How did Carbonwave leverage the FTE programme to capitalise on the prevalence of emulsifiers product searches?

Embark on the journey of a distinguished graduate from our in-cosmetics Global First Time Exhibitor Programme. This exclusive three-year initiative is designed to guide and enhance your debut at the show, providing a unique opportunity to assess the market with extensive promotional visibility while effectively managing expenses. Our aim is to elevate your presence on the global stage of personal care ingredients.

Jeff Yeh, VP Sales at Carbonwave, shares insights on how the company capitalised on the prominence of 'emulsifiers' as one of the top visitor product search terms at in-cosmetics Global. Their objective was to leverage this trend to generate leads and establish distributor networks across various regions.

Participating in in-cosmetics Global over the past three years has served as a powerful catalyst for Carbonwave's sales and marketing endeavours. Jeff Yeh, VP Sales at Carbonwave, shares his experiences on leveraging show data to tap into key visitor trends and making strategic connections. These efforts have led to the upcoming first major multinational brand launch featuring SeaBalance®, directly stemming from a connection established at the 2022 exhibition.

Carbonwave is the world’s leading developer of ultra-regenerative, plant-based advanced biomaterials produced using Sargassum – or seaweed as it is more commonly known. Across the Caribbean, Sargassum has recently started to bloom out of control and overwhelm the region’s ecosystems.

It accumulates on beaches and decomposes which releases methane into the atmosphere, leaches heavy metals into the groundwater, affects tourism, and blocks marine life from reaching the ocean.

However, Sargassum is a highly adaptive plant-based resource which, when handled carefully, can be turned into materials that can restore soils and oceans, eliminate micro-plastic waste, and achieve carbon neutrality. Carbonwave harnesses the potential of this abundant seaweed, collecting it from the beach, cleaning and refining it into components that can be stored and used in advanced biomaterial products.

To date, the company has launched two products – Sarga Agriscience and SeaBalance® – both of which reduce methane emissions and decrease the use of fossil fuels and synthetics.

Key results include

Over 600 leads generated in 2022

17 international distributors

Multi award winner

First commercial product featuring SeaBalance® with a major brand

Introducing new products

SeaBalance® – the first multifunctional, seaweed-based emulsifier for cosmetics – was launched at in-cosmetics Global 2022. It is an all-natural, upcycled emulsifier which delivers a silicone-like skin feel with exceptional performance in a wide-range of personal care applications. Not only does it emulsify, but SeaBalance® has also been proven to have a moisturising effect.

In 2022, Carbonwave exhibited at in-cosmetics Global for the first time. Initially, one of the primary motivators for taking part was the prevalence of ‘emulsifiers’ as the top visitor product search term at the previous event. As such, Carbonwave’s aim was to tap into this trend, generate leads and identify distributors in every region. The team was also keen to learn more about key industry developments and performance standards for natural emulsifiers.

Celebrating success

During the 2022 in-cosmetics Global event, alone, Carbonwave generated over 600 leads, and secured several hundred more the following year in Barcelona. The company can also directly attribute its first major multinational brand launch featuring SeaBalance® (coming very soon!) to a connection made at the 2022 exhibition. As a result of this success, Carbonwave now boasts 17 distributors globally and has won multiple awards including Best Functional Ingredient (gold at in-cosmetics Latin America and gold at in-cosmetics Korea) and Green Ingredient Award (gold at in-cosmetics Latin America and Bronze at in-cosmetics Global). Not only has this driven huge awareness of the company and its products on a global stage, but it has helped to significantly boost visibility among distributors, brands, contract manufacturers and formulators.

Indeed, commercial products featuring SeaBalance® are now starting to launch with major brands around the world, with Carbonwave citing participation at in-cosmetics Global as a strong catalyst for its sales and marketing programme.

“Not only has in-cosmetics Global raised significant awareness of Carbonwave and its products on a global scale, but it has also notably enhanced visibility among distributors, brands, contract manufacturers, and formulators.

As a result, commercial products featuring SeaBalance® are now beginning to launch with major brands worldwide. Participating in in-cosmetics Global has proven to be a powerful catalyst for our sales and marketing initiatives.”

Jeff Yeh, VP Sales, Carbonwave

Sustainability under the spotlight

It’s not only its products that Carbonwave is seeking to promote, but the company is also hugely passionate about sustainability in the personal care industry. By utilising Sargassum – which has long been considered a waste product – and upcycling it into various other materials, the company is aiming to prevent megaton scale CO2e emissions (in the form of methane), ultimately protecting marine ecosystems and coastal economies throughout the Caribbean and Mexico.

As a sustainability pioneer, the company has always taken part in the green initiatives at in-cosmetics Global including the display pod in the Sustainability Zone and a sustainability presentation – both of which have succeeded in raising awareness of upcycled functional marine ingredients amongst formulators and brands.

Looking to the future

Looking to the future, Carbonwave is particularly keen to build on the momentum it generated in 2022 and 2023. The organisation is even planning to book a larger stand for 2025, to cater to the considerable number of visitors it welcomes each year. Beyond 2024, Carbonwave’s focus will be on sharing the latest performance data, application prototypes and launching new products with a view to converting business through the pipeline and generating new leads.

“Finally, a word of advice for those considering exhibiting at in-cosmetics Global: “We would highly recommend researching the show statistics and popular search terms to see where your unique product or service can stand out.

If you have a new product, showcasing in the Innovation Zone is a great way to generate additional leads in a different area of the show. Also, in general, in-cosmetics Global does a great job of highlighting and driving traffic to first-time exhibitors, this is a big reason why we got so many leads at our first show.”