Jason Yates joined John Paul Mitchell Systems over six years ago as VP of Marketing, where he led the marketing strategy for all brands under the JPMS corporate umbrella. Within two years he had absorbed the role of Vice President of Sales as well, becoming the first-ever VP of Sales and Marketing at JPMS.
The guiding principles behind his leadership role at JPMS include aggressive growth through product innovation, strategic collaborations, continued investment in salon education and the commitment to help salons grow their businesses, so we simply had to know more!
“We’re really looking at a three hundred and sixty degree approach on how we help beauty salons grow their average ticket through professional services,” says Jason Yates. He then adds: “We ultimately want to be the first choice professional hair care brand for stylists behind the chair.”
We see a lot of other hairdressers that went corporate, but in your position it’s not so common. How does it feel?
“It feels great, obviously and I think it speaks volumes of how important to JPMS hairdressers are. The company wants somebody who’s a hairdresser to be influential in the decisions that the company makes… and our hairdresser influence continues to grow beyond me. The more we understand from salon owners and stylists, combined with all the other people we have in business, the better… it’s just a winning formulation. I know it’s not conventional, but it certainly seems to be working well for us and, thank God, for me too!“
How do you see the evolution of different JPMS lines, the color, the tools, the styling?
“What we want to do is to cement our position as leader in care and styling products and we’re doing that by focusing on three particular brands with big potential, which are Paul Mitchell, Tea Tree and Neuro. The other big area that is a huge focus for us is professional hair color. We want to be the leading color manufacturer and partner and to do that, we’re getting very aggressive with our color portfolio. We already have outstanding color offerings, but there are some products we’re working on that we will start to introduce over the next two years.“
What does it mean to you to ‘Live Beautifully’?
“To love what you do and love who you do it with. At JPMS, John Paul DeJoria really believes in the work-life-family balance, so for me here I’m finally getting the balance right. I’m spending enough time with my family and enough time at work.“
“WHAT I LOVE ABOUT JPMS IS THAT WE REALLY CARE. WE CARE ABOUT SALONS, WE CARE ABOUT STYLISTS. OF COURSE WE WANT TO GROW THE BUSINESS, BUT WE WANT TO DO IT THE RIGHT WAY.”