Staying committed to its history of partnerships with young athletes, Hally, the Gen-Z hair-color brand, has tapped Olympic hopeful and gymnast Leanne Wong for a partnership. Wong was an alternate at the Tokyo Games and places as an alternate for Paris, too.
Wong is the face of Hally’s latest launches, including its $25 Gem Pen, which adheres gems to the hair and is the brand’s first product outside of the hair-color category. Her four-month contract with the brand includes posting on social media, wearing Hally’s products in all competitions, participating in Ulta activations, being featured in campaign imagery and partnering on cross-selling opportunities with her own company, Leanne Wong Bowtique.
Though the brand has a history of partnering with college sports teams, this partnership marks the first time it has partnered with a single athlete and featured them as talent.
“One of the most unique things about Leanne is that she’s an NCAA athlete at the University of Florida. … The majority of elite gymnasts either take the year off school [for the Olympics] or they’re not competing. … But Leanne has got a full plate. She’s a pre-med student, and she’s one of the primary stars of the University of Florida gymnastics team. … She competes both at the collegiate level and in elite gymnastics as part of the national team,” Winokur said, regarding what made Wong an attractive partner.
For Hally, meeting customers where they are is the name of the game. Winokur said she’s always looking for new ways to “focus in on places where hair color, temporary hair color and hair accessories can be relevant and top of mind” for potential and existing customers. That’s included sports and sporting events. And the Olympics, which begin July 26, present the brand with an opportunity to take the strategy to new heights.
“Hair has so much importance in gymnastics, I can’t say it has the same amount in swimming,” Winokur said.
In addition to her academic and athletic goings-on, Wong somehow also runs her own business, the Leanne Wong Bowtique, which she launched in December 2021. The company sells bows, leotards and other assorted gymnastics-related paraphernalia. “Leanne goes to a school we had [already] been working with on a grassroots level, plus she obviously loves hair. Leanne was just a home run for us,” Winokur said. Winokur is also supporting Wong’s bow brand by selling its products on Hally’s e-commerce site.
On June 22, Wong joined Winokur for an appearance at her local Ulta store in Gainesville, Florida. The event drew about 100 people, 25-30 of whom were ambassadors for Wong’s brand — the budding entrepreneur created a program where ambassadors are given perks like discounts, the ability to give input on upcoming products and occasional IRL face time with the gymnast herself. Wong strives to give the ambassadors special experiences, too, which she did that day.
“I actually had practice before the appearance, so [I invited them to] meet up at the gym. They got to see me practice a little bit and see the facility and have a whole day experience,” Wong said.
Hally was Ulta Beauty’s fastest-growing hair-color brand in 2023, and Hally’s sales are up over 200% since launching its Glitter Shade Stix and the Gem Pen at the retailer. Wanting in on the brand’s Olympics-tied partnership, Ulta provided Hally with the $800,000 sales opportunity of overtaking endcap displays in nationwide Ulta stores for six weeks this summer. The branded endcaps feature imagery of Wong wearing Hally products.
“Part of running a fast-growing, lean startup is developing creative marketing campaigns that bring exposure to Hally and drive sales,” Winokur said. “We found a great, authentic partner in Leanne Wong and turned that into an impactful retail program highlighting our newest innovation at our primary retailer, Ulta Beauty. It generated an ROI of over 100x.”
At the June 22 Ulta event, Winokur found that Wong’s fans were being introduced to Hally for the first time — a win, in terms of increasing brand awareness. “Leanne was so interactive, showing people how to refill the Gem Pen. Even her mom was helping put glitter in everyone’s hair,” Winokur said.
“A lot of them went home with new hair products, and some were already starting to put them in their hair in the car,” Wong added.
Wong and Winokur first began to discuss the partnership back in January. Since then, Wong has worn Hally’s Shade Stix and hair gems for her performances. “It’s such a perfect collaboration because their new products, the Gem Pen and the Glitter Shade Stix, align [perfectly] with my business,” Wong said. “I sell hair bows full of glitter and gems, and now I have the Hally [products] to sparkle up my hair even more.”
Olympian-beauty brand partnerships are on the rise. Nyx just announced a partnership with Shilese Jones, who will also compete in trials for the U.S. gymnastics team, Kiss Professional Nails is partnering with gold medalist Suni Lee, and K18 recently announced Simone Biles as its newest ambassador, with a two-year contract.
