Pond’s set out to evolve from a generic beauty brand into a performance-driven skincare authority, with the ambition of owning the promise of “ultimate skin.” But as the product portfolio expanded across dryness, pigmentation, and ageing, the emotional and cultural codes behind flawless skin in India remained fragmented. For Indian women, flawless skin was not about vanity, but about validation - calming anxiety, restoring control, and rebuilding identity. Skin concerns became emotional markers: dryness that drains, pigmentation that isolates, ageing that erases. “Ultimate skin” was revealed to be not one ideal, but many lived states, each tied to how women want to feel, not just how they want to look.

We recommended that Pond’s be positioned as the architect of skin states, not just a provider of solutions. Our approach was to build a distinct emotional language around four archetypes - clarity, luminosity, resilience, and vitality - helping the brand move from product claims to cultural codes, and from functional benefits to identity payoffs. This framework would allow Pond’s to shift the conversation from fixing flaws to enabling felt experiences, creating a more resonant and future-ready positioning in the Indian skincare landscape.