In the fast-paced beauty, personal care and fragrance industries, getting a well-executed product to market quickly is critical for capturing consumer attention. But the behind the scenes process involved with ushering a product to market can be immensely challenging. Enter turnkey service partnerships, a rapidly expanding trend in which a supplier is contracted to handle some or all of the aspects of product creation for a brand. Popular with start-up and global companies alike, turnkey service providers help brands navigate the myriad of logistical challenges associated with formulating, packaging, marketing and distribution, eliminating the guesswork and freeing up brands to focus on their unique core creative strengths for an optimized product development experience.

One of the foremost benefits of partnering with a turnkey services provider is improved ease and speed to market. “Turnkey gives us the flexibility to manage all the incoming materials and packaging so all phases arrive in a timely manner for precise coordination of project details,” says April Vignone, president of Trendsetters, a division of Verla International Ltd., a full turnkey contract manufacturer based in New Windsor, NY. “For beauty brands this provides a substantial relief of manpower by eliminating the stress of managing multiple supplier delivery deadlines.”  

Forming turnkey partnerships with packaging and formulation suppliers delivers other significant advantages to beauty brands. “For starters, companies will see immediate savings i  n their budgets for R&D innovation, package design and engineering, technical services, as well as a virtual elimination of most outsourcing expenses related to those areas typically assigned to outside businesses like graphic designers, analytical and formulation labs or even quality control services,” says Eve Belinsky, managing director of sales, PakLab, a Chino, CA-based company with a client base that’s about 80% turnkey. “This design-to-production approach also has the added benefit for the brand owner to participate in the entire process with the same team that will be responsible for the scaled-up production and assembly of the final product, or in most cases, to take a hands-off approach in this area and concentrate on building their business.”

Another turnkey advantage is supply chain management. “With the myriad of procurement options for packaging containers, secondary packaging and raw material ingredients, well positioned CMOs can leverage three of the key functions important for keeping the retail shelves stocked with your brand and avoiding quality issues: their buying power, vendor qualification and inbound quality control process,” Belinsky says. “Your turnkey CMO can perform these operations more efficiently and under their quality control. Think price, lead time, quality assurance and risk management.”
Jack Rodriguez, president, JMR Development, New York, NY, says that turnkey represents an opportunity for packaging suppliers and formulators to become more intimately involved with the brand in regard to how it conceives and plans out new product launches. “When you supply a specific widget, you tend to only have exposure to a small part of a given program, and competition is quite broad,” he says, adding that the more aspects and responsibility of a program a turnkey supplier is willing to take on, the more exposure and trust is developed with the client. “For the client, it’s an opportunity to launch more products in categories where they have experienced success, and in categories that may have been shelved due to lack of internal resources. Their focus can now be placed on what markets they need to be in and grow in, rather than trying to figure out the logistics of speed to market and execution on products that they may not have much experience in developing internally.”

By conventional turnkey guidelines (managing and executing a finished good), approximately 75% of JMR Development’s business today falls under turnkey development. However Rodriguez says he’s found that the definition and expectations associated with turnkey development vary from client to client. “At JMR, we are set up as a full service development firm, offering proposals that would include branding, marketing strategies, package design, package development, formulation, fill assembly and packout-shipping logistics,” he explains. “After meeting with the client, our proposal may include all or just some of these services.”

Melinda Wochner, CMO, CoValence Laboratories, Chandler, AZ, points to the proliferation of a global economy as one of the primary drivers of the turnkey movement. “With the acceleration of the global economy, there are far more hoops to jump through to get products out the door and into the hands of the end user,” she says. “Therefore, once CoValence started helping our clients with their packaging and regulatory requirements, in addition to formulating, mixing and filling, our clients’ product launches were sped up and met…they had products on the shelves weeks, if not months, faster than if we did not oversee critical features of the turnkey logistics.”

Wochner says about 80% of CoValence’s business encompasses turnkey projects, but the team mindset most closely associated with turnkey is critical for the other aspects of their business too. “The other 20% will organize their own packaging and/or filling for their businesses, which still works well since we work closely with their supply chain and project managers,” she says. “It’s extremely important to be a ‘team’ with your clients even if some of the control is not in your hands.”

Turnkey Success Stories

The turnkey approach uniquely affords both emerging and established companies the ability to leverage their strengths and expertise. It also provides the opportunity to develop programs that might stretch beyond a company’s core business, while at the same time minimizing the risk, lead-time and workload to bring a finished good to market, according to John Pyrzenski, executive vice president, Quality Resourcing Services (QRS), a Putnam, CT-based full service provider of shelf-ready products for the perfumery, cosmetics, bath and body, and personal care markets.

QRS’s Jennifer Corey, vice president of business development, points to her company’s work with Soft Surroundings to create its newest bespoke fragrance, “L”. “[The process] began with discussion and review of remnants of the fragrance once worn by founder Robin Sheldon’s mother,” Corey recalls, noting that the road to create a new and modern version of this scent was filled with phone calls, meetings, commentary, and several iterations before arriving at the final product.

In the midst of the fragrance development, QRS was simultaneously working to finalize both the primary and secondary packaging that would not only attractively tell the story of the fragrance but also protect the fragrance during shipping. “A beautiful bottle and customized cap were chosen and complemented with a box that has a trophy case feel,” Corey says. “After several ship tests and some amends to the set, we had a complete package.”

“L” launched in the Soft Surroundings catalog and store last November and has been well received by Soft Surroundings customers.  

Tim Thorpe, president of HCT Group, which operates several offices worldwide, says that engaging in the turnkey process allows for the innovation of both packaging and the formulation to occur in parallel. “It also gives our customers complete packages to discuss and finalize much quicker than the traditional route of seeking out product and packaging separately,” he says. “Continual changes in FDA requirements have meant certain formulations need to be designed around particular packages and materials. Ultimately the process brings fast innovation in often completely tested packaging.”

Thorpe says he’s observed the mascara category enjoy the largest boost from turnkey and continues to regard it as a key area for innovation.

One of HCT Group’s most prestigious and successful turnkey partnerships is with the Kevyn Aucoin color cosmetics brand, for which HCT Group provides a full suite of turnkey services spanning the logistics of formulation, implements, packaging, secondary and collaterals design/development, regulatory services, supply chain and inventory management.

“We are going into our third year in this partnership and every year we create new and exciting products together,” says Jonathan Chung, HCT Group’s director of product sales.

Chung said developing formulas and packaging that remain faithful to the clear vision established by the brand’s namesake—makeup artist Kevyn Aucoin, who tragically passed away in 2002—is as challenging as it is rewarding. “During the formulation process, we collaborated with the Kevyn Aucoin team and our goal was to incorporate Japanese formula and component innovation into each of the products in the line, which was a core attribute unique to Kevyn and something he felt very strongly about for his products,” Chung says. “To fulfill his vision without him being here is challenging but it’s exciting to be involved in the creation of products that honor and uphold his legacy.”

The primary packaging for the Kevyn Aucoin product line developed and manufactured by HCT Group is a signature look that pairs rich, gold metallized accents with a distinctive custom color gradation effect. This theme is echoed across the brand’s entire range of packaging including blush, powder foundation and eye shadow compacts, as well as on the caps of the Sensual Skin Fluid foundation. “There’s a lot that goes into the gradation process because it’s difficult to achieve a perfect gradation and keep it consistent across the board,” Chung says.

The line’s compacts are HCT Group original designs and feature custom gold push-buttons and latches—all of which are exclusive to the Kevyn Aucoin brand.

“Our partnership with HCT has been instrumental to the growth of the brand,” comments Desiree Tordecilla, executive vice president of Kevyn Aucoin Beauty.

PakLab was recently tapped by a major resort and casino in Las Vegas to be the exclusive brand architect and manufacturer for a complete solar care and spa line that will be distributed in major U.S. and Canadian retail markets. The line, called Bay Soleil, will make its debut at the Rock in Rio concert in Las Vegas this spring.

PakLab’s Belinsky said this line was an example of a complete turnkey service experience, with PakLab having supplied everything for this project, including a custom formulation and design; R&D with market analysis; supporting marketing materials; packaging design, engineering, selection and procurement; graphic design-regulatory labels for OTC and cosmetics; OTC testing and FDA compliance; scale-up manufacturing and production; and filling and shipping.

Cosmedicine turned to JMR Development for help with a new skin care line set to launch this year. The creative initiative involved a complete design and rebranding effort, which was executed by the New York based design firm Established, and then all new primary and secondary packaging was supplied by JMR.

JMR Development was tasked with procuring all formulas, packaging, and then managing the complete fill, assembly and packout of finished goods ready to ship to the customer’s warehouse. The biggest challenge for JMR was maintaining and meeting the expectations of the client and Established, who were uncompromising when it came to every design driven aspect of this program.

“In skin care, with SKUs easily surpassing 30-plus for a launch, it is important to try and work with quality stock solutions that can then be custom tailored to meet the outlined design parameters, but this is quite often a challenge for stock widget suppliers as they tend to produce packaging with conventional color and decoration processes,” says Rodriguez. “So for this line, which required some unconventional decoration and design treatment, there had to be extra emphasis and focus on ensuring the design aesthetic did not get lost or compromised. In the end, Cosmedicine achieved a very distinctive and prestige looking skin care line with minimal custom tooling required.”

Some of the most recent turnkey success stories for CoValence have been with its international clients. “Our international clients want products made in the USA, but it had been difficult for them to find a manufacturing lab that offered all that we do to help them, especially with the international regulatory requirements,” says CoValence’s Wochner, crediting much of that success to her company’s International Department Team. “Helping clients with regulatory requirements is a forgotten, but critical, piece of the turnkey process for beauty and skin care manufacturers.”

Verla has provided full turnkey partnerships for a number of large scale brand launches, having recently helped launch several new lines for mass and prestige that required full turnkey, including the design and manufacturing of new primary packaging, EDI, distribution and warehouse services.  

 “The luxury line launches required the services of our R&D and Innovations Team to create new skin care formulas and performance-driven color cosmetics using cutting edge technology with advanced raw materials for state-of-the-art anti-aging and wrinkle reduction with cell renewal benefits,” explains Verla’s Vignone. “In addition, many of the unique formulas required our chemical engineering team to create new manufacturing processes and filling procedures for the sensitive actives raw materials, [and] the exclusive packaging called upon our mechanical engineers to build new equipment that did not exist.”

Rockaway, NJ-based Package Development Co. is well-versed at taking a project from its beginning stages through to the finished product. “A total turnkey approach helps us incorporate greater efficiencies throughout the run of a product, flexibly managing any hiccups or delays that may come up, and increasing the likelihood that the product will be ready to go on its launch date,” says Ron Sosna, the company’s director of operations.

This complete approach was key when the company created an NJPEC award winning, recycled PET thermoformed package for Tag Away, an OTC topical formula for skin tags. The product was manufactured by a filler in Florida, who also supplied the bottles and caps. Hoping to avoid any mishaps with the first lot of goods—an unfortunate but common reality—Package Development requested that the first lot of goods be shipped upside down to confirm the quality of the bottle-to-cap seal. Sosna says insights gleaned from experience are something turnkey service providers are more apt to think of.

After running the first 200,000-300,000 units, Packaging Development discovered another way to tweak the design that would improve efficiencies for its client. “We wanted to make a small change in the carton design [reorienting a glue flap],” recalls Sosna. “Because we were responsible for the project, we were able to make that change and it didn’t impact the shape of the carton or the configuration of the artwork.

“Turnkey embodies the interaction of all suppliers as teammates and it increases all of our efficiencies for a more competitive edge,” he concludes.