Shirley Polykoff

THE CLIENT: CLAIROL

Foote, Cone & Belding's copy chief assigned Ms. Polykoff the Clairol account because as he put it, she was "the only one around who could write that kind of schmaltz" (Griggs, 1999). When first faced with developing copy for Miss Clairol, Clairol's only product at the time, Ms. Polykoff didn't rely on research, rather she felt she knew about hair coloring from the user's point of view. After all, she had begun coloring her hair at the age of 15. Of course, this knowledge was certainly kept a secret - only known to her and her hairdresser, Mr. Nicholas. Hair-coloring was not yet acceptable for "nice" girls (Polykoff, 1997). Women who did use hair color were considered fast, wild, theatrical. It was just not respectable, so Ms. Polykoff set out to change that (Cummings, 1985).

Miss Clairol hair-color bath was the first of its kind. With it one could lighten, tint, condition and shampoo at home in a single step. When the product was demonstrated to thousands of assembled beauticians, they were astonished at the results. Miss Clairol "was to the world of hair color what computers were to the world of adding machines" (Gladwell, 1999). The product gave American women the ability to color their hair at home - a process previously undertaken only by hairdressers at beauty salons (Gladwell, 1999).

For starters, the typical vocabulary associated with hair coloring products was changed. To "dye your hair" was changed to "color your hair," while to "bleach your hair" became to "lighten your hair," and so on. The agency's motto became "never say dye." Beyond reaching a mainstream audience, even larger problems faced Ms. Polykoff and the account team. Traditionally, hair coloring had been sold in salons - not directly to the consumer for home use. The goal was to sell the product in retail outlets, yet preserve the loyalty of the hairdresser (Cummings, 1985). Also, the fact that when women get a compliment about their hair, they very much want to feel that she is being admired for a feature that is intrinsically her own - not something that comes from a bottle. Quickly, Ms. Polykoff was realizing the campaign would have to stress naturalness, "a naturalness surrounded by an aura of great respectability" (Polykoff, 1975).

Based on intuition and Ms. Polykoff's first-hand knowledge of hair coloring, the first ads for Miss Clairol were created, which contained the now famous "Does she... or doesn't she?" question. However, before the ads would run, Foote, Cone & Belding insisted research be conducted for validation. Ms. Polykoff laughed at the researchers and said she knew exactly what they'd find. She listed ten things they'd discover through their research, nine of which involved the women's desire for a "natural" look. The tenth would be a concern for how safe the color was for one's hair. As luck would have it, nine months later the research results were exactly as Ms. Polykoff predicted. She then became known as a "great intuitive marketer" as a result of this insight (Cummings, 1985).

Ms. Polykoff said at one time that her whole life wrote the "Does she... or doesn't she?" campaign. However, one specific incident proved to be the catalyst. In 1933, her future husband, George, took her home to meet his mother (Griggs, 1999). "She was Old World Orthodox, with severe, tightly pulled back hair; no one was good enough for her son" (Gladwell, 1999). Anxious to find out if his mother liked her, Polykoff asked him what his mother thought of her on their way home. "My sisters thought you were great," he said. "That's nice, but what did she say?" Polykoff asked. "She says you paint your hair," he said. "Well, do you?" More than 20 years after this dialog transpired, Shirley and her husband were at a cocktail party, when in walks a beautiful redhead. Her husband whispered, "Does she... or doesn't she?" and Ms. Polykoff knew she had her campaign (Griggs, 1999).

Ms. Polykoff "always believed that ads that communicate, ads that really create a compelling person-to-person bond, are ads that reflect the writer's total life experience... If an ad writer is willing to expose her honest reactions not only to the product but, more importantly, to the significance of the product in terms of the emotional needs it fulfills (as well as its practical utility), she will be able to distill those aspects of the product that are its genuine selling points" (Polykoff, 1975).

Continued...

~ Home ~ Table of Contents ~ Introduction ~ Family Life ~
~ Early Career ~ FC&B ~ Clairol ~ Miss Clairol Ads ~ S.P. Advertising ~
~ Ad Collection ~ Honors ~ Conclusion ~ Bibliography ~