Beauty Growth in 2017 at BBR15

Mazur Group, L.A.’s premier executive search firm specializing in the beauty industry, presented their bi-annual BEAUTY BIZ ROUNDTABLE 15 (BBR15), on Friday, April 28th from 9:00am – 2:00pm at Le Méridien Delfina Santa Monica Hotel. This sold-out event featured senior executives from the West Coast’s beauty scene including  Sephora, ipsy, Dollar Shave Club, Sexy Hair Concepts, and more – who gathered to address the beauty industry’s trending topics in influencer marketing, mobile marketing, e-commerce, retail merchandising, corporate social responsibility, and entrepreneurship.

The only beauty industry event of its kind, BBR – now in its 15th run – offers unparalleled opportunities for global brands to meet in an intimate environment to forge partnerships and discuss how beauty brands are expanding into new channels, distributions, and next-gen customers.

Top: Frances Mazur (President, Mazur Group)
Bottom (l to r): The Mazur Group Team – Romina Aquino, Jenn Harrison, Frances Mazur, Katie, Kelly Kaufmann and Amy Wroblewski, BBR15 Gift Bags

“The beauty industry had an extremely busy year in 2016 with major brand acquisitions, retail rebooting, and emerging markets. Based on the projected industry growth for 2017, our goal is to continually facilitate lasting and invaluable connections for the beauty industry as a whole” said Frances Mazur, President of Mazur Group. “After every BBR event, we see both current and new businesses flourish and powerful partnerships form. When the beauty community is given the opportunity to come together in a forum with an equal playing field, the ideas that are sparked – from marketing innovations to essential steps when scaling the business – are incredible. More importantly, we give our speakers the opportunity to connect with their peers, which is rare in the beauty industry.”

BBR15 featured Blair Lawson, Head Merchant at goop whose Keynote Address “Contextual Commerce: Content and Conversion” shared how goop started in 2008 as an e-newsletter founded by Gwyneth Paltrow, and later developed into a lifestyle site with over 1MM subscribers today. In 2014, the goop website launched their e-commerce site which now includes over 150 “clean beauty” products. Lawson also revealed the importance of creating all the content and storytelling in advance, which in 2016, paved the way for their first Goop-branded beauty line, Goop by Juice Beauty, resulting in “a complete, clean-beauty eco-system with multi-brand and goop-branded products.”

BBR15 Keynote Speaker – Blair Lawson (Head Merchant, goop) with her Keynote Address “Contextual Commerce: Content and Conversion”

Roundtables were led by a variety of experts in beauty marketing, digital media, retail, and e-commerce:

• John Bohan, CEO & Founder/Socialtyze – “Your 2017 Influencer Marketing Attack”
• Sasha Calder, Director of Corporate Social Responsibility & Engagement/Josie Maran – “Deeper Than Face Value: Developing Brands with Purpose”
• Jessica Chung, Director of Merchandising/Dermstore – “Nailing the Pitch and More: How to Have Winning Conversations with Retailers”
• Kate Edwards, Co-Founder/Heartbeat – “Millennials and GenZ: Rethinking What You Know About Marketing”
• Erik Huberman, Founder & CEO/Hawke Media – “ROI Driven Marketing”
• Deanna Kangas & Andrew Knox, Co-Presidents/Ouai Haircare – “How to Launch a Brand with the Mobile Generation:  Using Veteran Experience with New World Tactics”
• Fadi Mourad, Chief Innovation Officer/Dollar Shave Club – “Men’s Needs – A Hard Nut to Crack”
• Kim Walls, EVP/LimeCrime – “Global eCom: Payments to Shipping – How to Get It Done”
• Corey Weiss, Head of Business Development/ipsy – “Community to Commerce: Build It and They Will Come”
• Jennifer Yen, Founder/pur-lisse – “TVVillainess to Skin Hero – An Unconventional Path to Entrepreneurship”
• Christina Zilber, Founder & CEO/Jouer Cosmetics –“Branding in the Era of Snapchat”

Top Row (l to r): Jessica Chung (Dermstore), Kate Edwards (Heartbeat), Andrew Knox (Ouai Haircare), Deanna Kangas (Ouai Haircare), Corey Weiss (ipsy), Fadi Mourad (Dollar Shave Club), Kim Walls (LimeCrime), and Frances Mazur (Mazur Group)
Bottom Row (l to r): Erik Huberman (Hawke Media), John Bohan (Socialtyze), Christina Zilber (Jouer Cosmetics), Jennifer Yen (pur-lisse), Sasha Calder (Josie Maran), and Blair Lawson (goop)

When asked about his experience as both a previous BBR attendee and now a facilitator, Fadi Mourad, Chief Innovation Officer of Dollar Shave Club shared that “As a [BBR] participant, I walked away very impressed with the set up, the facilitators’ expertise on the subjects, and meeting new people within the industry.  This year, I was honored to take part in BBR15 as a facilitator.   The Keynote Speaker and all the facilitators are truly inspirational in what they do, and I learned so much from them. The table conversations were incredible, inspiring, thought-provoking, and idea-generating.”

Similarly, Deanna Kangas, Co-President of Ouai Haircare, added “I love the format as a roundtable, because it is very intimate and allows you to ask questions and be part of the presentation so you learn things that are very applicable to your business.  As a presenter, it was great receiving the feedback and learning from their comments.”

BBR15 Roundtables (l to r): Fadi Mourad (Dollar Shave Club), Kim Walls (LimeCrime), Christina Zilber (Jouer Cosmetics), and Andrew Knox & Deanna Kangas (Ouai Haircare)

From an attendee perspective, Caleb Foltermann, Vice President of National Accounts at Sexy Hair Concepts said that BBR “is a great way to learn from other segments within the Beauty Industry.  Cosmetics, Hair, and Skin are all within beauty, but each faces different challenges and opportunities.  Meeting people with these similar but unique challenges offers invaluable insight into my own segment of the market and how the industry is trending as a whole.”

BBR15 is sponsored by Women’s Marketing  and Cosmopak. The next Beauty Biz Roundtable (BBR16) is slated for October 2017 in Santa Monica.

 Click here for more BBR15 event photos

About BBR

Founded by Mazur Group in 2009, the BBR series has evolved into the preeminent bi-annual event for beauty executives on the West Coast. Starting with a continental breakfast and open networking followed by a Keynote Address, attendees engage with one another and their Facilitators in a roundtable format that fosters networking and idea sharing. Each Facilitator leads their 3 groups through dynamic learnings and inspires attendees to share and collaborate.  Attendees are then invited to continue networking during a post-event lunch directly following the roundtables. https://mazurgroupla.com/beauty-biz-roundtable/ 

About Mazur Group

Mazur Group places outstanding executive, managerial, and professional-level candidates. We provide unique access to both full-time / direct-hire candidates, as well as industry consultants available for specific projects or indefinite engagements. With a strong emphasis on local brands, Mazur Group specializes in helping small- to mid-sized businesses make critical executive hires, positioning them to scale towards acquisition. Mazur Group is headquartered in Santa Monica, California and recruits for companies across the United States, with a 95% return rate with our clients.