Hosted by Kao Salon, this has been the virtual event that has laid down the foundations for the future of global creative events of this kind in our industry.
Over the past 2 days, the Kao Salon Virtual Experience has seen around 20,000 hair industry professionals from around the world come together to experience 48 hours with the same high level of artistry and creativity that they have come to know and appreciate in previous years. The fact that it was a virtual event did not in any way diminish the excitement and inspirational importance of witnessing work of such a high calibre. The occasion also presented the debut of the Goldwell Couture Collection, the world premiere of the new Angelo Seminara Collection, as well as news and developmental updates from all Kao Salon Division brands.
“In a year where it would have been easy to simply forego the event, we felt compelled to make the considerable investment in creativity by bringing the quality of the live event to stylists virtually,” said Cory Couts, Global President, Kao Salon Division. “Our commitment to our Kao Salon Family is to celebrate creativity…not just the creativity of our craft, but the creativity to plan and to build and to rise. The creativity to create a new future out of an uncertain present and an outdated past.” John Moroney, VP of Creative & Communication added: “When we decided in April to cancel the live event, we made the commitment to our Kao Salon Family that we believe that #creativityneverstops and for that reason, we decided to transform our event into a virtual event. As such, we reimagined the event in a digital space in order to still provide with the same quality of visual artistic experience that they would get if they came to the live event – the Artist Sessions, the excitement of the Gala Show and of course Brand Experiences with Goldwell, KMS, Oribe and Varis.”
Inspirational Creativity
As well as a full programme of Artist Sessions by top global hair artists which gave guests from all over the world the opportunity to experience excellent mastery of their craftmanship there was also a Gala Show in which participants could discover the new Goldwell Hair | Color | Style 2021 Trend Presentation: ESSENTIALISM – Goldwell’s annual trend forecast for Hair | Color | Style. Essentialism’s color palette showcases the on-trend shades for the coming year.
Experts On-Hand
During the 48 hours, the guests had the opportunity to watch various specialty discussion panels about such topics as Salon Business, Social Media, Product Development and Sustainability, including: A Social Media Panel featuring Instagram experts, Jacob Kahn (@jacobhkahn) and Sydney Lopez (@sydneyannlopezhair) who gave insights about how hairdressers can develop their Instagram skills and make a maximum impact with their Instagram feed. Maggie Mulhern, a journalist in the beauty industry with over 30 years’ experience gave her unique and valuable perspective on what works on social media; A Sustainability Expert Panel in which Dr. Elmar Mussenbrock, Kao Salon’s Director of Sustainability spoke to three globally-recognised experts in different areas of Environmentalism and Sustainability; A Sustainability Salon Panel: also featuring Dr. Elmar Mussenbrock, in which he talked to four Salon Owners from around
