Arbre de Vie from Fruits & Passion was inspired by Africa.

Going the Extra Mile

Does your packaging have  what it takes to spark emotion and fuel a connection? Follow the lead of these beauty innovations that crossed the packaging finish line with flying colors.

By Jamie Matusow
Editor

At a conference in Singapore, Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer commented that innovation takes time. “If you want to be an innovator,” he said, “you have to take the long-term approach. There is a view that innovation happens overnight and that’s simply not the case. It took us eight to 10 years to get Windows popular, and many years to get databases popular.”

Just as in the electronics industry, innovation in cosmetics/personal care packaging also takes time—not always the decade that may go into software development—but countless hours, vivid imagination, a strong concept and a sustained group effort necessary to develop a product that can be marketed—or delivered—in a whole new way. Take 10 years though to stand out in this competitive crowd, and you may never make it to the cosmetics counter. In 2006, there were more than 1,000 cosmetics and toiletry products launched in the U.S. alone, according to worldwide research firm Kline & Company.

Karen Grant, senior industry analyst, beauty, The NPD Group, says that in the last 10 years, beauty sales in U.S. department stores alone have grown by more than $2 billion, with more than 1,000 brands added during the decade. Ten years ago, she adds, the first Sephora store in the U.S. had yet to launch.

What will the next 10 years bring? It’s difficult to imagine. Looking ahead just five years—from 2006 to 2011, the $200 billion spent on cosmetics and toiletries in 2006 is predicted to climb to more than $289 billion by 2011, according to Euromonitor International.

Staying Ahead of the Pack

Just what does it take to stay ahead of the pack in this ever-expanding global marketplace and claim your share of the hundreds-of-billions-of-dollars pot? Innovation is key. Grant stresses that it’s mandatory to engage consumers on a multitude of sensory levels: sight, sound and smell—as well as emotion.

To pinpoint the specs of an innovative design, Beauty Packaging reviewed a selection of packages that were deemed successful in the past year, and talked to the people who made it happen. Many of the designs presented here received the highly regarded HBA IPDA design awards. Others are products that caught our eye—or the consumer’s. Most of the companies we talked to cited success due to a prolonged cross-functional team approach and a targeted view of the customer. While none reported a 10-year lead time like Microsoft, many did admit some products were years in the making.

From limited distribution to mass market, from plastic to glass, all designs here create a noteworthy visual effect and spark an emotional appeal. Whether purely green or not, nature often plays a role: From packaging based on precious metals to those following organic forms to those that totally decompose and leave flowers in their wake, the natural world is a growing part of many a consumer’s—and package designer’s—consciousness.

Going for the Gold

Nothing says nature like the luxurious richness of pure gold. Malleable and shiny, glowing and sensual, the properties of this long-revered mineral were what led Donna Karan to collaborate with jewelry designer and long-time friend Robert Lee Morris on a fragrance creation. Morris’ signature technique was incorporated into the luxurious hammered gold metal sleeve that encases Donna Karan Gold Eau de Parfum, from Estée Lauder. The spray comes in a warm amber-colored rectangular glass bottle, and is finished with the textural contrast of an ebony wood cap. Jean Hessmer, executive director global marketing for Donna Karan Cosmetics, says the bottle reflects the inner softness and outer strength of a woman: fire, sun and electricity. Gold inspires, it excites, it empowers; most of all it seduces and attracts, says Hessmer.

Donna Karan Gold took about two years to develop. The process was a collaborative effort among Donna Karan International Inc., global marketing, packaging and design teams and product development, says Hessmer. But the time spent on innovation paid off: Donna Karan Gold received this year’s IPDA Overall Grand Award in the Fragrance Limited category.

Beautiful and sensuous, for sure, but what makes this luxury fragrance package innovative? The concept of using stamped anodized aluminum to imitate hammered gold is not that unusual in the cosmetics industry, admits Jim Neri, executive director, global package development, but he says the innovation lies in how that sleeve is affixed to the bottle. Conventional methods would use glue or double-faced tape to adhere the sleeve to the bottle. Although an effective method, this does not allow an environmentally friendly package into the waste stream; the package cannot be easily sorted to allow for glass or metal recycling. The Donna Karan Gold sleeve design, however, allows for the parts to be separated by the consumer after use. 

The flexible bottom is the key to the design, explains Neri. The molded flexible feet exert enough pressure to lock the sleeve into grooves in the plate, ensuring that the package gets through the filling process, distribution cycle and consumer usage. In turn, he says, the plate is flexible enough to allow its removal when the product enters the waste stream.

A Clear Winner

Another glass bottle—in this case, one combined with Surlyn—also appeals to a woman’s sensual side with the design created for Affection, a new scent from Mary Kay Cosmetics. Although the bottle was honored with an IPDA award in the Mass Fragrance category, Tim Maddy, master package designer for Mary Kay, Inc., says he’s not sure he would call the company’s current lineup of fragrances “mass market design.” Actually, he says, Affection is a very expensive package.  The bottle is fire-polished, with very thick walls, is made from single gob production, and topped with a very expensive solid overmolded cap with a polypropylene inner to snap-fit onto the pump.  The pump is anodized aluminum and plastic.

Affection includes a Surlyn cap from Qualipac

Like the few descriptive words that incited the creation of Donna Karan Gold, a few words were also the inspiration behind Affection. The conceptual direction also revolved around a woman’s personality and included such words as “sensual,” “sexy,” “radiant,” “charismatic” and “self-assured.”

“From these words,” says Maddy, “I started to design shapes that, to me, represented the feelings of these words.”

While he tried to work from what the marketing department provided as far as conceptual direction, many other forms of inspiration come into play during the design phase. Maddy doesn’t really keep track of how long a particular design takes him to create, but for any major launch, he does many different designs and iterations of designs, which usually takes several weeks. Maddy says the accompanying set box for Affection was created after the bottle was finalized, and that it took MK’s creative services department several weeks to finalize the set box design. “We try to tie in together perfectly the two components – the primary and the secondary packages,” he says.

The combination of materials used in Affection is not the only thing that creates an impact. Maddy says the actual shape of the bottle is different from any fragrance bottle he’s seen. The fact that the neck is offset and not centered in the middle of the bottle is something that was very new and different for Mary Kay, he notes. The very short neck on the bottle was a challenge to the glassmakers but was necessary in order to achieve a very low assembled profile.  The massive Surlyn cap from Qualipac is overmolded to greatly reduce sink so the cap almost appears to be an acrylic hand-made model. This overmolding allows for a perfectly flat silkscreening of ink on the top surface of the cap.

Innovation does not, of course, emerge without a sense of freedom, and Maddy says he is grateful for the creative latitude he was given. For him, Affection was a very interesting and satisfying project to work on because “we weren’t as constrained as on previous projects. I was actually told to not worry so much about our manufacturing constraints in regards to filling and assembling. It kind of forced us all to reach way beyond our comfort zones and it made us all the better for it.”

Stretching the Boundaries

Not only did the innovative creators of Fruits & Passion’s new line of body care products go to the far reaches of their imagination, they went to remote areas of the world, too. The result: create packaging that is attractive yet environmentally friendly and formulas that are effective yet as natural as possible. They, too, used glass for its reusable and recyclable properties, but they also use plastic recyclables for some of the products. But where they’ve really forged ahead is with the emergence of organic form in their Arbre de Vie Collection that draws on ingredients generated from three sacred trees from exotic areas of the world: the baobab of Burkina Faso (Africa), the buriti of Amazonia and the tamanu of Polynesia. Not only are the formulations imbued with the properties of the flora, but the bottles are designed to resemble the trees and river stones from the areas in which many of the ingredients are derived.

“Very few companies would have thought it was possible to develop the bottle shapes we created exclusively for the Baobab, Buriti and Tamanu lines,” says Séverine Mathé, product development director for Fruits & Passion. The decorative packaging of this line is reminiscent of tree elements and their environment. The foaming bath and eau de toilette, presented in spectacular glass bottles symbolizing trees, are the star products of the line. This elongated and sensual shaped bottle was exclusively created for Fruits & Passion. Once again, development took years, and as with most innovations, the practical details were difficult to work out. As was the case with the bottle for Mary Kay’s Affection, Mathé says the elongated bottle shape for Fruits and Passion was also a big challenge to develop and most of the glass manufacturers were not able to reproduce what the company had in mind. It took almost 18 months from the initial drawing to the finished product.

Going back to what Karen Grant of The NPD Group emphasizes about the importance of engaging consumers on a multitude of sensory levels, Mathé says, “This line offers an olfactory and sensory trip to the Islands of Polynesia, Africa and South America.” She adds that all three of the fragrances in this line have strong and sophisticated characters, just like the trees that they symbolize.   

The plant-derived formulas were also designed to provide a sensory experience and recall textures found in nature.  For example, in addition to the main active ingredients (baobab oil, buriti oil, tamanu oil), additional active ingredients from the same regions have been chosen to reinforce each oil’s properties. Going a step further to please even the most discriminating eco-conscious consumer, the formulas are enriched with oils derived from authentic and ethical harvesting of the fruits after they have fallen from the tree. The oils are also purchased at a guaranteed price, thereby providing stable revenue to the workers and supporting the local economy.  

Pretty serious stuff, so I asked Mathé what was the most fun in designing this line? Her answer? What most innovators say: Being able to see the actual product which at first many people thought would be impossible to create.

The Greenest Innovation of All

Surely Hana Zalzal of Cargo Cosmetics can relate to Mathé’s vision. She too set out to create something that had never been done before and maintains that, “There is only one criterion for innovation: Making something better. Sometimes ‘better’ means easier, smarter, faster, or, in this case, more environmentally friendly.”

Cargo’s PlantLove wins the hearts of green consumers.

Cargo’s PlantLove Lipstick received this year’s IPDA award for Eco-Friendly Packaging, and it couldn’t be friendlier. Everything, from the lipstick formula to the tube to the box wins the heart of green consumers—and in fact, their numbers are growing.  A recent study sponsored by Tandberg found that more than half of global consumers (53%, representing 1.1 billion people) prefer to purchase products and services from a company with a strong environmental reputation.

Zalzal says Cargo’s PlantLove design is innovative because it is the first-ever lipstick housed in a tube made entirely from corn (polylactic acid, PLA). It is a compostable tube and its biopolymer is greenhouse-gas-neutral. The paperboard box, made from 100% recycled post-consumer pulp, is embedded with wildflower seeds. Just moisten and plant to grow a garden.

Zalzal  took her inspiration from the ’60s, so the graphics have a very “love-in, groovy vibe.” People today don’t rally and protest as much as they used to, she says, but they do so with the choices they make in stores. Her idea was for people to make their voices heard by supporting products that cared about environmental issues.

“It had to stand out visually to show that it was different than anything out there,” Zalzal  says, “and it needed a name that reflected the philosophy.”

The hardest part, Zalzal  says, was finding a biopolymer and working with it. From there, the graphics were designed and, finally, the outer carton. The process took two years from conception to market.

The line of 15 lipsticks was obviously launched to appeal to women who care about the environment and the future, and along the way, the movement won the support of celebrities who then worked with Cargo to develop the botanical formula in their ideal shades, using their names. The other shades are named after places of ecological beauty.

What was most rewarding about the launch of PlantLove? Zalzal  says it was feeling good about doing something that was so authentic in its conception. PlantLove is more than a cosmetic collection, says Zalzal , “It is a life ideology.” She believes that, “The seeds we sow today affect future generations so we are investing in the Earth and our children for the future of the planet.” And, in the spirit of caring for future generations, $2 from each lipstick goes to benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Lighten Up

Another lipstick case that took the IPDA by storm, but with a different enlightened approach, was GO Light on My Lips by EGorgeous Inc., a private label client of Litelips. For those who never seem to have enough light in a cab or in a club when they go to apply their lipstick, enter the world of packaging innovation with Litelips patented lighted technology. The IPDA design features a lipgloss case with a 50-hour battery life (actually an LED) and a mirror in the side of the cap. The high-end line was the brainchild of Elena George, an Emmy-winning makeup artist for The View and a sought-after enhancer of the entertainment elite.

These Go Light on My Lips cases, encrusted with Swarovski crystals, retail for $150.

DuGrenier Associates, the design house for the Litelips range—which includes lighted lipgloss, lipstick, nail polish and mascara containers—executed George’s vision with a high-end finish in cooperation with Swarovski to create the crystal-studded pieces. The cases can also be customized with individuals’ names or initials.

The concept of lighted applicators for the color cosmetics niche has “taken off” and we now market millions of units worldwide, says Ed VanBreen of DuGrenier. Its success is based on the age-old industrial design formula that good design must also function well, he says. What’s more, the ability to “turn on” creates a novelty in application with a near instant acceptance with consumers. Not just promotional, it is equally functional, and the functional solution creates long-term revenue streams. Even better, the lighted case has created its own PR, as it has been featured on shows from Oprah to MTV. Application of any product can benefit by better light, says VanBreen. Thus the technology also offers companies an opportunity to elevate a “standard” product into a new light.

Luxury in a Word

While Swarovski speaks volumes at a glance, packaging does not have to be covered in shiny stones to evoke luxe. Sometimes it can be relayed in just a name, a shape, a color, a cap or a texture—or, in the case of Alterna’s IPDA-winning entry in the Professional Distribution category, the Caviar Seasilk Collection, all of the above.

All of the components of the packaging were designed to work together. The unit carton package is what first stands out, explains Russ Mariano, Alterna’s creative director, who partnered with Alterna’s CEO, Paul Johnson and VP of marketing, Marion Johnson on the design. The custom box appears high-end and high quality, providing a hint of what’s inside. Once the box is opened, you notice the unique bottle shape (which took six months to design), the debossed logo on the bottle, the elegant pearlescent lavender color and the shiny chrome cap. “We want our customers to know this is a high-end product, just by looking at the bottle,” says Mariano.

As with Fruits & Passion, the design for Alterna’s shapely bottle was inspired not only by nature and ergonomics, but by high-end contemporary product designs in home and beauty, fine art sculpture and fashion trends.

The components in Alterna’s Caviar line work together to make a statement.

In creating the Caviar line, Alterna collaborated with Design Worx and Classic Container. Once the team decided on the inspiration of the product and completed extensive industry research, the formula was developed. Then came conceptual development, thumbnail sketches and computer renderings, followed by engineering and the creation of a prototype. Finally, the product was manufactured. Design Worx then brought Alterna’s vision to life with Classic Container, which produced the bottle. “Think of baking brownies,” says Mariano. “We made the recipe. Design Worx gathered the ingredients, and our secondary packager, Classic Container, baked the brownies in the right mold (cake pan).

A Fashion Accessory

Although Freeze & Go’s Freeze 24-7 looks very different from Alterna’s Caviar, there are certain similarities between the two. When Freeze 24/7 decided to create a stylish new package for its best-selling anti-wrinkle cream, color and ergonomics were important factors, and so was the notion of having the primary and secondary packaging work together. But the main thrust behind Freeze 24-7 is portability. Steve Ballmer would be happy because a vision of electronics and beauty converged here. Scott Gurfein, Freeze & Go’s president and CEO, says that the inspiration in designing the compact product “was modern devices that have become so prevalent in our lives…cellphones, BlackBerrys, portable music players.”

For Gurfein, style (form) and design (function) govern innovative packaging.

“We wanted the design to meet a consumer need/desire/gap, so we developed components for the woman ‘on the go’ (mirror, applicator, metered dosage, size),” he says. “It had to be easy to use, aesthetically pleasing/grabbing, and go hand in hand with the high-tech innovative product formula.”

The primary packaging, which looks like an electronic gadget, is a red metallic pod that fits comfortably into the palm of your hand, sized for travel. The secondary packaging is a sturdy clear Lucite box that displays the primary packaging without undermining its aesthetic. “We wanted to maintain our red brand aesthetic, while updating the color and texture to match the high-tech positioning of the formula,” says Gurfein. “We also wanted the custom-made pod to serve a dual purpose, be functional yet at the same time be a fashion accessory that women would want to carry around.”

Freeze & Go worked with Zorbit to develop an ultra-modern package.

Zorbit conceptualized, designed, engineered and manufactured both the applicator and the secondary package. The finished product features a removable mirror cap that makes it comfortable to use and easy to apply. The package uses a twist-and-turn mechanism to dispense the cream through a bi-injection molded TPR applicator head. The custom red outer case is vacuum metallized, then silkscreened. The secondary packaging was designed to highlight the applicator, which comprises nine precision-molded parts that must work together for proper function. 

Just pull out the mirror, twist the bottom of the applicator and apply a metered dosage of cream to wrinkles or spots—for what promises to be an instant rejuvenating treatment on the go!

The Coolest Packaging

Icy Beauty is another product offering women a skin care treatment on the go, but this one’s reconfigured from an ancient refrigeration technique and works like it’s straight out of the space age. And the package is the product. While Freeze & Go implies cold, Icy Beauty delivers it. The company collaborated with the European Space Agency to produce a line of self-refrigeration packaging suited for the luxury beauty care market. Ice-Source, a lifting cream, was the first product in the line. Now, Re:Set and Play & Rewind, two portable solutions to fatigue, jet-lag and partying, bring Icy Beauty’s product roster to 10.

Icy Beauty is built around a patented high-speed cooling technology—with cold being used as an active ingredient—to re-organize the formula’s molecular structure to enhance penetration and performance.

Icy Beauty is protected by 17 patents.

With a simple click of the packaging, the formula’s temperature actually decreases from 22°C (72°F) to 2°C (36°F) in one to two minutes depending on the dose. This is known as “thermal shock.” The consumer knows it’s working when the packaging feels warm at the bottom and cold at the top—which is the thermal shock actually taking place. Give it a minute and you’re ready to go.

“The key”, says Icy Beauty co-founder and CEO Fadi Khairallah, “is in the speed and intensity of the cooling.”

High-speed cooling, he says, acts on three levels: It helps induce instant lifting by employing a set of specific lipids that have the ability to literally shrink during “thermal shock” and return to their original structure once they are inside the skin where the temperature is higher. These lipids fill in wrinkles by pushing them toward the skin surface so skin appears plumped and more youthful. It enhances penetration of the ingredients deeper into the epidermis for improved utility by the skin. Active ingredients, like arctic raspberry, work more efficiently. It “wakes up” and tones the skin with its cold, energizing temperature.

The high-speed cooling effect has been used for centuries to strengthen iron (i.e., in the manufacture of swords, knives, etc.), glass and in many chemical and physical applications. The technology is a 100% ecological process that uses water evaporation under vacuum to produce cold. The self-cooling components are made of natural materials, such as water and ceramic assembled under vacuum; the jars are made from stainless steel and polyethylene; the cartons from cardboard. Every Icy Beauty package is 100% recyclable.

Marrying Clinical with Luxury

According to Dr. Howard Murad, associate clinical professor of medicine at UCLA, dermatologist, founder of Murad Inc. and author of Wrinkle-Free Forever and The Cellulite Solution, the new Murad Professional ImmunoSkin Complex line also contains revolutionary cutting edge technology—so the packaging had to as well. Since the brand carries a luxury positioning, the company searched for packaging that would set it apart from the Murad classic brand.

“Our set of four new products was designed to look as luxurious as using the product makes our clients feel,” says Dr. Murad,  “and our new color palette guarantees that a consumer would notice it on-shelf.”

The secondary cartons go through numerous printing processes including embossing, debossing and matte ink treatments to further communicate a sense of luxury and prestige.

“We clearly call out how the product works on the front of every box,” Dr. Murad says. “We encourage the consumer to pick up the carton with the unique ‘cellular treatment icon’ that is matte printed on the side. And, we clearly call out what the ImmunoSkin Complex is on the side of the packaging.”

Each of the four products features an airless pump to ensure that the proper amount of product is released each time, while creating an airtight environment for the product to stay preserved. The pump is elegantly designed in gold, complementing the clear Lucite bottle and cap.  The blue and black font used on the bottle is in keeping with the simple, streamlined look of the Murad Professional packaging.

“It can be difficult to marry clinical with luxury but we feel we have succeeded with the packaging and look of Murad Professional,” says Dr. Murad.

Innovation from a Clinical Line

If marrying clinical with luxury can be difficult, imagine the challenges that might arise in marrying clinical with direct sales—but Avon came down the home stretch in style. Not only was Avon Anew Clinical Spider Vein presented with the IPDA award for Skin Care Mass, the 100% customized tube won many other distinctions including the Ted Klein Tube of the Year.

Avon Anew Clinical Spider Vein earned several packaging awards this year.

Marketed toward women who want to avoid painful, in-office treatments such as sclerotherapy and laser treatments, Avon’s Anew Clinical Spider Vein Therapy provides an at-home answer. Inspired by instruments in dermatologists’ offices, the color palette features high shine, silver and pure crisp, clean white. But designers were careful not to make it appear too stark so it would still be friendly enough for consumers. It was also tailored to fit the hand well for easy application

Pam Teevan, Avon’s senior manager, global new product engineering and development, says the Avon consumer expects innovation from the clinical line, and that the company put in substantial time and effort to make it happen. “Packaging sits with marketing and the design group and talks about how to convey the message to the consumer,” she says.

The angular shape and shallow depth of the tube gives the product a lean, clinical appeal, which is consistent with the product’s image. The head of the one-piece tube is triangular in shape, with hard edges that you would not expect in a tube.

But the cap of the tube is what makes it truly extraordinary. Avon executives call it one of the most complex caps ever commercially produced. The application of metal over the polypropylene shell of the cap alone required 14 different machine processes to produce. In accordance with Avon’s vision that it be a push/pull cap, World Wide Packaging designed the cap to include a flexible plug that squeezes into the tube’s orifice when the cap is closed. Once inside the orifice, the pintel expands slightly for an especially tight seal. The cap was tested in a vacuumized laboratory for effectiveness before being approved for global distribution, and Avon spent the money to build a prototype up front—to make sure it could be commercialized.

Patricia Demnisky-Green, director, global package design, points out that because this is different from the standard diameter, it was difficult to commercialize globally. “A lot of development time was put in to make sure it was economical.”

There was a three- to five-month exploratory ideation working with the packaging group toward commercialization, says Dana VonBargen, senior design manager, skin care. “The project was very much a collaborative effort. Everyone contributed to this idea from marketing to package design to engineering,” she says. “This is truly a cross-functional piece—with every group coming into play.”

“For Avon,” adds Demnisky-Green, “innovation in packaging means something that evokes an emotional reaction for the consumer—and in this case, also the industry recognition.”