Hair Syrup

The objective

Capitalising on brand momentum through a tactical TikTok Shop campaign

Hair Syrup was founded in 2019 by Lucie Macleod, who was struggling with brittle, dry, and damaged hair after years of bleaching and heat styling. Frustrated by expensive products that failed to deliver results, Lucie turned to natural ingredients and began experimenting with her own blends in her student kitchen. Through trial and error, she created an oil formula that transformed her hair, restoring its health and vitality.

On TikTok, @Hairsyrup had gained 345K followers, regularly engaging their audience with a mix of educational, trending, and product focused videos from a variety of creators.

What started as a personal solution quickly expanded into a business when, in 2020, Lucie posted a TikTok video documenting her hair transformation. To her surprise, the video went viral, amassing 600k views overnight and sparking a flood of purchase requests.

Realising the demand for affordable, effective, and natural hair treatments, Lucie officially launched Hair Syrup, refining her formulas to address specific concerns like dry ends and scalp issues. Today, Hair Syrup is a thriving brand with a passionate community of hair care enthusiasts and recently appeared on Dragons’ Den UK.

Lucie’s appearance on Dragons’ Den was a pivotal moment for Hair Syrup, generating a surge in brand awareness and interest.

With this newfound exposure, Hair Syrup needed an effective strategy to capture and convert the influx of potential customers. She sought to capitalise on the momentum by leveraging TikTok’s powerful advertising solutions to drive sales to their TikTok Shop.

The solution

Leveraging a mix of shoppable ad formats into a single cohesive strategy to maximise impact

Hair Syrup utilised TikTok’s Product Sales campaign objective, focusing on engaging content and a streamlined campaign structure that consolidated multiple ad groups and formats into a single, cohesive strategy.

By incorporating both Video Shopping and Product Shopping ad groups, each targeting distinct audience segments, the campaign ensured precise and efficient ad delivery.

Hair Syrup implemented a well-structured targeting strategy, combining broad, interest-based, behavior-based, and hashtag-based methods. This multifaceted approach allowed them to reach both new potential customers and engaged users with a demonstrated interest in their products, maximizing reach and engagement while ensuring ads resonated with the right audience.

For retargeting, Hair Syrup used Custom Audiences to re-engage users who had interacted with their ads or TikTok Shop, nurturing interest, driving conversions, and strengthening customer connections.

To expand reach, the beauty brand leveraged Lookalike Audiences to target new users with similar characteristics, behaviors, and interests as their high-value customers. This structured approach minimised competition for ad space, optimised campaign efficiency, and maximised return on ad spend.

Additionally, Hair Syrup integrated multiple ad creatives within each ad group, enhancing A/B testing opportunities, driving higher engagement, and allowing TikTok’s algorithm to identify and prioritise the most effective combinations for maximum impact. To maintain campaign effectiveness, Hair Syrup closely monitored campaign performance and refreshed ad creatives weekly.

Hair Syrup kept all content in-house, ensuring an authentic and dynamic brand presence. By embracing raw, unfiltered storytelling, engaging hair transformations, and adopting the latest viral trends, they created relatable content that resonated with their audience. This hands-on approach not only strengthened their community but also fuelled ongoing success on TikTok.

The results

Maximising impact during a moment of brand fame

The impact of TikTok’s advertising solutions during Hair Syrup’s Dragons’ Den campaign was nothing short of extraordinary. While Lucie may not have secured the investment she had hoped for on the show, the TikTok community proved to be an invaluable force, rallying behind the brand with overwhelming support.

Following the episode’s airing, Hair Syrup’s TikTok ad campaign delivered exceptional performance, demonstrating the platform’s ability to drive meaningful engagement and conversions. The results spoke for themselves. Compared to the previous week, Hair Syrup saw a 164.22% surge in total conversions, fueled by precise targeting and heightened brand awareness post-Dragons’ Den. At the same time, their cost per conversion dropped by 57%, making each sale significantly more cost-effective. The campaign also drove a staggering 130% increase in conversion rate, proving the effectiveness of Hair Syrup’s refined strategy. Additionally, their click-through rate (CTR) rose by 42.6%, indicating stronger audience interest and engagement. Most impressively, their return on ad spend (ROAS) soared by approximately 125.4%, underscoring the campaign’s efficiency and profitability.

Beyond the numbers, TikTok played a pivotal role in transforming Hair Syrup’s exposure into a long-term business opportunity. The brand saw a surge in new customers, increased organic engagement, and strengthened loyalty within the haircare community. User-generated content flourished, with TikTok users enthusiastically sharing their excitement about discovering Hair Syrup, further amplifying its reach.