Pepperdine Graziadio E2B Project Keeps it Rockin’

South African born and Los Angeles based, Michael O'Rourke is one of the only true remaining iconic hairdressers in the professional beauty industry.

In 2006, O ’ Rourke sold a hair product line to Imperial Capital Partners in 2006 for $80 million dollars. Known to have a big heart, he wanted to give back to the industry that he loved. So, with new found resources, he opened an educational retreat nestled in the woods of Topanga Canyon called Institute of Courage.  Professional education had always been the cornerstone to his success in launching his business. Within just a few years of opening, the Institute of Courage had earned multiple industry awards. In 2010, Michael yearned to again innovate and set out to design a hair care and styling product line for the next generation of stylists and consumers. In 2012, he and his wife Nicole designed and launched the Rock Your Hair brand.

O’Rourke’s vision behind Rock Your Hair was to do more than inspire women to wear “Rockin’ big bold hair,” he also saw the brand as a means for providing an opportunity  to give back. A portion of all Rock Your Hair sales go towards supporting shelters for abused and battered women and helping them to start their lives again. This is a cause O’Rourke is passionate about, having been raised by a single mother. Combining O’Rourke’s award-winning professional education with innovative consumer marketing strategies, Rock Your Hair is fast becoming one of the hottest professional hair care brands on the market, with revenues nearing $5 million.

Working with a proposed marketing budget of 10% of revenues, Pepperdine E2B students created justifiable and actionable three-year marketing plans for Rock Your Hair. Students also addressed questions about the industry, markets and existing marketing strategies. They developed multiple, highly innovative approaches in line with O’Rourke’s rockin’ style, to help grow the company from $5M to a $12 million brand in three years.  Rock Your Hair executives and students had a blast working creatively to help grow the business.  Learn more about Rock Your Hair here.