Julian Kynaston, founder and CEO of Propaganda Brand Consultancy, has been announced as the new brand director for CLOUD NINE, the award-winning hair styling tools company. Julian will take on this exciting role alongside his existing responsibilities at Propaganda and as chair of GenM.
This 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 their lead marketing and creative agency. This 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 Julian taking on the brand director role and Propaganda leveraging their 30 years of experience delivering strategic brand recommendations and impactful creative campaigns, CLOUD NINE is poised to once again shake up the hairstyling sector.
Julian and the Propaganda team have experience creating brands across hair and beauty. Julian previously acted as marketing director at ghd haircare, delivering the first positioning for the brand and launching them to overseas audiences. Julian also created beauty brand Illamasqua, revolutionising a previously homogenised global beauty industry and pioneering a new era of make-up advertising.
Julian 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 said: “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, so bringing him back on the team just felt like the most logical thing to do. We’re excited to continue working closely with Julian and the Propaganda team.
