Exclusive marketing and business development programs and a robust conference schedule among the key highlights at the 15th annual trade show in Las Vegas.

Cosmoprof North America (CPNA), the only all-encompassing, award winning, business-to-business beauty event in North America and the ultimate meeting point for beauty professionals, industry insiders and the most innovative brands is proud to announce once again it surpassed expectations. The 2017 show held at Mandalay Bay Convention Center July 9th -11th once again delivered record breaking exhibitor and attendee sales.

Held, annually in Las Vegas, 36,787 attendees,(up 9 % from 2016) engaged with record breaking 1,278 exhibitors (up 9% from 2016), representing 45 countries were able to see and experience several new programs, special areas and unique opportunites to engage and attract. The show floor space covered 293,306 sqf (27,249 sqm) of space with an increase of 4% compared to the previous year.

Staying true to its mission of providing unmatched brand-building resources necessary to building powerful companies the event delivers unparalled opportunities – from domestic and international business development, to providing insights and inspiration through education, to delivering connection to social media influencers and trade / consumer media and ultimately to allowing networking with the industry’s elite movers and shakers.

Igniting the power of online beauty influencers, CPNA increased the span of its popular influencer programs and recruited 17 highly connected beauty influencers to engage with exhibitor brands through innovative programs and discovery on the show floor. This unparralled exposure resulted in 336 posts for an estimated 8 billion impressions and a total 896 million engagements. CPNA also created original content through its own social sites resulting in 146 million impressions with over 21,000 total engagements. Furthering in its missiong to inspire, the event remains THE place where entreprenuers can have access to top knowlege resources like Google and FIT Capstone and research companies like Kline & Company. Coupled with insights from worldwide experts from retailers (like VIP.com/China and QVC), trend forecasting from international firms and leaders sharing business tips across the beauy spectrum, the 3-day event offered endless business building tools within the 38 unique sessions.

Another distinguishing aspect of the show are the highly curated areas that are trend directional allowing buyers to quickly get a pulse of what is up-and-coming across different categories. Making a return were DISCOVER BEAUTY, DISCOVER BEAUTY SPOTLIGHTS and DISCOVER SCENT for specialty retail along with TONES OF BEAUTY for multicultural beauty and DISCOVER GREEN for organic beauty. Unique to the show are the curated sections where key buyers participate in speed-dating meetings with selected companies; for DISCOVER BEAUTY retailers included Kohl’s and Neiman Marcus. Brand new to the show were DISCOVER GREEN LEAF where organic beauty brands met with key specialty retailers and chain spas focused on organic beauty such as Pharmaca and Auberge Spas, along with DISCOVER BEAUTY PRO where selected companies met with key national distributors like ULTA and SalonCentric.

Exhibitors outside of special areas were not left without opportunities to meet with key buyers on their own. International buyers like Murale (Canada) and VIP.com (China), came as part of the International Buyer Program which is open to all exhibitors. Specifically to aid international exhibitors, the Domestic Buyer Program included buyers from leading retailers like Amazon and key national distributors like Armstrong McCall. The exclusive TV Shopping Auditions program took place live on the show floor giving exhibitors the chance to pitch their brands to buyers from domestic channels HSN and QVC and international channels HSE (Germany), QVC (Worldwide), TV Shopping Network (Australia). Before and throughout the event, all participants also had access to the free 1to1BeautyMatchmaking.com, a portal which allows attendees to connect directly with exhibitors of interest seamlessly online.

As a result of these programs, hundreds of unique opportunities and relationships were formed. Through the various programs offered by the organizers, close to 1,000 face to face meetings were scheduled for exhibitors in addition to the thousands scheduled directly by exhibitors and attendees. This is a direct indication that is no better place to discover and be discovered than at Cosmoprof North America.

Industry recognition and a chance to network with thousands of industry professionals were also highlights of the exhibition. Events like the Discover Beauty Awards, which expanded from year’s past to included Discover Green Leaf and Discover Beauty Pro exhibitors was a unique chance to network and recognize the most innovative and on-trend brands. Among the winners of the Discover Beauty Awards were PRO-EVOX (Discover Beauty PRO), Glycelene (Discover Green Leaf) and Battington Lashes (Discover Beauty).

Giving back has been a huge part of the exhibition for many years and this year was no different. The highly coveted Boutique area allowed attendees the opportunity to engage and discover the latest products and curate a unique and reusable beauty box with over $18,426 raised for PBA Foundation (Look Good, Feel Better) — an increase of 30% over 2016. Glamour Me also returned to give attendees the chance to try exhibitor products first-hand while receiving beauty treatments, makeup and styling. Donations were collected on behalf of the PBA Foundation.

New for 2017, CPNA engaged in retail partnerships with Amazon and QVC as well as international shopping networks from around the world. Amazon and QVC were at the show seeking to meet with brands, of which, some will be chosen to have their products featured at a “Discovered at Cosmoprof North America” section on their respective platforms. Beauty buyers for QVC were also available to meet with attendees and exhibitors at their booth.

Understanding that packaging is a huge part of a beauty brand’s success, CPNA created a full rounded program to emphasize and highlight this industry sector. This year marked the debut of a new program, Discover Pack where innovative suppliers covering various facets of the supply chain were featured; these companies enjoyed a distinctive design and dedicated marketing along with guaranteed meetings from leading companies such as Estee Lauder Companies and Sephora. Also putting the spotlight on the production side, attendees were able to see the Fabulous Live Lipstick show, showcasing Italian Excellence from 3 key suppliers (CMI Industries, Intercos, Lumson) and walk away with freshly made lipsticks. To provide inspiration and recognize true creativity in packaging and contract manufacturing, the new Beauty Innovation and Design Awards (BIDA) was hosted during the show; finalists were on display and winners were announced at a ceremony where 12 prizes were given out to various companies including Estee Lauder and Sphynx. Several sold out educational sessions were also dedicated to packaging trends and analysis.

CPNA also hosts PBA Beauty Week which included the sold-out PBA Business Forum with celebrity keynote Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson and the coveted North American Hairstyling Award (NAHA) where winners were recognized during a star-studded awards ceremony; the Lifetime Achievement Award was given to industry icon Sam Villa. The next Cosmoprof North America edition will be July 29th through 31st, 2018. To continue and discover products that were part of this year’s edition be sure to follow CPNA REVIEWS series on YouTube where select exhibitor will demo their product; new videos will be published as of end of July and will be updated on an ongoing basis. Social channels Instagram (cosmprofna), Twitter (cosmproflv) and Facebook will also have ongoing updates with products that were featured at the past edition.