The Profound Success of Mutual Branding
Profound Beauty’s labels are tailored to each retailer. Profound Beauty is based on a revolutionary marketing concept: mutual branding. Its products are sold in 100 salons throughout the United States. Labels are customized for every salon the product is sold in. However, since Profound is the brand name, it is completely different from a private-label product. Headquartered in New York City, the company was founded in 2003 by industry veterans Nikos Mouyiaris and Bob Salem. Mouyiaris founded Mana Products 30 years ago, while Salem worked for L’Oréal. It took the duo five years to figure how Salem’s unique marketing concept could work in manufacturing an actual brand.
“In the beginning, I was really nervous. We were clearly forging new territory. A line has never been marketed like this before,” says Salem. “In retrospect, we should’ve thought it would be impossible to do. But, it’s more than working now.”
Since the image of the salon affects the image of the brand, Profound has strict qualifications and must first interview any salons interested in partnerships. Wherever Profound products are sold, the name of that salon is printed three times on the product’s label, uniting the salon with the brand. The front of the package contains the name of the salon right under the name of the product. On the back, the name, address, and phone number of the salon is printed. Back labeling reads: “The Profound product that corresponds to your hair and scalp is determined by professionals at (the name of each salon is inserted here).”
There were many different technical hurdles that had to be addressed in order to customize labels. The way the bottles are decorated is a patented technique. “It took so long to figure out how to do it economically,” says Salem. “We had to make sure the price would reflect the performance of the product, not the cost of decorating.”
Besides being customized, Profound’s labels are unique in that they don’t contain a lot of information about the product. Products are chosen for a customer by his or her stylist or colorist after consultation. Profound’s first products were shampoos and conditioners. Instead of a name, the products are called, for example, “20/80 shampoo” or “60/40 conditioner.” The numbers refer to the proportion of cleansing and conditioning necessary for a particular scalp and hair type, making it impossible for a consumer to ever purchase this product off a shelf. “The labels are intriguing. If you want to know how it works, you must ask a stylist. We separated the professional salon business from the mass and elevated the professional recommendation,” says Salem.
Profound’s marketing strategy was very risky, but it seems to be working. “We have seen the product move in and out so fast, which, I believe, is a demonstration of how well this concept works,” says Salem. “It gives us confidence to believe that what we bring to market in the coming months will continue to build on our success.”