After 25 years of experience as a platform artist and educator, Sam Villa, Redken education artistic director, has taken his knowledge of the industry to the Web with samvilla.com. "The objective of this Web site is to take you along with me on my travels," Villa says. "Through my Web site, I'd like to pass on what I learn while I'm abroad."
 FROM TOP: Edgy models on Sam Villa's home page invite visitors; expert instruction in the education section; Villa's Web-based sweepstakes; Villa takes center stage in this image from the Gallery. |
The home page's bright, festive graphic elements and a slide show of models sporting Villa's edgy yet sophisticated hairstyles entice visitors to further explore the site. The Web site is conveniently divided into education, products, gallery and news sections and requires a minimum amount of scrolling, making it clear and easy to navigate. In addition, Villa's creative hairstyles give every page high visual impact.
The education page, which Villa refers to as the soul of the site, features video on demand, digital streaming video and daily tips. Visitors can get a preview of Villa's first installment of the Aspire Tour, called BOBology—a study of the classic bob. The Aspire Tour is a series of digital educational videos that feature Villa teaching from inside a real salon as he travels across the country and abroad. Villa drives traffic to his site with his Web-based Aspire for More Sweepstakes, which offers stylists a chance to win two tickets to the Redken Exchange in New York City for a class facilitated by Villa himself.
Nowadays, people do a lot of their shopping online, and Villa's site makes it simple for visitors to purchase his educational DVDs and styling tools. The first product available for purchase on the site is his instructive DVD BOBology. Products from his Signature Series of tools will be offered as they become available. Full Web presentations for each product and comprehensive feature and benefit descriptions will be featured on the site.
The news page keeps visitors up to date on Villa's trade press coverage and other announcements, while the gallery, Villa's favorite feature, allows guests to partake in his travels and see the venues he's visited. In this section, visitors will also be able to view hairstyles that Villa has developed. Samvilla.com will continue to evolve as time passes, trends change and new products are launched, but it's already becoming an essential site for hairdressers to visit.