Brandonology Has It All

This young design studio offers total services—from brand concept through package design, merchandising and promotion.

By Janet Herlihy, Editor

Dale Kan established Brandonology, a multi-media design studio a short three years ago, but it is fast building a reputation for delivering thoughtful, innovative concept-through-creation, promotion and marketing solutions.

Kan began Brandonology as a design studio for cosmetic and beauty packaging, but “It has evolved into brand development from start to finish,” he explained. Services include packaging design but also cover everything else involved in developing and launching a new product, from concept to retail shelf presentation, including brand inception, product development, packaging, marketing, advertising and promotional events.

With a client roster that includes Tommy Bahama/Gemini Cosmetics, Liz Claiborne, L’Oréal, Nikos, Betsey Johnson, Maybelline New York, Matrix, Guerlain, LVMH, Acqua di Parma, Revlon, Elizabeth Arden, Louis Licari, The Body Shop and Sky Coach Airlines, Brandonology has expanded beyond the beauty and fashion categories to transportation design, product design, product marketing and advertising. It recently created B4, its first fragrance, developed as a “neo-classic, nouveaux luxe esprit parfum,” for its friends and colleagues. The studio has created a jewelry line and is considering other categories as well.

Kan’s experience and education prepared him well for a leadership role in beauty and fashion packaging design. He graduated from the Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA. His work experience includes serving as art director of special projects at Bloomingdale’s, where he reported to John Jay and a year spent as senior designer of exhibition design at MOMA in New York. Then, in three years as vice president of creative services worldwide at Revlon, Kan worked on well-known brands including Ultima II, Revlon Creations, Almay and High Dimension Hair Care.

Recognition on Global Stage

Brandonology was invited to participate at 2004 Les Places D’Or Design emballage de luxe, a Paris exhibition that runs concurrent with L’Emballage, providing a showplace for luxury packaging specialists. The show was held at the L’Hotel Meurice by “invitation only,” for both exhibitors and visitors from Nov. 23 through Nov. 26.

“Brandonology was the first American design studio to be invited. The visitors were impressed at the differences between our presentation and the others. Our stand was fresh and new, but still elegant,” said Kan.

The Creative Process Starts with Communication

“When we start a project,” Kan explained,” our first step is to decipher who the consumer will be. If it’s an established brand, we find out what that consumer thinks of it and how much of that thought/feeling/image we want to bring forward. The key is to hold onto the best of the brand’s heritage while also communicating with today’s consumer. It boils down to communication. How to communicate the product in a language the consumer can understand and be excited by.”

Having a point of difference is also critical, according to Kan, who said, “We are always pushing newness in concept and execution. Our supply partners hold new things for us, but we don’t always look forward. Sometimes, we reach back in time for a look and or materials that will be unique.

Working with clients is a delicate process. “Clients think they know what they want,” said Kan, “but we ask them ’where do you want to be’ and then we do our research and nine times out of ten, the final solution is not what they thought they wanted.”

Who Is the Ultimate Consumer?

With an international clientele, keeping the final consumer in mind is essential. “There are major differences between the European consumer and the American consumer. Europeans are willing to work with a package. They are more involved with the experience of using the product, so they are more patient with complex mechanisms. Americans want packaging to be simple, so getting to the product is fast. It’s a challenge for a designer to make a package that’s acceptable to both audiences. Brandonology goes for a richness of materials and a look that speaks of high quality but that does not need to be complicated.”

Future Holds More Diversity

Brandonology plans to continue its growth and has recently hired Antoine Le Galloudec as marketing manager. A Frenchman, Le Galloudec’s background will be useful when the company opens a satellite office in Paris in 2005.

Le Galloudec’s background includes Master’s degrees in finance and business and a BFA in creative management. He served an internship in New York at the French embassy analyzing the American market for French luxury goods. “As we become more of a global group, his international marketing background and knowledge of the global category of luxury products will be excellent additions to foster our growth,” said Kan.

“We are now working in a different way from when we started,” Kan noted. “We always wanted to be different. None of our designers are package designers; together we have the ability to design packages and a lot more.”

Brandonology staff includes: Dale Kan with an architecture and fashion background; Cindy Tse, a graphic designer; Justin Weinrich, an interactive, web/media designer; and Robert Marchisi, an industrial designer.

“We have four different disciplines represented,” Kan stressed. “We can take a project anywhere. We don’t just sit and wait for a client to form a plan and ask for a particular package. We partner with clients and take a project from concept through development and presentation. It gives us creative control and results in more consistency for the client.

Phillip Lee, account director for Brandonology, added, “When we work from the inception of a brand or a product, we are better able to deliver the right solutions because we have a better understanding than when we come in at the end and just do something ‘pretty.’”

Kan explained, “What we do for our clients, we also do for ourselves. Antoine is here to investigate opportunities and if we see a need, whether it is fashion, beauty or lifestyle, and there is no client for it, we may make it ourselves. It is more of an entrepreneurial approach.”

Brandonology’s youthful staff is also seen as an advantage. “The team is young,” stressed Kan. “A lot of decision makers are also younger now, so we are in a great position to work with them.”