Combine the entrepreneurial forces of an actress/business mogul with a hit musician/producer, and you get a marketing campaign poised to leave its mark on consumers.
The Honest Co.’s “Moments” campaign marks the first-ever brand campaign for Alba’s billion-dollar business, a consumer-goods company that specializes in selling diapers, soap, lotion, and cleaning products that are free of toxins and harsh chemicals. The campaign emphasizes real moments depicted from real people’s lives, plugging into a range of emotions related to giving birth and parenting.
“It’s showing that we … do stand for something that is beyond just making products,” Alba told THR of how the campaign represents The Honest Co. “We stand for trust and transparency, peace of mind, and we are there for you no matter where you’re at in your life.”
Five years ago, The Honest Co. was an idea Alba devised when she grew frustrated over the market’s lack of affordable, safe products for families. After rigorously working to create a brand that features a variety of trusted products for babies, cleaning, beauty and more, Honest has grown to become a successful, billion-dollar company. Products are sold online and in select stores such as Target, Whole Foods and Nordstrom.
While working together on Apple’s upcoming show Planet of the Apps, Alba sought advice from Will.i.am on the filmed campaign spots. Eager to be a part of it, he volunteered to be the missing piece to the campaign’s puzzle.
“I just wanted to have an ensemble, a sonic piece to add to their brand bible and the emotions that they captured,” said the Black-Eyed Peas rapper.
Aiming to make a “uniform audio experience,” Will.i.am found inspiration for the musical scores through what the company stands for and what he felt could elevate the campaign as a whole. He relied strictly on real instruments, rather than synthesizers, keyboards and anything that could prevent the footage from conveying authenticity.
“I wanted to use people for their talent and their instrument. I wanted to marry the same idea around Honest and what they stand for to how I composed the music. I wanted to have authentic music, musicians and their instruments. … I wanted to create joy,” he said.
Because there are myriad significant moments in each person’s life, Will.i.am said, he wanted to “have a palette of music that is going to be accompanied anytime someone is reminiscing.”
“He was like, ‘What’s your jingle? What is the sound of The Honest Co.?’ And he said it’s one thing for it to be happy, but it’s another thing for it to have joy,” Alba recalled. “I think there’s this emotion of joy that should come through in all of these pieces and there should be a piece of music that ties them altogether, so it feels connected as a brand.”
The finished products not only allow real people to have their special moments shown to the world but stand behind Honest’s mission to be there for anyone and all of their moments. Will.i.am’s score allows each spot to have a distinct voice that could be resonated with The Honest Co.
“Even if people aren’t watching the television, the sound is on and wherever they consume that piece of content, the music will be the thing that they can keep up with and be like ‘Oh yeah that’s the Honest Co.’ It’s just a really comprehensive way of looking at branding and marketing. It’s not something that I ever thought about, but someone like Will is so great. He really elevated our piece,” said Alba.
Dedicated to making the brand’s products authentic and trustworthy, Alba feels proud to have this meaningful campaign as the forefront to what Honest represents.
“[The ‘Moments’ campaign] definitely elevates what we are about and shows that we are a brand that can move beyond from me, as a person, telling people that I started this company and in showing that we stand for something,” said Alba. “People have trusted us to be a part of their home and every part of their life. We’ve never done a brand campaign. We’ve never done any traditional marketing and even thought it isn’t the road to traditional, it’s the closet thing to a brand campaign that we’ve ever done and I think what’s interesting is that we got to do something special.”
Despite the possibility of being seen as an unlikely pair, Alba believed that their partnership worked, for they both share the same beliefs and dedication to their work.
“We’re both dreamers, but we’re also both executors, and I think that is something that we can really relate to each other on. For me as an entrepreneur, I’m so inspired by someone who can have a great idea, but can see it through to the end and can actually make something of it and lead teams and get people behind your vision.”
