Jessica King | Learning from Stefan Hair's Brand Legacy

Jessica King is a proud QUT alumnus who has seamlessly blended her academic foundation into her deep-rooted family legacy. Jessica completed her Bachelor of Business and Bachelor of Laws in 2012 and channelled her expertise into a remarkable career as the Brand Manager for Stefan Hair, an iconic Australian beauty brand that is synonymous with excellence. In our Q&A, Jessica revealed how the business has not only endured but thrived in an ever-evolving market. From maintaining brand integrity and embracing innovation, to upholding a strong community presence, Jessica shared the strategies behind Stefan Hair's sustained success. As we delve into Jessica’s experiences and perspectives, we gain some great advice for navigating the competitive beauty landscape to create stellar brands that can stand the test of trends and time. Join us as we explore Jessica’s journey and the enduring legacy of Stefan Hair.

Stefan Hair has been a Queensland icon for 60 years. What do you believe has been the key to sustaining such a strong brand in a competitive beauty industry?

Maintaining brand integrity is so important. Ensuring our guests feel they can trust us with their hair is the biggest compliment and privilege. Equally, we invest in best-in-class education for our stylists, so they are equipped and empowered to deliver on our guests’ expectations. Our guests know that we always stand behind our quality - Stefan's was the first company of our kind to offer the money back guarantee. Beyond this, it’s an assurance that we will do everything possible to deliver great results.

As the step-daughter of the founder, you’ve seen the business evolve over the decades. How has the brand adapted to changes in the industry, and what role has innovation played in that journey?

The hair and beauty industry has always been competitive and constantly evolves. Social media, influencers and effective marketing rapidly changes consumer preferences and trends. What has kept us competitive is reliability, authenticity and delivering real results for our guests. Training has been the most important pillar of the Stefan Company since inception, but now more than ever, our education team, management team, operations team, training programs, internal resources and partnerships are set up to ensure that our stylists are the most capable in the market. We have recently established our new Hair Academy of Excellence located at the state of the art MOBO Building in South Bank, but for nearly 50-years have run educational conferences with world-renowned hairstylists and educators ensuring our staff learn from the best talent globally.

How has your Bachelor of Business / Bachelor of Laws at QUT helped you in your role?

QUT gave me the building blocks to understand business, marketing and HR. It was also amazing at teaching strategic thinking which I believe is key in business today. I remember the assignments being centred around real world simulations which were excellent preparation for real-life situations and have proven invaluable throughout my career. I still remember my first lecture at QUT. The legal professor said 'everyone in this room has the IQ for this course, but not everyone will have the EQ.' While I didn't pursue law post graduating, the ability to think strategically, apply IQ, but more importantly, the EQ in business, has been critical.

With so many beauty brands entering the market, how does Stefan Hair maintain its position at the forefront of the industry and what’s your top strategy for making your brand stand out?

Our focus has always been on delivering value for our guests. But 'value' is perceived in many ways. Our guests visit our salons to look great, to feel great, to destress, to be educated, to celebrate a special occasion, to make a connection, to feel heard and our goal is to be able to add value to our guests lives beyond hair. Our marketing team do an incredible job with maintaining an external brand image and our leadership team, management team and stylists do a fantastic job at ensuring that our guests have an excellent experience in salon.

Customer experience is crucial in the beauty industry. How does Stefan Hair ensure that clients receive the best possible service across all the salons?

Guest experience is often perceived and weighted higher than the service they are coming in for. Our stylists are educated on the entire guest experience. Stefan has always said that ‘people will forget what you did, but they will never forget how you made them feel.’ Our stylists do an amazing job of making every guest feel great - and that's ultimately why they come back!  Our goal is to always ensure that a guest visiting North Lakes receives the same beautiful experience as a guest visiting Pacific Fair or Cairns Central or Toowoomba. This consistency in service is achieved through a refined training process that addresses each touch point of a guests salon journey at Stefan.

Stefan Hair has a strong legacy of community involvement and philanthropy. How important is this aspect of the business to you, and how does it influence your brand strategy?

The Stefan business touches the lives of many Queenslanders on a weekly basis by supporting many local communities and charities. Giving back to the community has always been at the core of the Stefan brand. Stefan was so humbly accepted into the community when he first moved to Australia and it has always been his mission to give back wherever he can. A focus for the Stefan brand over the next period is to give back to the hairdressing industry through a commitment to employing and training more young people than we have before. This has always been a priority, but now more than ever our industry needs the support to ensure the future of this exciting industry is strong for years to come.

What advice would you give to other business owners in the beauty industry who are looking to optimise their brand and stay competitive?

My advice would be happy staff = happy guests. Listen to your staff, they are on the front line and are the eyes and ears and their voice matters. We are a family business and our staff are our family and we are so grateful to our team. They are awesome. Treat people how you would like to be treated or how you would like your mother, brother, grandmother to be treated.

It’s always cool to be kind. Take time to understand what your guests want, what’s important to them and the best way to deliver on this.

And just for fun…we’re very glad to see the mullet disappearing. What’s your favourite trend that has come back in fashion?

Trends come and go but staying true to your personal style never goes out of fashion. The mullet keeps coming and going and I remember so clearly the day I got my first and only mullet in Grade 10. My family remind me of this often!  My favourite old trend that has come back in fashion is the bouncy blowdry with velcro rollers. It gives old school glamour! Stefan’s philosophy is to give our guests a beautiful hairstyle that they can maintain, suits their lifestyle and makes them feel beautiful. Our brand motto – Discover yourself at Stefan means just that.

Jessica King

QUT degrees - Bachelor of Business & Bachelor of Laws (2012)

Have a question for Jessica? Connect with her on LinkedIn.