LEO
Saks, a leading distributor in the UK hair restoration market, relied heavily on third-party products. Their ambition was to develop a proprietary brand that could future-proof the business, but the challenge was entering a market already crowded with sleek, tech-led newcomers and legacy pharmaceutical giants.
- Brand
- Brand Strategy
The challenge
We found that the major players elevated the visual and digital standard for this category, but not the emotional one. They sell the same story of transformation through glossy aspiration and sterile science, resulting in an industry that feels homogeneous, detached, and often insincere.
Differentiation wasn't going to come from a better product or a slicker app, it needed to come from a deeper understanding of the customer. We needed to give Saks an authentic and ownable position and brand in a category that had lost touch with its human core.
Our insight
Through cultural analysis, competitor mapping, and in-depth interviews with trichologists, barbers, and men at different stages of hair loss, we uncovered a more complex emotional truth. Hair loss is a psychological issue as much as it a physical one.
It isn’t just about appearance, it’s about identity, self-perception, and control. Vanity felt shameful; yet acceptance felt like defeat.
That contradiction revealed the opportunity. The next generation of hair loss brands won’t be built on perfection, it will be built on authenticity. Men don’t need to be sold a new version of themselves; they need help staying connected to the one they already are.
While most brands in the category speak to aesthetics or science, we acknowledge the quiet vulnerability at the heart of the experience.
What we did
We created a simple but powerful idea, one that balanced emotional honesty with scientific credibility. “Stay true to yourself” spoke directly to the experience of hair loss as a question of identity, not vanity. This idea reframed the role of the brand and the resulting proposition, “Authenticity above all else”, challenged the superficial norms of the industry and put emotional connection at the centre of the offer.
We also:
- Named the brand, and from more than 35 options, the one that rose above the rest was LEO
- Built a framework to define how LEO would show up in every dimension, from marketing to behaviour
- Developed LEO's tone of voice, which speaks plainly and directly, with compassion, humour, and self-awareness
- Created a visual identity that extends the same philosophy and impact
- Developed a suite of standout photography and illustrations for their category.
Why it works
What emerged was a brand that redefined what it meant to operate in the male hair loss category. LEO positions Saks not as another clinical supplier but as a movement for self-acceptance. A confident, human brand that helps men lose less of their hair and none of themselves.
LEO launched in May 2026, and the marketing case study is on its way. Watch this space.
Related Work
View All
