161. Casting Coup: J&J BABY FACE POWDER, “The Baby Is Now A Lady”, 1990

Johnson & Johnson has been a long-standing client of Ace-Saatchi & Saatchi (formerly Ace Compton) since 1959, with the Personal Products as well as the Feminine Care line as its key assignments. 1990 marked the year that J&J forayed into the Cosmetics field, targeting Teens as it’s point-of-market entry.

That year, J&J Philippines launched its JOHNSON’S FACE POWDER, which is actually a pressed powder version of one of its flagship products, Johnson’s Baby Powder. That became the take-off point to communicate the face powder’s merits and benefits to a new market. After all, Johnson’s Baby Powder had been in the Philippines for over 4 decades and had become a staple product for Filipino babies.

But, since the baby had grown older, shouldn’t there be a new product befitting her new stage in life? Thus—JOHNSON’S FACE POWDER.

The Saatchi creatives developed a campaign theme that would provide product continuity for Johnson’s powder products. This was articulated in the memorable campaign line—“because the Baby is now a Lady”.

The TV and Press campaign idea seemed simple enough—it starts with a close-up  of a Baby being splashed with  Johnson’s Baby Powder , followed by images of the baby growing older, in a series of smooth dissolves, literally growing before the viewer’s eyes. The last fade-in reveals the refreshingly beautiful  face of a teen-age girl, with the JOHNSON’S BABY POWDER product shot appearing beside her. As we follow the girl’s growing up process, the supers gently come in: “because the baby, is now a lady—JOHNSON’ FACE POWDER”.

It was a simple,  no-frills commercial, but with a powerful visual idea that relied on casting the right models. The search was on for 4 talents who would credibly portray different stages of growth—from a Baby, to a Moppet, a pre-Teen, and finally, to a Teen beauty. 

The exhaustive quest ended with the casting of four different models who appeared in a series of prints ads that ran on consecutive pages of a magazine. The same models also appeared in the launch TV commercial that would proved to be so successful, that it paved the way for the launch of a new, major teen line –JOHNSON’S TEEN ESSENTIALS.

But.. whatever happened to the 4 models in the commercial?  We wonder!

CREDITS:
ADVERTISER: Johnson & Johnson Phils. Inc.
PRODUCT: Johnson's Face Powder
AGENCY: Ace-Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising
CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Jimmy F. Santiago
COPYWRITER: Merlee Jayme
ART DIRECTOR: Melvin M. Mangada
CASTER: Flor Salanga