What happens when you take away something at the core of business? Can you imagine a fast food restaurant without food? A carpet store that doesn’t sell carpet? How about a beauty parlor that doesn’t cut hair?
Drybar is a hair salon whose tag line is no cuts, no colors just blowouts.
In the wonderful marketing book called DIFFERENT by Youngme Moon the Harvard marketing professor describes brands that are different in important ways. I wrote a review about it last year and have mentioned it often in my blog posts. Last week I heard of a wonderful example when a business takes something away from a category to make it new, inventive and worth sharing.
REVERSE BRANDS
Imagine a hair salon that doesn’t cut hair. It is the perfect example of REVERSE BRANDS where something is removed that is typically found within the category. IKEA is one example given in DIFFERENT where unlike other furniture stores; they don’t assemble the sofas or tables. You do the work. Ikea takes away something common to the category of furniture stores.
Alli Webb created Drybar. It was imagined as a place that woman would go only to get their hair blown out. They don’t do coloring or cuts. All they do is blow-dry your hair to give a woman that look of coming out of a salon- without the expense.
She started out of her house, then her car and eventually opened up stores in several cities. She wanted to create an alternative space to a beauty parlor. Today they have 26 stores in 7 cities and a product line for the perfect blowout.
I love that this is a highly focused business model that is simple to understand with a powerful emotional hook. She isn’t trying to be all things to everyone- she is snipping at a small segment and filling a gap.
COMBING THE MARKET
What she has done is to tap into a segment of affordable luxury. She filled the gap of getting people to feel great about themselves without the high cost of going to a fancy salon. In interviews, she describes it as an emotionally transformational experience for a woman who wants to feel good about themselves. This is escape with a lot of pampering but it’s at an affordable price of $35 per visit. I don’t know what it costs to go to a beauty parlor for the works but I’ll be it is over $100 and possibly a lot more with all the bells and whistles.
BRUSHING AWAY COMPETITION
She has created her blue ocean not competing with other salons but just focusing on one simple service and ignoring all the rest. Instead of adding features like spas, massages, manicures and other services she took away things toward simplicity and the essence of an experience. If you are looking at a new product launch or starting a new business, what can you learn from this success?
- What can you remove or eliminate that sets you apart from the competition?
- How can your offering focus on just one key service or feature offered in the category?
- Will you shock and surprise customers with an incredibly simple offering that is instantly appreciated and understood?
- How can you focus on an emotional benefit that you provide with a different business model?
Drybar is an idea that blows me away.
Note: When I am not clipping ideas to share with my readers, I am writing about unraveling marketing into easy to understand strands. If you enjoy these posts, won’t you share them on Facebook with your friends or Tweet them out on Twitter? Thanks.
Note: When I am not clipping ideas to share with my readers, I am writing about unraveling marketing into easy to understand strands. If you enjoy these posts, won’t you share them on Facebook with your friends or Tweet them out on Twitter? Thanks.
you have mentioned very useful and profitable message message for us. Salons Vancouver Wa is located at Essentials Day Spa & Salon, a centrally located full-service salon in Vancouver, Washington.
Julywebmaster,
Thanks for your comment. I am happy to hear this was useful information for you. If I get to Vancouver I will come by and visit. I understand it is a beautiful area of the US. Cheers.
Jeff