America's Beauty Show (ABS) in Chicago (March 22-24) was the site of many product launches including fave4, a line featuring four hairsprays for distinct styling needs. MODERN SALON asked Marketing Manager Alex Andrews to share her experience at the show and to answer these five questions:

1. What were you trying to communicate to the stylist about your fave4 products? How did you do that?

fave4 is structured to provide the professional hairdresser with their four favorite hairsprays, all condensed into one line. This provides all of the tools a stylist needs, while catering to clients' desire to have their own personal favorite based on the styles they want to create on themselves at home. The line is exclusively focused on styling products, so our objective was to show the versatility each individual spray provides, as well as how they can be used to prep, style and finish with for a wide variety of different, relevant looks. Many hair shows focus on aspirational looks - we definitely wanted to inspire hairdressers, but also concentrated on showing artistic interpretations of current looks, applicable in a salon setting. Throughout each day of the show we had 4 styling demonstrations by our Style Experts - young, relevant session and salon stylists with a passion for teaching other hairdressers. Each show featured one specific spray but also demonstrating how the others could compliment the style. Our Style Experts would work through a look for the live audience, at the end presenting both their finished creation as well as 3 presentation models who represented looks created by each of the other sprays. The hair and fashion were on-trend and focused on fun! At the end of each show our Style Experts were available to work with show attendees to answer questions and walk them through the looks utilizing practice on mannequins.

2. Do you think it’s important to have a platform and live demos at trade shows? If so, why?

The platform and demos were integral to our brand strategy of marketing the products based on the finished looks they can create.  By creating visuals with the stage presentation, it was much easier to draw attention to our booth, offer both aspirational and functional styling advice, and to demonstrate just how amazing the products really are!  It's one thing to say a product works a certain way, but when hairdressers can see it in action and try it themselves, then they know we are a brand they can trust.  Our brand is young, fun and vibrant - our platform shows were developed to portray that same energy.

3. What were you hearing from people coming to your booth about their experience at the show?

Before we even got to the show, we met some hairdressers from Minnesota who were attending for the first year.  Their excitement carried throughout the weekend - it seemed almost everyone in attendance was eager to learn new techniques and try new products.  Overall ABS was such a great show.  There was a wide variety of the classics and staples, mixed with new and upcoming brands.

4. Do you think trade shows are important and, if so, why?

Trade shows are fabulous!!  We love having the opportunity to engage with and get feedback from all parts of the industry: hairdressers, distributors, media, and other manufacturers each have such a different perspective.  It's such a great way to bring the whole hairdressing community together and gain insight into what's going on within the industry, as well as to put new ideas out there and make an impact ourselves.  Trade shows have such a great energy to them.  I love walking the floor, gaining inspiration from the looks, sounds and concepts put forth by each booth.  

5. What did you learn at the show? Any takeaways that will influence how you move forward in your marketing of fave4?

We can't wait to release a look book and how to's featuring the styles created on the fave4 platform!  Our biggest takeaway was that although images of popular styles may be popping up all over the internet, there's still a core of hairdressers who are timid to try out a complicated braid or trendy crimped style on clients.  Educating with practical, on-trend looks is important to our brand as we continue to expand our marketing.

http://www.fave4.com/