fozzyo
Well-Known Member
Hey guys,
Well I had a fun trip to Beauty UK yesterday, overall a good experience though some stands I was a little unsure of their suitability. But I digress.
Spray tanning is something I am hoping to add to my practice in the future and I have chosen the company I wish to partner with to develop that business. But it is always good to find out about others to validate a decision.
So I thought I'd share some thoughts with you about what I found yesterday and my first-impressions of some of the bigger players in the industry that were at Beauty UK.
This comes from my point of view, a male therapist looking to build a male client list. And as someone who has spent a lot of time at trade shows on both sides of the fence in various industries I thought some feedback may be of use for marketing your own tanning services.
Sienna-X
Pink. Very pink! We are talking Hot Pink pink here. Enough with it already! Pink tanning booths (they did have a black one too), pink packaging, pink POS and leaflets. Pink pink pink. Not a good look - and really put me off. Great if you want to market purely at the 17 - 25yo's but a lot of guys and more sophisticated clients not likely to be too drawn to them.
Celebrity Secrets
Initial impressions, nicely presented stand - tan booths on display, product range out in display cabs. Lots of staff around, nice looking POS and leaflets. Good promotion of the three stage tanning process (pre-tan, during tanning and aftercare) to ensure a good long lasting tan. Changing facilities always good.
I spoke to one of the Directors. No passion or enthusiasm as Buffy sang in one of the best moments of TV history - just going through the motions. Telling me how great the solution is and all the vitamins that are in it and then repeating that for each retail product very quickly becomes very boring. But nice range of products, some a little bit girly maybe - the pink exfoliator for example. But nice neutral packaging and sizes and prices. And the leaflets supplied are good - factual and informative and great for guys and girls. No specific male marketing.
Sun Factory (or similar)
I heard QVC mentioned, I walked away.
Fake Bake
For all the size queens out there - bigger doesn't always mean better! FB had a huge stand, lots of staff who managed to do a great job of ignoring me whenever I went there. Not that you can miss a 6'2" skinhead in a bright red t-shirt easily. Hey ho, so didn't really get to talk to them - but the impression I got wasn't favourable.
Again a bit too much emphasis on the use of pink for my liking, use it, promote it, play with it by all means. But it should be an accent colour and don't put all your staff in it, even if it is different shades.
Right, products - looked good, nice to see some male specific products on display. Didn't really see much promotion of them unfortunately. I seem to remember that most of the emphasis was on the right side of the stand - not much happening on the left when I walked past.
St Tropez
Now this is how you do a big stand! Lots of ST staff around in black - classic and perfect, different tanning systems and extractions in use. Staff to look after those in the queue for tanning and a nice seating area to chat to clients about the products and services on offer. Though not many staff here that were easily recognisable and did seem to become a sitting area for bored show visitors occasionally.
I didn't talk to ST as they were promoting the Salon systems which I am not interested in at the moment.
Overall / In Summary
For me a poor showing, can't say anyone really excited me enough to want to explore changing my product choice. If they had I'd have been stripping off to get a tan. For my money, if I was on a stand and had a guy interested in the product I would really focus on them, encourage them to try it out to see why its suitable for men and how the market isn't being targeted by other companies and what an opportunity it is. But since non of these companies are really targeting us guys as therapists or clients non of them did.
At the start of the post I said I'd found a company I hoped to partner with. For me that is a key word, in any product range or service I offer I look for a company to work with who will promote me, help me develop my service and sales and will take on feedback from my. My success helps there success. Too many of the companies I spoke to just wanted to sell tanning kits and not develop a relationship with their team.
So looks like I'll be sticking with my original choice. Just got to get the clients interested, and money coming in to pay for it now I guess.
Mat xx
Well I had a fun trip to Beauty UK yesterday, overall a good experience though some stands I was a little unsure of their suitability. But I digress.
Spray tanning is something I am hoping to add to my practice in the future and I have chosen the company I wish to partner with to develop that business. But it is always good to find out about others to validate a decision.
So I thought I'd share some thoughts with you about what I found yesterday and my first-impressions of some of the bigger players in the industry that were at Beauty UK.
This comes from my point of view, a male therapist looking to build a male client list. And as someone who has spent a lot of time at trade shows on both sides of the fence in various industries I thought some feedback may be of use for marketing your own tanning services.
Sienna-X
Pink. Very pink! We are talking Hot Pink pink here. Enough with it already! Pink tanning booths (they did have a black one too), pink packaging, pink POS and leaflets. Pink pink pink. Not a good look - and really put me off. Great if you want to market purely at the 17 - 25yo's but a lot of guys and more sophisticated clients not likely to be too drawn to them.
Celebrity Secrets
Initial impressions, nicely presented stand - tan booths on display, product range out in display cabs. Lots of staff around, nice looking POS and leaflets. Good promotion of the three stage tanning process (pre-tan, during tanning and aftercare) to ensure a good long lasting tan. Changing facilities always good.
I spoke to one of the Directors. No passion or enthusiasm as Buffy sang in one of the best moments of TV history - just going through the motions. Telling me how great the solution is and all the vitamins that are in it and then repeating that for each retail product very quickly becomes very boring. But nice range of products, some a little bit girly maybe - the pink exfoliator for example. But nice neutral packaging and sizes and prices. And the leaflets supplied are good - factual and informative and great for guys and girls. No specific male marketing.
Sun Factory (or similar)
I heard QVC mentioned, I walked away.
Fake Bake
For all the size queens out there - bigger doesn't always mean better! FB had a huge stand, lots of staff who managed to do a great job of ignoring me whenever I went there. Not that you can miss a 6'2" skinhead in a bright red t-shirt easily. Hey ho, so didn't really get to talk to them - but the impression I got wasn't favourable.
Again a bit too much emphasis on the use of pink for my liking, use it, promote it, play with it by all means. But it should be an accent colour and don't put all your staff in it, even if it is different shades.
Right, products - looked good, nice to see some male specific products on display. Didn't really see much promotion of them unfortunately. I seem to remember that most of the emphasis was on the right side of the stand - not much happening on the left when I walked past.
St Tropez
Now this is how you do a big stand! Lots of ST staff around in black - classic and perfect, different tanning systems and extractions in use. Staff to look after those in the queue for tanning and a nice seating area to chat to clients about the products and services on offer. Though not many staff here that were easily recognisable and did seem to become a sitting area for bored show visitors occasionally.
I didn't talk to ST as they were promoting the Salon systems which I am not interested in at the moment.
Overall / In Summary
For me a poor showing, can't say anyone really excited me enough to want to explore changing my product choice. If they had I'd have been stripping off to get a tan. For my money, if I was on a stand and had a guy interested in the product I would really focus on them, encourage them to try it out to see why its suitable for men and how the market isn't being targeted by other companies and what an opportunity it is. But since non of these companies are really targeting us guys as therapists or clients non of them did.
At the start of the post I said I'd found a company I hoped to partner with. For me that is a key word, in any product range or service I offer I look for a company to work with who will promote me, help me develop my service and sales and will take on feedback from my. My success helps there success. Too many of the companies I spoke to just wanted to sell tanning kits and not develop a relationship with their team.
So looks like I'll be sticking with my original choice. Just got to get the clients interested, and money coming in to pay for it now I guess.
Mat xx
)
