No. 7 (brand)

No7 is a brand of anti-ageing creams developed by Boots UK,^[1] so called because the number seven was, at the time, frequently used to denote perfection and Boots wanted it to stand out from the rest of the own-brand merchandise it produced.^[2] The TV campaign for the products uses the Jessie J song Sexy Lady as its theme tune.^[3]

Background

Boots was established in 1849, by John Boot. Upon his death in 1860, his mother and ten-year-old son, Jesse Boot ran his legacy - the family's herbal medicine shop in Nottingham^[4] - which became a private limited company in 1883 when it was renamed to Boot and Co. Ltd, doing so again in 1888 to Boots Pure Drug Company Ltd. In 1920, Jesse Boot sold the company to the American United Drug Company,^[5] however due to the Great Depression in the United States Boots was sold back into British hands in 1933.^[5] It was then that John Boot, Jesse's son,^[6] decided to introduce an own-brand to the store. That own brand was No. 7, which was developed, and was eventually launched in 1935^[7] as a selection of eleven skincare products and was expanded in 1937 with some colour cosmetics.^[2]

Popularity

Eight redesigns later,^[2] on Tuesday, 27 March 2007,^[8] a BBC Horizon episode, Prof Regan's Beauty Parlour,^[9] investigated skincare. They found that their Protect and Perfect anti-ageing beauty serum smoothened skin.^[2] The result was a shopping frenzy,^[10] complete with extended queues, stockpiling, sell-outs^[2] and some stores even drew up waiting lists.^[11] Sales escalated by 2,000%;^[11] as Sarah McGiven of the Huffington Post recalls: "I remember looking for it in every Boots I went in out of sheer curiosity but it took months to find because as soon as it hit the shelves, it was gone again."^[2] Boots responded by expanding the range to incorporate body products, foundation, creams and men's skincare.^[2]

References