CLOUD NINE, the award-winning Yorkshire-based hair styling tools company, has appointed Propaganda Brand Consultancy founder and CEO Julian Kynaston as brand director.
Kynaston will carry out the new role alongside his existing responsibilities at Leeds’ Propaganda, and as chair of menopause awareness campaign body GenM.
The move further solidifies the intertwined history of the two Yorkshire-based brands, with Propaganda initially playing a pivotal role in creating CLOUD NINE back in 2009, and the haircare brand recently reappointing Propaganda as lead marketing and creative agency.
The seven-figure account, previously held by IMA Home, was awarded to Propaganda without a pitch, underscoring the strength of their relationship and expertise.
Having now spent 15 years leading innovation in the hair styling industry, CLOUD NINE is embarking on ambitious growth plans targeting global retail and eCommerce. With Kynaston taking on the brand director role, and Propaganda leveraging their 30 years of experience delivering strategic brand recommendations and impactful creative campaigns, CLOUD NINE hopes to once again shake up the hairstyling sector.
Kynaston and the Propaganda team have solid experience creating brands across hair and beauty. Kynaston previously acted as marketing director at ghd haircare, delivering the first positioning for the brand and launching it to overseas audiences. Kynaston also created beauty brand Illamasqua, “revolutionising a previously homogenised global beauty industry and pioneering a new era of make-up advertising.”
Kynaston said: “After a 14 year absence I’m back to shape up the world of styling irons! I have been working closely with the CLOUD NINE team since they re-engaged with Propaganda last August. After many discussions with the shareholders and CEO, I’ll now be helping to deliver their ambitions as brand director. Given the shared history between Propaganda and CLOUD NINE, we have an inherent passion for the brand, and we also have a point to prove to the current market leaders. We’re looking forward to making a huge impact on styling tools and challenging the status quo once more.”
Martin Rae, owner and founder of CLOUD NINE added: “We’re so proud of everything that we’ve achieved at CLOUD NINE over 15 years, but there’s always a desire to do more. We want to leave a legacy – and we want to really step into our role as the only challenger brand to the market leader. No one has made more of an impact in the world of styling iron branding than Julian Kynaston, so bringing him back on the team just felt like the most logical thing to do.”