How mark woolley created an 'electric' brand

With a group that encompasses a studio, five salons, a product range and live music events, there's no question that Electric is building a reputation as one of the coolest and most diverse brands in the business. Owner Mark Woolley, the resident hairdresser on This Morning, revealed to the Business Extra audience at Salon International how he has successfully grown the brand. Mark began his presentation by revealing that developing a brand isn't all about focusing on the branding details that consume too many people when they are starting out. "The brand isn't as important as I used to think," says Mark. " I used to think having a great name and a great logo was really important, now I know that none of that matters if you don't back it up." With a clear vision of what he wanted to achieve, Mark looked outside the industry for inspiration and focused on brands that had been able to recreate their initial proposition without losing their vibe and those that had been able to diversify. As such, he took inspiration from brands such as Virgin and Apple, but also Soho House and Harvey Nichols who he admired for their ability to recreate their exclusive feel as they ventured into new - but always handpicked - locations. "I know that in hairdressing if you repeat it too many times you become a bit too corporate and then you lose your soul. "But I do want to grow so I looked to them to work out how I could get the balance. I don't think we will ever have more than 10 salons to make that work." The next crucial thing was to have strong imagery that supported the brand and could be used in billboard advertising, but this came with a big decision: he would never advertise a discount. "I think that if you have fantastic images of great looking hair, then people will want to come to you. All of the discounting in the industry at the moment is resulting in a lowering of quality," he explains. Of course it doesn't matter how strong the vision is if you don't have a team that support it, so Mark invests significantly in keeping his team happy. In order to do this, he has created Electric Sessions where he invites bands to perform intimate gigs for his team. He adds: "The first thing in our industry is to get everyone having a good time. Creating a buzz and getting everyone together. "It's a journey and if you can take people on that journey with you they can go on to be as successful as you, but they will also help you get to your destination." His final trick for growing the brand has been to think outside of the box. "We don't have the same budget as the big hitters so we have to think what we can do differently to create the same impact." The 'Electric Bus' camper-van, which became a big focal point at Salon International and has also made an appearance at Glastonbury, is one example of this. While there's an 'Electric Bug' in the pipeline. Other quirky ideas that have helped to grow the brand without breaking the budget include Electric record bags for the staff and sponsoring his son's football team. "You can take things from what's around you, but always have your eyes open. Some of the things we do might seem silly, but as long as there is some relevance and they fit in with your message they all count," he concludes.