VO5: Amp it Up For the New Era

YEAR 2024

CLIENT Unilever

AGENCY Design Bridge and Partners

MY ROLE 3D Modeling, LookDev, Animation, Rendering

DURATION 1 Week Rush

TOOLS Cinema 4D, Illustrator, After Effects

CREATIVE DIRECTION Alessandro Foschini

2D MOTION & EDIT Will Meighan, Adam Hingley

3D ANIMATION Gan Lin

Modernizing a British Staple VO5 is a household name in the UK, maintaining its position as the nation’s #1 styling brand for decades. However, by early 2024, the brand faced a decline in styling product engagement and an outdated gender-split strategy. Unilever launched a visual overhaul to transition the brand into a “New Era,” introducing a deep electric blue logo and a vibrant palette designed for a younger, more inclusive audience.

Working across a time-zone gap with the London-based team, I collaborated with a Creative Director and two Motion Designers to produce a 75-second launch reel. My primary task was to create highly accurate models and textures for the new lineup and to help the motion team implement personification for each product.

Vibrant Characters The problem with the previous brand identity was its dated, mid-2000s aesthetic, which felt more like a legacy salon product than a modern styling essential. To move away from this stagnant look, we pivoted toward a visual world defined by quirky and eclectic personalities. We utilized a “color-pop” strategy where each SKU was framed by its own distinct background color and motion effects, transforming the products into engaging characters that bring a sense of life and humor to the brand’s new era.

7 Products, 7 Personalities, 1 Week Due to a rapid production schedule and tight budget constraints, the workflow was highly specialized. While the motion team focused on defining how each product would act and behave on screen, I concentrated on reconstructing the product models in the absence of CAD files or orthographic drawings. This required carefully rebuilding the assets from reference, with an emphasis on clean UVs, accurate dimensional ratios, and distortion-free surfaces for the newly updated designs.

A significant portion of the process involved developing layered metallic materials for each label across the core lineup—Curl Enhancement Cream, Tame & Shine Spray, Big Volume Mousse, Ultimate Hold Hairspray, Heat Protect Spray, Mega Hold Gel, and Rework Putty. Each material was tuned with varying levels of matte roughness to achieve a consistent yet nuanced sheen that held up across lighting scenarios.

The character-driven approach transformed everyday consumer goods into engaging brand ambassadors. My two favorites are Tame & Shine Spray getting the celebrity treatment and Heat Protect Spray acting lost at the beach.

Galvanizing the New Era The launch reel successfully showcased the new VO5 era to Unilever executive board, effectively bridging the gap between the brand’s functional heritage and its new, playful personality. By introducing easy-to-read labels and vibrant colors to the shelf, the work visualized how the brand would stand out in a competitive retail landscape.

Following the refresh, Unilever reported a strong performance in its Beauty & Wellbeing sector, with its Power Brands seeing a brand-led volume growth of 4.3% in 2024, driven largely by successful visual overhauls and premiumization in the UK market.