We defined a compelling brand platform for the Hair Cuttery that set them apart from their franchised competitors without giving up the promise of customer value.

Situation

Founded in 1974, Hair Cuttery was the original value-priced salon chain, offering high-quality styling with no appointment necessary. As franchise-based competitors like SuperCuts started crowding malls and Main Street, customers began seeing all the value brands as interchangeable. Ann and Dennis Ratner, the stylists who started and still run the business, believed Hair Cuttery truly offered more than that. It was time to reposition the brand to optimize the salon experience, maximize revenue and increase organizational value.

Solution

In addition to our management interviews and mystery shopper salon visits, we designed focus group research with prospective, current and ex-customers to get at specific brand perceptions and loyalty drivers. We learned that even though price and location got people in the door, most customers were anxious about what they were giving up by not going to a “real” salon with “real” stylists.

But the Ratner’s company really is stylist-centric. Our brand mapping, which included successful value brands outside the salon category, helped us identify a distinguishing (and realistic) positioning opportunity. Instead of a defensive price-and-convenience promise, Hair Cuttery would celebrate the customer’s style savvy and self-confidence: You know better.

Ongoing stylist training and performance evaluations were updated to incorporate important brand behaviors inspired by the new brand platform. The new promise was also the jumping-off point for a 2008 “Still Smart” print, radio and television ad campiagn that focused more on what you get than what you spend.

Follow-up research with customers in 2009 showed improved scores on most loyalty attributes and an impressive 200% jump in the important Net Promoter Score.