K18 & Welpix: A CGI-powered launch success story
You probably know K18 from all the people online saying it saved their hair. This San Francisco-based brand is pure revolution in the haircare industry. With breakthrough science as their identity, their visual identity is a combo of minimalism and vivid colors. For us, this demanded a super forward-thinking approach to visual marketing. This is a case study about our very first project together.
The challenge
The K18 team came to us already at a critical business roadblock: they had a major product launch approaching fast, and they needed a full suite of world-class marketing assets for their new website, eShop, and social channels. If that doesn’t sound stressful enough, there was an extra problem. The physical products were still in manufacturing. This meant there was a serious misalignment between their production and marketing timelines. This put the entire launch at risk and, as it goes for reputable brands like theirs, it could shake consumers’ trust. K18 thus needed a quick and smart solution.
The process
Our team proposed a cutting-edge CGI solution that skipped that pesky manufacturing bottleneck altogether. All we needed was reference images and packaging design files. What’s more, the K18 clients gave us total creative freedom — happy art directors, efficient art directors! We thus built K18 a huge suite of photorealistic 3D models (anything from pristine catalog images on white to brand-colored backgrounds, dynamic animations, and of course, hero images) from which they chose their favorites. We remembered their philosophy: simplicity cuts through noise. And they loved that.
The outcome
What we delivered let K18 launch on time with a campaign that was used with, they say, “a lot of success” across their website and social media. That’s how we became one of their strategic creative partners. Don’t take our word for it. Take K18’s words: “We had a great experience working with Welpix on our first set of CGI product images & animations. Highly recommend them for their professionalism, quality and customer service. They accommodated all of our edits & made sure they delivered exactly what we were looking for. The process was smooth from start to finish!”
Image gallery
This gallery shows you the CGI assets we brag about. These were the core of K18’s brand launch: e-commerce catalog images, confident hero shots, and memorable colors.
Podcast episode
Our collab with K18 Hair shows maybe the greatest power of CGI: to de-risk and accelerate a product launch, and to save and strengthen a brand’s credibility. Here’s how we got this revolutionary hair brand a full suite of marketing assets before a single physical product was even manufactured.
