Australian beauty brands fared well once again at Cosmoprof North America 2009, held in Las Vegas last July. With its own country pavilion alongside nations such as Brazil, China, Italy, Korea, Mexico and Taiwan, the Australian Pavilion, facilitated by Austrade, saw Australian brands gain exposure and direct "face time" with distributors and retailers in order to secure US distribution.
“For the second year, the Australian Trade Commission was proud to organise the Australian Pavilion at the Cosmoprof North America 2009. The pavilion was situated in front of the well-attended Discover Beauty section of the show. As a result, our exhibitors received added exposure and traffic through their booths. The Cosmoprof organisers were extremely helpful in providing opportunities which added value for our clients,” said Maricela Macias, Associate Director, US Market Development of Australian Trade Commission (AUSTRADE).
Daniela Ciocan, Marketing Director of Cosmoprof North America / SoGeCos Americas added: “Australian beauty brands always provide sophisticated and innovative concepts and have been successful in delving into the natural / organic area which is one of the market segments that continue to provide growth in today’s economy. Buyers find the Australian brands and resources appealing. We hope that, buoyed by our joint efforts to provide Australian brands visibility and secure one-on-one meetings for them with international buyers, this partnership will further expand next year.”
The seventh International Buyer Program, a Cosmoprof exclusive, united international buyers and sellers with the resources, contacts, and data to build business. Companies showcasing their products at the event met one-on-one via pre-scheduled appointments with a group of selected importers and distributors. Overall, 200 meetings were held as part of the program, involving more than 91 exhibiting companies and 140 qualified international buyers. The international buyers were invited from Australia, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Canada, Columbia, Denmark, Ghana, India, Kenya, Mexico, Romania, Senegal and Uruguay.
Garth Gauvin, Marketing and Development Director of Australian brand eco.kid and evo, said: “Buyers from all over the world are looking for Australian brands because of the clean, green image of our country and the Australian Pavilion clearly marks our brands as being Australian-made. We found that the well designed, customised Australian Pavilion reflected the image that we would like to portray with our brands and was a great advantage compared to being another exhibitor in the sea of hundreds of standard booths. We could not be happier with the service that AUSTRADE provided us.”
Discover Beauty again offered selected brands one-on-one meetings with senior buyers from prestigious retailers such as Bliss, Henri Bendel, Home Shopping Network (HSN), PureBeauty, Beauty Collection, and Wynn Las Vegas Apothecary.
The Discover Beauty – Spa program, in collaboration with the Las Vegas Spa Association, again brought spa directors from some of the largest spas in the country to one-on-one meetings with selected brands.
Australian brand, HissyFit, benefitted from the program.
“Discover Beauty offered the perfect opportunity for us to introduce our brand directly to key buyers. The introductions made by Discover Beauty were invaluable to the growth of our business and have given us the best opportunity to launch our brand,” said Sue Horowitz, the brand’s co-founder.
This year’s show unveiled the first-ever 2009 Discover Beauty Award. The 20 brands participating in the 2009 Discover Beauty program were judged on packaging, overall brand concept and likelihood to succeed in the beauty marketplace. Voting was done by specialty retailers such as Henri Bendel, HSN, Kalologie and PureBeauty as well as various beauty bloggers including AOL.com, TotalBeauty.com, AGirlsGottaSpa.com and Beauty.com. The recipient of the inaugural Discover Beauty Award was TouchBack by ColorMark, a “marker pen” containing real hair colour, for fast touch-ups on grey roots that dries instantly.
This year’s Cosmoprof North America brought 625 exhibiting companies to a sold-out show floor along with more than 22,500 quality attendees that included importers, distributors, manufacturers, and global beauty leaders all under one roof. As in years past, the event attracted many new and innovative brands in addition to industry leaders such as Creative Nail Design, RUSK, TIGI, Essie, JESSICA Nails, z.one concept, Orly, AHAVA, OPI Nail, Alberto Culver, and Schwarzkopf & Henkel.
The show also welcomed PBA Beauty Week, North America’s largest, most inclusive beauty event, offering unlimited networking, education, and professional growth opportunities to all sectors of the beauty industry.
Special educational seminars were filled to capacity with more than 600 attendees in total. Businesses and industry leaders from multiple sectors of the industry participated in round-table discussions and panels to share their knowledge and insights. Highlighted educational seminars included:
The New Retail – Think Out of the Box… literally. Featuring Beth Mayall of TotalBeauty.com, Kathleen McNeill of Beauty.com / Drugstore.com and Michael Henry of HSN and organised in conjunction with Women’s Wear Daily. The session was moderated by Andrea Nagel, Mass Beauty Editor of WWD.
How to Thrive in a Challenging Economy. Featuring Jerry Wenker of Dermalogica, Lisa Starr of Wynne Business and Tracey Sameyah of Murad Inclusive Health Center (MIHC). The session was moderated by Rhonda J. Wilson, Executive Editor of DAYSPA Magazine.
New Media: Greater Sales for Beauty Stores. Featuring Brian Schmidt of Google, Laura Kenney of AOL, Shawn Tavakoli of Beauty Collection and Lawrence Mortenson of LM Consulting. The session was moderated by Marc Birenbaum, Executive Editor of Beauty Store Business Magazine.
PBA Symposium General Session I: Consumer Culture. Featuring Neil Stern, presenter of PBA’s year-long, landmark study on the state of the beauty industry and the contemporary beauty consumer, Business of Beauty: Maximize Your Profitability.
PBA Symposium General Session II: Consumer Culture. Featuring Bonnie Conte of Avalon Salon, Dawn Blackstone of Dermalogica, Bennie Pollard of Bennie and Friends, Reuben Carranza of P&G Professional Care, Carolyn Bojanowski of Sephora and Norma Knudsen of Regis Corporation. The session was co-facilitated by Lou Carbone and Neil Stern.
Cosmoprof North America 2010 is planned for July 18 to 20 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas. For more information on exhibiting or attending, please visit www.cosmoprofnorthamerica.com.