray paint, whereas moulding the bottles allowed us to achieve a much smoother, more realistic end result. Although this method of pouring resin for such a large object is fraught with danger due to extremely high exotherms and distortion risks, Big Kahuna devised and tested a unique formulation of premium, water-clear polyurethane resin specifically for this application.
And when we say “devised and tested”, we did exactly that. Our initial expectation that the very mould-friendly, lozenge-shaped object would be relatively easy to de-mould from a fibreglass hard mould turned out to not be the best course of action. This method would have been fine if the temperature of the high volume of resin curing hadn’t exceeded the fibreglass’ heat deflection causing the two to fuse in parts. For a one-off mould, we could have simply sanded out any imperfections but with four, perfect reproductions required, we reverted to the safety of platinum-cured silicone.
Researching techniques on-the-fly is a mainstay of Big Kahuna’s high-demand, time-critical supply ability. First-class technician Steve Reid again led the Big Kahuna team to a very successful result as Will had promised.
Bringing the whole activation together, the bottles were mounted into a custom-built fish tank by Aquatic Creations for a spectacular effect.
So, what did the client think of the job?
“The bottles are fantastic. They exceed our expectations and we couldn’t be happier with the finish. Thanks for your hard work and professionalism. Your attention to detail is evident in the final product.”
— Hannah Murphy, Campaign Manager oOh!media, Melbourne
