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Though Moroccanoil co-founder Carmen Tal initially launched the 15-year-old hair- and body-care brand with little to no beauty experience, she has been able to grow it into a global empire.
In February 2023, Moroccanoil, which is currently distributed through thousands of salons, announced a three-day, Las Vegas-based event for professional hairstylists called The Collective. Meant to showcase the brand’s network of global talent, the sold-out event eventually hosted 2,000 people in Las Vegas.
“Every [attendee] had the opportunity to either learn or demonstrate their skills. It was incredible to see the [hair-care] community, which is very close, share information,” Tal said on the Glossy Beauty Podcast. “Trends are changing and tools in the industry have changed, allowing [hairstylists] to do better work. … Everyone left with a sense of accomplishment and education.”
With the surprise success of the event, Tal said she is looking forward to producing similar opportunities to bring the brand’s community together IRL this year.
On this week’s episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast, Tal talked about the importance of community, as well as her brand’s longevity in the hair-care space and its road to becoming a global brand.
The excerpts below have been slightly edited and condensed for clarity.
How the salon has evolved
“The landscape of the salon business has changed tremendously in the past 10 years. … Now, you don’t see these large salons that used to have, like, 50 hairdressers in one big space. Now, you have smaller salons with professionals who are more artistic. The way the consumer is going to the salon has also changed. Consumers are now going for color treatments and other treatments, versus in the past, when people used to go every two to three days for styling to go to the office or events. This has changed because brands like ourselves have created very effective products that let you do your hair at home. … Now, you can straighten your hair, you can cut your own hair, you can do anything you want at home. We live in a busy world, and people don’t have a lot of time to go to the salon. On top of that, we went into the pandemic where we had to stay home, and people learned how to do their hair on their own. … Nevertheless, it’s still a very important industry. Brands like ours are trying to promote the trade, and I think fewer people are aware that the salon trade is very profitable. It’s an artistic trade that you can do whatever you want with. … The opportunities to grow in this field are immense.”
The strategy behind marketing a trade profession to consumers
“We have a nice, beautiful team of people working in the field. They get to meet a lot of people also, and in their communication, they talk about our academy, for instance. … We promoted [our academy] by offering special courses for different [hair techniques] — and they usually sell out. That’s one way [we promote]. The other way we do it is by working with schools that have beauty schools, and we offer some scholarships. At the end of the day, the old marketing tool is word of mouth, or talking. Hopefully, people can hear this and realize that beauty school is not what it used to be 30 years ago, or even 20 years ago, it’s so much more than a hairdressing school. It [sets the stage for] a very lucrative career, if you know how to use it.”
Growing the brand in 2024
“The opportunities for growth are in continuously listening to the consumer and listening to the salon professionals. We’re also coming up with new products that are easy to use and better for everyone. The other way that we grow is through channels of distribution and points of sale. Because we’re young, we’re not all over, so there is a big opportunity to go in different countries and also different retailers. … We’re also looking at the existing portfolio of products and finding the opportunities to grow them. Every year, we try to come up with one innovation, and in 2024, we have two categories [we are launching products in]. Unfortunately, [I cannot share], but one in particular is totally innovation-forward. … We also work very closely with our contract manufacturers, suppliers of raw materials and suppliers of packaging. When you have that relationship, you’re constantly aware of what’s happening. From there, we can make decisions on what kind of products to create and bring to the market.”
