The Marketing Communications Mix
Good Hair Day, known in short as ‘ghd’ was founded in 2001 by Martin Penny, Gary Douglas and Robert Powls. Martin Penny got a £50,000 bank loan to launch ghd and began targeting up-market hair salons rather than selling though high street stores. They are a successful English company; well known for making hair straighteners and a variety of hair creams. G Jamella group, the company who owned ghd at its conception was recently sold to Lloyds Development Capital and then re-sold to Montagu Private Equity group for £160m.
The ghd straightening irons have become a highly popular fashion item, owing in part to its many celebrity fans such as Victoria Beckham; consumers often look to celebrities to see what items they are using before making a decision to purchase a product. Ghd has been involved in many high fashion events such as New York fashion week and the Willow Lingerie Spring/Summer ’07 show.
The company’s logo is shown left; it shows the name spelt in bronze coloured circles, a very similar colour to the ceramic plated that the company are well known for using. Ghd products are still relatively new and are still increasing in popularity. “Sales of ghd irons have risen from £10million in 2002 to a forecast 70million in 2006.” (ldc.co.uk). This means that the products are still in the growth stage of the product life cycle.
Recent additions and changes to the ghd product catalogue are straightening irons with more rounded plates for more effective use when curling hair, this new creation also makes it easier to use on shorter hair. They have also recently announced the release of ‘ghd spa’ which they claim to be “a brand new, groundbreaking range of scalp and hair care therapies, specifically developed for spa clients.” These items are hair products for use in spas; ghd claims that there is a demand for hair treatments in these establishments and say “ghd spa now provides therapists with the knowledge,...