The brand that launched onto the market in 2006 with cheeky and provocative branding has grown up. It’s no longer just a matter of disrupting the industry with slogans like ‘who the **uck is Muk?’, it’s about a family culture that’s driving one of Australia’s largest full service salon brands, writes Cameron Pine.

Be prepared to see a completely new look Muk Haircare and we’re not just talking a revamped aesthetic but a focus back on its network and team culture that helped build the brand to international success. Muk is ringing in the next quarter of 2021 with an even stronger push towards its valued salon network and a refocus on its core family values.

From its initial growth phase in recent years Muk Haircare has evolved into a full service salon partner from colour to the best take-home offering for all types of clients. This includes a complete professional colour range, 35 core range products, five specialist Argan Oil products, seven best-selling electrical tools and distribution in 27 countries – not to mention 100 per cent Australian born and owned and completely cruelty free.

Brand founders, sister and brother duo Janelle and Scott Reynolds, have tirelessly worked on the much loved hair label for the last 16 years to ensure not only a great product but also that is has been a positive place to work and a great experience for salons –  that’s the focus now more than ever.

“The main priority for Janelle and is letting people know that we are here – and we’ve always been committed to running the business,” Scott said. “While we’ve had some changes to management, basically the back-end of muk hasn’t changed and we have some exciting things planned for the future. People know who we are, but where we are going in the future is a bit different – we are retaining elements of who we are with strong business support and a bigger team in the office.”

Scott confirms that colour really is the strength of their business, as with any salon brand in this country, but having such a strong team behind the scenes is rare.

Well and truly evolved from a cheeky, seductive past, the brand’s new packaging will launch in quarter 3, which Janelle says is a very exciting refresh for the brand

“‘Same same but different’ in a way, and our new photoshoot will be testament to that. We still want to look at what we’ve done in the past and reinforce our completely professional element of ‘haircare for everyone’,” Janelle said. “We are not going for just a higher salon clientele, neither sitting at a low price point and the repack will open new doors for us from a retail perspective.”

While it has served them well, the old catch-cries of ‘Kum Muk Me’, ‘Wanna Muk’ and ‘Let’s Muk’ sentiment of the brand’s birthplace are less important than telling the story that they have a unique offering for a full service salon that includes electrical tools. They are really elevating the brand so colour salon clients will have the perfect retail incentive for all types of clients.

“Ultimately there are three core pillars of this brand piece – colour, retail and electrical. The way we launched years ago wasn’t sustainable for creating long-term salon partners at the full 360 degree level. The repack and the new shoot is really about creating an image that salon clients will want and be a part of and one that will also attract consumers,” Janelle said.

The new rebrand will follow the brand archetypes of ‘The Magician’ and ‘The Outlaw’, with the simple tagline of ‘Haircare for Everyone.’ The brand’s wide appeal to both female and male will remain one of its true successes.  

The brand has succeeded with both male and female targets since inception but, in the case of the rebrand, essentially the female SKU is the magician who can change her look to be whoever she wants to be. The Outlaw is the male – staying true to the elements of where the brand started, he pushes buttons and boundaries while still being commercially appealing with a suite of ten images that every salon will love.

A key part of the shoot is also to create new in-salon material for salons to improve the brand footprint and to instantly create campaign content for salons to leverage.

“I suppose with most businesses – maintaining good people and staff and finding good staff and building a great culture is a key priority. Building a positive culture in the business is something we are forever heavily working on,” Scott said. “The biggest challenge that Janelle and I have is that we’ve stepped from a small family business two to three years ago to a business with 60 plus staff, multiple warehouses and international distributors, so that’s a lot more moving parts to consider.”

Muk Haircare are well versed in the reality that if you grow too quickly, and don’t have the right people to support the business, that’s when you run into some problems. Considering the burgeoning brand has brought in a lot of extra people, working on this fit is a forever challenge.

“We’ve grown so much through covid so it’s all about having the right people around us and building trusted partnerships,” Janelle said.

Muk has assessed all areas and, while many brands are decreasing sales and education people on the ground, they are readily scaling up in this area. “We have assessed everything this year and investing more in our people than ever,” Janelle said.

Putting on new staff through COVID is quite achievement but 20 per cent, in the case of Muk, is a significant feat that really points to their ongoing vision. To top it off, they have outgrown their offices and will be moving into new offices across the road at their Keilor Park location that will include a content creation studio for leveraging new assets and shooting up to the minute content, and the academy the brand has become known for in the education realm. This will ideally position them as the perfect partner to make noise in both trade and consumer markets.

“Whether it’s working in our office, our suppliers. accountants, truck drivers – Janelle and I have been working on our core purpose and we keep coming back to the word ‘happiness’ – money really is a biproduct of happiness, it’s the result not the cause. People come into your life and it’s up to us to make it a great culture,” Scott said.

In aid of being genuine in everything they say and do, it’s obvious that Muk are committed to being at the top of their game, which, in a world with so much disruption, is a sure bet for salons looking for something beyond the everyday partnership. They have grown up and their family is waiting for new advocates.  There are no rock stars, they’ve pulled down the ceiling and everyone is working together to meet the needs of the market right now. With more reps and education support than most brands in the market, and significant growth during COVID, it’s clear they are doing something right.

When partnering with a brand that doesn’t just add products and complications to the market but delivers on every area that salons make money from, the philosophy has never been more clear – just like any good relationship that is about everything you value and nothing that you don’t, Muk not only creates great relationships, but great business purpose and growth.

“To this day we still live by this mantra that you just do what you need to do to get where you need to be and we remain wholeheartedly committed,” Scott said.

Let’s toast to a brand that is flexible, bespoke and quick to move and meet the demands of salons, staff and distributors – welcome to Muk Haircare in 2021.

For more information visit www.mukhair.com

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