One hairdresser. 1.8 million video views.
A three time Male Hairdresser of the Year who could only be in one salon at a time. So we built a way to teach hairdressers all over the country.
- Client
- Project lead
Trav WhiteFounder and Head of AI Engineering
- Industry
- Hairdressing education
- Platform
- WordPress, WooCommerce, YouTube
- Scope
- Brand, website, video
- Location
- Brisbane, Australia
01 The briefA brand that looks and sounds like Jules, a website that sells lil' off the top's products and training sessions, and a way to teach hairdressers all around the country.
Great teachers, one salon at a time.
lil' off the top is Jules Tognini's hairdressing education collective: a team of hairdressing professionals, a mobile training program and hair care resources in one. Jules was Australia's Male Hairdresser of the Year in 2013, 2014 and 2015.
Jules wanted to train salons all over Australia. On his own, he could only be in one of them at a time. To reach more, lil' off the top needed the best people in colour, cutting and salon business management to teach alongside him, and it needed a way to teach hairdressers it would never meet in person.
Neither was possible without a brand. The best educators had to want to join, salon managers had to be able to find a class and book it, and the whole thing had to look like Jules: fun, and never boring.
It stayed a one-man show because there was nothing yet to join. The talent and the teaching were there. What was missing was the brand, the website and the channel that would carry them past the salon Jules happened to be standing in.
What Jules asked for
- A brand that looks and sounds like him. Fun, never boring, and something the best educators would want to join.
- A website that sells. lil' off the top's products and training sessions, bookable online.
- A way to teach further. Hairdressers all around the country, past the salon Jules was standing in.
Drawn the way Jules writes his briefs.
The brand is off the cuff and hand-drawn, modelled on the style notes and sketches Jules would send us. Everything below wears it.
Packs that recruited the team
A pack for each hairdresser lil' off the top wanted as an ambassador and educator, written to their strengths, saying why joining was good for both sides and inviting them in. The collective grew to nine professional affiliate hairdressers.
A website that books classes
Profiles of each educator and articles by the team, with salon managers and professionals able to book a class online with the instructor they choose, and an online store for the products. Press releases in the same voice went to the editors of the key trade publications.
A YouTube channel that teaches
Jules' channel set up as a teaching tool, with videos filmed and edited to be as on-brand as everything else. They were shared on social and became a major part of the teaching on the website.
Why the packs matter. A national training program needs teachers before it needs a booking page.
The scope
Brand and marketing
Brand development, the logo, website UI and UX design, social media assets, press releases and marketing collateral.
Website
A WordPress website with WooCommerce for the online store.
Video
The YouTube channel set up, and the teaching videos filmed and edited.
Watched by hundreds of thousands of hairdressers, around the world.
A brand that should sound like its founder?
How the two goals turned out.
What lil' off the top asked for before the project started, and where it stood six months later.
Goal 01
A brand spanking new brand
We made a hand-drawn brand and logo in Jules' own style, a recruiting pack for each hairdresser, social media assets, marketing collateral and press releases.
9
professional affiliate hairdressers teaching for lil' off the top. Each was sent a pack written to their strengths, and a one-man show became a team teaching colour, cutting and salon business management.
Goal 02
A website to educate and sell
We built a WordPress and WooCommerce site with educator profiles, articles, online class booking and a store, and set up Jules' YouTube channel as a teaching tool.
120+
students in six months, and more than 1.8 million video views. Salon managers book a class online with the instructor they choose, and the videos teach hairdressers lil' off the top would never meet in person.
Educator of the Year, 2019. Hair Expo named Jules its Educator of the Year for his work with lil' off the top.
Put together, lil' off the top went from one hairdresser in one salon to a collective whose videos are watched by hundreds of thousands of hairdressers around the world. Subscribers to Jules' channel grew 65% in the first three months, and the channel has drawn almost 9,000 subscriptions.
It went on to be a major resource for hairdressers starting out, and for plenty who are not. We kept working with Jules after launch, on lil' off the top and on further ventures such as joebloe.
“The dudes at Neighbourhood are rad, they helped me develop our training platform, website, online store and making us look f*cking unreal at the same time. big love to them all, thanks guys x”
Jules Tognini
Founder, lil' off the top
Who ran it
Trav WhiteFounder and Head of AI Engineering
Led all three parts: the recruiting packs, the website and store, and the YouTube channel.
HubSpot Certified Trainer, Multi HubSpot Impact Award winner, Founded Neighbourhood in 2015
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