Cosmoprof North America 2009: Success - Delivering High Quality Beauty + Brisk Biz Activity

COSMOPROF NORTH AMERICA 2009

Demonstrating that hard work and tenacity always leads to success, Cosmoprof North America continues to maintain its coveted position as the premier business-to-business beauty event.

Encompassing all sectors of the industry in one venue, it remains the single most important forum for the entire beauty industry despite the challenging economic climate.

(Cosmoprof 2009 - Las Vegas, Nevada - All Rights Reserved).

The event, held from July 19^th - 21^st, brought 625 exhibiting companies to a sold-out show floor along with more than 22,500 quality attendees that included importers, distributors, manufacturers, and global beauty leaders all under one roof.

As in years past, Cosmoprof North America attracted many new and innovative brands in addition to industry leaders such as Creative Nail Design, RUSK, TIGI, Essie, JESSICA Nails, z.one concept, Orly, AHAVA, OPI Nail, Alberto Culver, and Schwarzkopf & Henkel.

This year's show welcomed PBA Beauty Week, North America's largest, most inclusive beauty event, offering unlimited networking, education, and professional growth opportunities to all sectors of the beauty industry.

In addition to leading beauty industry professionals, many of the top trade publications from across the globe traveled to Cosmoprof North America to seek out the newest emerging trends.

Several consumer media outlets (including HairBoutique.com) were present as well including Lucky and NYLON magazines and Women's Wear Daily. Cosmoprof North America also saw a large increase in "eMedia," which continues to grow in importance and allows the event message to reach a significant global audience.

Through close-knit collaborations with countries seeking to expand their foreign trade in beauty, Cosmoprof North America dedicated special sections on the show floor to distinct International Country Pavilions. Country Pavilions allow small- and medium-sized companies from select markets to participate in the Cosmoprof North America event with the objective of obtaining direct "face time" with distributors and retailers to secure U.S. distribution.

Featured countries at the 2009 show included: Australia, Brazil, China, Italy, Korea, Mexico, and Taiwan.

The International Buyer Program, a Cosmoprof exclusive, continued to unite buyers and sellers around the world with the resources, contacts, and data to build business. For the seventh consecutive year, beauty and cosmetics companies showcasing their products at Cosmoprof North America were offered the opportunity to meet one-on-one as part of pre-scheduled appointments with a group of selected importers and distributors.

Overall 200 meetings were held as part of the International Buyer Program involving more than 91 exhibiting companies and 140 qualified international buyers. The international buyers were invited from Australia, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Canada, Columbia, Denmark, Ghana, India, Kenya, Mexico, Romania, Senegal, and Uruguay.

Discover Beauty, another Cosmoprof North America exclusive, assists newly emerging brands in finding the proper market, while spotlighting the newest trends for influential retail buyers. By offering one-on-one meetings between senior buyers from prestigious retailers such as Bliss, Henri Bendel, Home Shopping Network (HSN), PureBeauty, Beauty Collection, and Wynn Las Vegas Apothecary, selected Discover Beauty brands were able to present their products for immediate consideration and feedback from the decision makers themselves.

Additionally, this year's show continued the successful Discover Beauty - Spa program through a strong collaboration with the Las Vegas Spa Association (LVSA) which brought spa directors from some of the largest spas in the country to one-on-one meetings with selected Discover Beauty - Spa brands. Discover Beauty - Spa featured spa directors / buyers from The Spa at Wynn Las Vegas and Encore, Canyon Ranch SpaClub, The Spa at ARIA, MGM Grand Spa, and The Spa at Mandarin Oriental, Las Vegas.

This year's show unveiled the first-ever 2009 DISCOVER BEAUTY AWARD. The 20 brands participating in the 2009 Discover Beauty program were judged on packaging, overall brand concept and likelihood to succeed in the beauty marketplace.

The voting was done by specialty retailers such as Henri Bendel, HSN, Kalologie and PureBeauty as well as various beauty bloggers including AOL.com, TotalBeauty.com, AGirlsGottaSpa.com, RomyRaves.com and Beauty.com. Announced at the Discover Beauty Party at MIX at The Hotel in Mandalay Bay, the recipient of the inaugural Discover Beauty Award was TouchBack by ColorMark. TouchBack, real hair color in a marker, is the fastest touch-up for gray roots that dries instantly and won't flake or rub off, even after brushing.

Special educational seminars were filled to capacity with more than 600 attendees in total. Businesses and industry leaders from multiple sectors of the industry participated in round-table discussions and panels to share their knowledge and insights. Highlighted educational seminars included:

- Evaluating Green Packaging Materials. Featuring cosmetic packaging supplier HCT Packaging and international beauty brands Urban Decay and Sephora. Moderated by Jennifer Kwok, Editor of CPC Packaging Magazine.

- The New Retail - Think Out of the Box...Literally. Featuring Beth Mayall of TotalBeauty.com, Kathleen McNeill of Beauty.com / Drugstore.com and Michael Henry of HSN and organized in conjunction with Women's Wear Daily. Moderated by Andrea Nagel, Mass Beauty Editor of WWD.

- So You Want to Create Your Own PL Brand? Featuring Pam Busiek of CBI Laboratories, Shannon Nelson of Pierce Mattie Public Relations and A Girl's Gotta Spa and John Rebecchi of Disc Graphics. Moderated by Phillip Russo, Publisher of Private Label Magazine.

- How to Thrive in a Challenging Economy. Featuring Jerry Wenker of Dermalogica, Lisa Starr of Wynne Business and Tracey Sameyah of Murad Inclusive Health Center (MIHC). Moderated by Rhonda J. Wilson, Executive Editor of DAYSPA Magazine.

- New Media: Greater Sales for Beauty Stores. Featuring Brian Schmidt of Google, Laura Kenney of AOL, Shawn Tavakoli of Beauty Collection and Lawrence Mortenson of LM Consulting. Moderated by Marc Birenbaum, Executive Editor of Beauty Store Business Magazine.

- PBA Symposium General Session I: Consumer Culture. Featuring Neil Stern, presenter of PBA's year-long, landmark study on the state of the beauty industry and the contemporary beauty consumer, Business of Beauty: Maximize Your Profitability.

- PBA Symposium General Session II: Consumer Culture. Featuring Bonnie Conte of Avalon Salon, Dawn Blackstone of Dermalogica, Bennie Pollard of Bennie and Friends, Reuben Carranza of P&G Professional Care, Carolyn Bojanowski of Sephora and Norma Knudsen of Regis Corporation. Co-facilitated by Lou Carbone and Neil Stern.

- One-on-One With the New Owner. A highlight of the future plans of Brian Luborsky, chairman and CEO of Premier Salons Beauty. Moderated by Marc Birenbaum, Executive Editor of Beauty Store Business.

The North American Hairstyling Awards (NAHA), the professional hair care industry's single most important awards event of the year, were also held in conjunction with Cosmoprof North America on Sunday, July 19^th. With record attendance of over 2,000, the theme for NAHA 20, Honoring the Work. Stories. Style!, paid tribute to the work, captured the stories and celebrated the style of many professionals throughout the years who have contributed to the success of the industry.

Cheryl and Jim Markham, founders of PureOlogy, were also honored during Cosmoprof North America on Monday, July 20^th with the City of Hope 2009 Spirit of Life® Award. This black-tie gala featured an array of industry notables from the professional beauty industry all paying tribute to the Markhams for their extensive efforts and community outreach.

One notable presence at this year's gathering included Nancy O'Dell, co-anchor of Access Hollywood, who was given the inaugural 2009 PBA Beautiful Humanitarian Award during NAHA 20 for her far-reaching humanitarian work.

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