Monday Haircare founder on how she built a brand from scratch — in the middle of a pandemic

Back in March 2020, just as the world was going into lockdown, Jaimee Lupton launched Monday Haircare — a premium yet affordable and accessible haircare range.

Three years on, Monday is available in 60 major retailers in 23 different countries and the brand sells an average of 12,000 bottles a day.

In a recent interview with SmartCompany, Lupton shares the secrets to her success and the unexpected upside to launching a supermarket haircare range during a pandemic.

The days before Monday Haircare

Prior to co-founding Monday Haircare with her partner, Nick Mowbray, Lupton worked in Sydney at a luxury communications and publicity agency. Her clients included prestigious brands such as Range Rover and Hermès, providing her with exceptional PR and communications experience.

Source: Supplied

Meanwhile, Mowbray and his siblings had co-founded a hugely successful toy company (Zuru Toy Company), as well as Zuru Edge (one of the fastest-moving FMCG companies in the world) and Zuru Tech (a fully automated production line for houses and buildings).

With his entrepreneurial skills and Lupton’s branding expertise, they became a dream team. “I’ve learned more from him (Mowbray) than I could put into words,” Lupton says. “What he’s taught me in business, I’ve taught him in marketing and branding.”

Establishing Monday Haircare

After giving up her job in Sydney, Lupton moved back to New Zealand and began working on the concept for Monday: a range of salon-quality haircare products that are “modern, cruelty-free, affordable and accessible.”

Using a product development team in China, Lupton and Mowbray spent around two years developing the “tight” range of Monday products. Lupton knew the brand needed to focus on a range of “staples” that were “quality products.” And her experience in marketing taught her the importance of simplicity. 

“So many mass brands in a supermarket/drugstore setting want to ‘shout’ with their packaging and marketing, whereas our approach whispered,” Lupton says. “Often, how a product looks is just as important as what it does and how it performs.” This simplified approach to aesthetics is reflected in the now-iconic packaging of Monday Haircare, featuring a pale-pink low-contrast design.

Launching during the pandemic

Supermarkets were always on Lupton’s radar as the primary distributor for Monday Haircare. This decision had unexpected benefits at the time of launching — March 2020 — just as the world went into lockdown and hair salons shut down.

“At-home haircare became the only form of haircare,” Lupton says. “So, having a salon-quality option in the supermarket aisle became incredibly useful for people. I think that helped prove our reason for being as a brand: the need for modern, quality products in an accessible setting.”

At the time of launching, the front end of the business was managed by Lupton, Mowbray, and a recent university graduate who interned with the couple and “is still within the business today.” But it didn’t take long for the company to grow. Within four weeks of launching, Lupton sold six months’ worth of Monday Haircare stock within Australia and New Zealand, largely because of incredible social media success.

“While I don’t think you can ever truly plan to ‘go viral’, you can certainly be prepared to respond to the interest and demand,” Lupton says. “I think the success was a matter of Monday reflecting the things customers were desperate for: a premium product with modern values – like being cruelty-free and recyclable – that also looks good in your shower or bathroom, but doesn’t cost more for the sake of it. Those things resonated with people in a big way, which is why we went ‘viral’, so to speak.”

TikTok continues to play a pivotal role in the digital marketing strategy of Monday Haircare. “We’re the most followed haircare brand on the app and we’re constantly tapped into the platform to stay ahead of the trend,” Lupton says. “TikTok has now been downloaded over 3 billion times worldwide, and the #mondayhaircare hashtag has had close to 700 million views.”

Lupton also made a “concerted effort” to establish relationships with the press early on, “so that they were familiar with the products and happy to cover its popularity”.

These days there are over 100 people working across Monday Haircare, covering roles in operations, product, marketing, design, sales and supply chain with offices in Australia, New Zealand, Asia, North America and Europe.

Since launching, Monday has also expanded the range to include edible haircare supplements. “We have a team of analysts who rely on data to help inform where the brand will go next,” Lupton says. “For example, with the rise of ingestible beauty, we knew people were looking for something to support their hair health and growth from the inside out. Enter our Hair Gummies.”

Global thinking and business expansion

Two years after launching in Australia and New Zealand, Lupton and Mowbray replicated the success of Monday Haircare in Europe, North America and Asia. The regions had always been part of the brand’s global expansion plans because “the business at large had incredibly strong relationships with major retail partners in those regions,” Lupton says. 

“We had a strong case study as far as our initial launch into Australia and New Zealand and used this as a blueprint for success in other markets,” she continues. “Of course, there’s no one-fits-all approach and the macro and micro differences between markets can be things you never considered, which is why it’s important to consult with people who know the market first-hand. We’ve also been pleasantly surprised by our success in overseas markets — countries 20,000 kms away from where we launched are some of our top-performing.”

Lupton also attributes the international success of Monday to their “lean business model that allows us to move quickly when it comes to business development and expansion.

“We’re also fixed on finding solutions for our retail partners and working out what the white space is in their offering,” Lupton says. “There’s no point pitching a product they already have on their shelves. Where is the gap? How can you solve their commercial problems? How are you different? We did this with Monday by creating something our retailers had never seen before. And we’re adopting that same approach with the brands we have in development. Watch this space!”

Lupton’s top tips for entrepreneurs

1. Be prepared to work hard and work a lot. People talk about working for themselves to avoid being at the mercy of someone else and regaining a work-life balance, but the reality is you’ll never work more than when you work for yourself.

2. On that note, I really don’t think it’s possible to “have it all”, especially when you’re working on your own product or business. Something will always have to give, whether it’s your social life, personal life, or sense of wellbeing, especially in that initial period. You must be comfortable focusing on one thing and making true sacrifices. It won’t necessarily be like that forever, but it might be for months or years.

3. Your job is never done: your consumer is always changing or demanding new things from you and your brand, and staying ahead of those desires and demands is where success lies.