In case you missed the memo, personal branding events are back in a big way.
The Black Beauty Club, a community organization that brings together “creators and believers driving the next chapter of beauty,” is the latest to get in on the action. This week, it announced the launch of Beauty on the Block, an event that transforms a city block into a live mall, where consumers can buy beauty brands and find service providers (braiders, hairdressers, makeup artists and esthetics).
It takes place in New York City on June 21 and in Chicago on Aug. 8, Beauty on the Block is part party, part market and part immersive experience. Participating brands include Blue Water Girls, Koba Skincare, Moodeaux, Hanahana Beauty, Good Weather Skin, Rebundle and JolieDen, with more to be announced. The event is free and open to the public.
Black Beauty Club founder Tomi Talabi has noticed a shift in the way consumers find beauty products in interactive environments, such as festivals, conventions and activations. Recently, Ulta Beauty World hosted an immersive one-day expo, attracting more than 3,000 people and featuring 220 brands. Earlier this year, Sephora also hosted an in-person beauty experience that included product activations and master classes.
However, black beauty products and consumers are left out of this experience, Talabi points out. “Through the Black Beauty Club, we have spent years building rooms for beauty innovators, creators, users and consumers. What has become clear is that society needs more than meets the eye,” he said. “It needs multiple formats that create real access, discovery, commerce and cultural momentum. Beauty on the Block is the answer to the gap.”
Image: Caitlyn Gaurano/For Black Beauty Club
The event has been going on for months. The founder strategically chose Harlem and Chicago because they are both important cultural centers of Black life, style and business. Talabi was cautious and the opportunity he hopes Beauty on the Block offers participating brands, is to create direct access to consumers, provide product education, drive sales, gather feedback and build relationships in real time.
“That kind of proximity is incredibly important, especially for companies that may not yet have large retail distribution or a large marketing budget,” he explains. “Goodness is built on trust, and live spaces can build that trust no more than shelf placement or a digital ad alone. […] It’s an opportunity for every brand to participate in beauty where it really lives: in the community, in the public, through services, through discovery and real consumer interactions.”
Cash App and Square have teamed up with Beauty on the Block to sponsor events: All participating merchants will work with Square as their point of sale system, while attendees using a Cash App Card will receive special discounts.
Looking ahead, Talabi hopes Beauty on the Block will change the way the industry thinks about Black beauty and its lack of infrastructure. “[Black beauty] it should not be taken as a mere thing, the essence or the discussion of the season,” he says. “It is one of the engines of the beauty industry. Beauty on the Block is about building the kind of platform that reflects that.”
Beauty on the Block will take place at NYC’s Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Office Building Plaza on June 21 from 12pm to 7pm On Aug. 8, will be in Chicago’s Fulton Market/West Loop area from 12pm to 7pm.
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