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Imagine - my weekend with Matrix
Date Added: 2010-02-02
This weekend, I was fortunate enough to spend some time in the company of 200 or so industry professionals watching hair shows and presentations and enjoying several bottles of wine at the Matrix 2010 'Imagine' Conference and Awards. The global brand, founded in the US 30 years ago, has long been the number one in American salons (the brand’s previous strapline) but the UK has been a little slower at catching on. Now with three key messages and one cleverly chosen buzz word – imagine – the brand is poised to develop and excel even further into the UK salon market. A huge investment has gone into the rebranding of Matrix. The message is simple; imagine all you can be. This new brand identity is being rolled out in 60 countries with three core values; imagine the best affordable products, imagine accessible education and imagine personal success. Yes, imagine a new Matrix for 2010!
The conference was held on a particularly chilly Sunday last week at the Vale Hotel and Spa just outside Cardiff. I was treated to three hours of creative inspiration and motivational messages. The Matrix Artistic Team is huge. Fact. It features a whopping 22 hairdressers, including the likes of Errol Douglas, Jamie Stevens and Andrew Jose. During the afternoon they all came up on stage and showed off some fabulous looks. The re-branding message was simple – imagine all you can be. Presented by general manager of Matrix UK and Republic of Ireland, Adrian Thelwell, the show featured a mixture of brand presentations and testimonial VT’s, with speeches from marketing manager, Darragh O'Connor, commercial manager, Louise Manning and education manager, Darren Oram.
The evening was spent at the Matrix Awards (a chance for the brand to celebrate personal success and achievements). I was pleased to be seated between the lovely Marcus and Peter (both part of the Matrix Artistic Team) from Peter Marcus salon in Manchester. They travel all over the world creating fabulous looks for the brand as well as participating in the huge amount of live shows up and down the country, including Matrix Live Unplugged and Destination Fame. As the drink flowed freely, so did the praise for the hard work of the brand’s educators, distributers and salons. It was such a fun evening, with everyone clearly joining into the 'community' feel of Matrix as a brand. To read more about the Matrix Conference and Awards check out next month’s issue of Salon Business and keep checking Salon Business Online for an exclusive interview with Adrian Thelwell coming soon.
