Hone

Hone is a new lifestyle brand that offers specialized products, knowledge, and motivation to empower Black men to define their own version of greatness.

Professional basketball player turned venture capitalist Michael Redd was frustrated with the lack of quality skincare products for Black men. Michael and his VC firm, 22 Ventures, decided to build their own tailored brand, but needed to understand the current market and ultimately understand the people they set out to serve first. ZoCo facilitated research and built an insights-driven brand strategy for Hone, a wellness brand with the unique needs of Black men at the center.

Listen to their experiences

We listened to 20 Black men share their current skincare experience–what they like, need, and want to know. The insights from these men helped inform a survey that took a closer look at what Black men find valuable when it comes to their skin care. Taken by 550 respondents, we distilled and analyzed the data finding significant patterns. This research yielded four psychographic personas that were our cardinal directions during the creation of the brand.

Understand their core motivations

Each persona was rich with insights. These core motivations includes their motivation for using products, priorities when purchasing, how they use products, and their overall attitude towards self care.

Two columns with sliding scales that describe the purchasing behaviors of two different personas.

Something deeper than just “marketing”

We also uncovered skepticism around Black-focused products. These men wanted something that went deeper than just “marketing.” They asked about the science behind what makes their skin unique—and how do they protect and preserve it?

As a result, the vision shifted from skincare to a more significant lifestyle and wellness brand that encompassed Michael’s love for inspiring people to greatness.

Text inside a large circle reading "We exist to change the narrative that being Black is bad for your health."

By unifying the leadership team’s vision for greatness, the audience’s want to understand, and the brand’s need for flexibility, we named, visualized, and developed their new brand, Hone.

What is Hone?

“Let’s make precise progress. Reshape and refocus our grind to sharpen the body, mind, and soul.

Resolute and focused, we deserve to be our peak selves. For ourselves and those around us. To continuously polish ourselves to become the optimal person, father, son, partner, and friend.”