10.02.23
Olaplex pulled off what the brand is calling the “ultimate dupe of all time” this week with the launch of Oladupé.
Olaplex created the hair care industry's bond-building category with its one-of-a-kind technology with over 160 patents. It is reportedly one of the most duped hair care brands on TikTok (with creators posting content generating 30.4 million views of the hashtag #olaplexdupe. But with its patents, unique ingredients, bond-building technology and effective results, the brand calls that undertaking impossible. The campaign has been in market for a few days and has already raked up over 5.5 million views of the hashtag #oladupe.
With 3 billion views for #olaplex on TikTok, the brand was compelled to join the narrative around dupe culture with a playful campaign led by education. Using social listening tools, the brand identified how often it was being duped and launched Oladupé to show consumers that the only company that could dupe Olaplex is the brand itself.
Meet Fictitious Product ‘Oladupé’
On September 25, the brand launched its fictitious Oladupé product with an unboxing campaign featuring over 100 earned and paid influencers including Lelani Green, Yesly Dimate, Shae Alexis and Audrey Boos. Influencers included representation from the global hair care professional and consumer communities, along with celebrity 'duper' Taylor Madison. While the Oladupe product's label looked very similar to Olaplex, it was clearly marked Oladupe "No. 160" (as an homage to Olaplex's 160 patents).
Consumers were driven to Oladupe.com, where the first 160 people to register were sent a free bottle of Oladupe (actually a bottle of Olaplex No. 3, explaining the joke). Earlier today, influencers and professionals later shared that Oladupe No. 160 was actually the blockbuster Olaplex No. 3 Hair Perfector all along. An award-winning pre-shampoo treatment that took the beauty industry and social media by storm, Olaplex No. 3 Hair Perfector is proven to repair and strengthen hair from the inside out. It is the holy-grail hair pick of hair care professionals and consumers.
Olaplex the ‘Real Deal’
"Olaplex is the real deal, a brand that is truly "undupable," and the foundation of this is our underlying technology, which is peerless in the industry," said JuE Wong, chief executive officer of Olaplex. "Our commitment to offering products grounded in solid technology assures unmatched quality and results, making Olapex a brand that retains its uniqueness. Olaplex is known by consumers and the industry as a socially native brand. This campaign tapped into the cultural zeitgeist, meeting consumers where they are and playfully educating them on the one-of-a-kind and proven repair and strengthening benefits of our bond-building technology, which cannot be copied or duped."