Betty Beauty aims intimate hair care at men
Men looking to add a little color to their lives will be able to turn to the ‘Betty for Men’ line when it is launched in the New Year.
Meanwhile Betty Beauty is already finding favor with men who are curious enough to look beyond the male grooming aisle and bold enough to walk as far as the checkout with Betty in hand.
Media reports even claim that Hollywood stars Jack Black and Ben Stiller use the unconventional hair dyes.
But Betty Beauty fans are generally not found in the ranks of the bright young things of film or among an edgy urban crowd but rather in the heartlands of America.
Conservative customers
Speaking at the HBA Global Expo in September, Betty Beauty founder, Nancy Jarecki said: “Most of our products are being purchased in conservative areas of America such as Kansas and Nebraska.”
And within these Republican strongholds it is baby boomers rather than a ‘young, edgy or tattooed’ minority that is rushing out to buy pubic hair dye.
And customers are not even looking to match the color of their hair up there with their hair down there for ‘hot pink’ is by far and away the most popular color.
Betty Beauty has even received moving letters from female soldiers stationed in Iraq who now share a secret femininity underneath their fatigues.
Convincing retailers
Despite connecting with consumers Jarecki said retailers were often uneasy about stocking her products.
The ‘taboo’ nature of the product, the fear factor and uncertainty over the position Betty would take on the shelves were all held responsible.
Familiarity and experimentation were posited as potential solutions to these perceived problems.
Jarecki said an understanding of the target audience helped put retailers at ease whilst use of discrete marketing language helped allay more of their fears.
The question of whether the products should fall into ‘hair colors’, ‘sexual well-being’ or another category is a dilemma that can only be resolved by playing around with the positioning.
