Hair-tool brand The Beachwaver Co., best known for its rotating curling iron, is expanding its assortment with nine new products focused on hair care (shampoos, conditioners and styling products) and fragrance.
The 9-year-old brand has been busy the past 12 months expanding into new markets, like Australia and Mexico, and also dipping its toe into hair-care products. In October 2018, it launched a hairspray and a dry shampoo. The latest products will be direct-to-consumer only, with no current retail partners in place, and are meant to provide the company with the opportunity to better control its narrative and move the needle on online sales, said Erin Potempa-Wall, president and co-founder of The Beachwaver Co. She declined to break out 2018 sales but said retail partners like Ulta, Target and SpaceNK contribute a “majority” of the brand’s sales. The Beachwaver Co. is currently in over 6,000 stores.
“For us, this is a fun and exciting time for us to go direct and help build relationships,” said Potempa-Wall.
The hair-care products are intended to strengthen the hair while being environmentally friendly. The packaging and caps are fully recyclable and made from sustainable materials like sugarcane, for example. Sustainable packaging has quickly become a central focus in beauty, with brands including Ren Skincare and Weleda introducing new packaging or recycling partnerships this year. While Beachwaver has long claimed its commitment to sustainability, this launch appears to be the first time it is being emphasized in marketing. Part of the emphasis on sustainability comes from the fact that consumers know brands can be sustainable and expect brands to be so, said Sarah Potempa, co-founder and CEO of The Beachwaver Co.
“Times have changed so much, and people have more [product] education,” Potempa said. “People are definitely getting on board with this concept, and it verifies their purchasing decision.”
It’s a ripe opportunity for The Beachwaver Co. to launch into hair care, as the market is expected to grow to $211 billion by 2025, according to Grand View Research. Many brands are seeing the opportunity. In the past 12 months, Frank Body and Kristin Ess expanded into and within the category, respectively, with the latter moving from product into hair tools in November 2018. However, traditional hair-tool companies, like Conair, T3 and Harry Josh, have yet to make the leap into hair products.
To promote the launch of its hair care, The Beachwaver Co. is going big on content to engage and educate customers. Since May 1, it has been dropping hints to its 260,000 followers on Instagram, beginning with posts every few days and short videos revealing a launch date, but not announcing product. On Tuesday and Wednesday, the brand borrowed a page from QVC, where it is also sold, by doing multiple livestreams to stir up interest among followers. The Beachwaver Co. is also hosting a launch event in Chicago with 51 unpaid influencers, like Ginger Lu (@gingerlu, with 136,000 Instagram followers) and Roxanne Birnbaum (@glassofglam;,72,000 followers). Those influencers will also livestream the event.
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Separately, the brand rolled out a campaign on Wednesday called Dream Big, Make Waves and focused on storytelling and empowerment. This ongoing campaign was designed as a larger brand-awareness opportunity to highlight the brand’s values, such as sustainability. For example, short-form videos are being posted to Instagram with behind-the-scenes interviews of women in male-dominated sports and industries, like three female surfers who are part of World Surf League. The first batch of videos features 10 people and will be rolled out over the next two weeks, said Potempa. She said the company has a list of 100 people it hopes to work with.
“We did a lot of videos, because we want to take a look at our launch and brand from a global perspective,” said Potempa-Wall. “We also hope to educate the consumer about the products and get them into a mindset of [understanding] the back of the packaging to learn more about sustainability and what they are putting into the environment and their own bodies.”
