Girls Just Want to Have Fun…

But packaging that tries too hard never quite hits the mark.

By Jonathan Ford, Pearlfisher

Well, the holiday season has come and gone for another year. Not just the optimum sales time for the cosmetics marketplace, it may also be the optimum time of the year for consumers to make different beauty choices when experimenting with hair and make-up for the festive party circuit. It’s an excuse to play dress-up and, indeed, to “play” outside the confines of day-to-day control and social acceptability.
   
What brand owners are starting to realize is that the Christmas holiday season is no longer a one-off opportunity to have fun and play outside of prescribed occasions. Now, more than ever, we are seeing a blurring of the worlds of work and play, and consumers are looking to brands to inject some fun and to help fulfill their need for play.
   

Givenchy teases consumers by using flirtatious names.

In terms of cosmetic brands, we are seeing a move toward the way the beauty sector used to be perceived. In the ’40s, ’50s and particularly in the experimental ’60s, cosmetics were viewed as a luxury purchase or a frivolous pastime and we now seem to be once again looking to cosmetic brands for a sense of fun and playfulness. But why is there such a need for play? How can brands successfully answer this need for playfulness?
   
In recent times, we have wanted brands to educate and inform, but we have also been bombarded by information: What’s good, what’s bad, are natural cosmetic choices better for us or do we actually feel more reassured by those brands which detail their efficacy and scientific research? In many cases, regardless of what is being said, we have reached message saturation. In addition, we are living in a more fearful climate than ever before. Combine the two and the result is a consumer who is starting to rebel, a consumer who is looking to counteract the serious and heavyweight nature of daily life by looking for more fun and playful elements. We are still interested in the product benefit but our buying motivation is definitely reverting to reaching out to products that make us feel good. We are looking for short, simple and “fun” messages that appeal to our playful side, or for brands to provide us with a new and more playful persona.

Play As Fun

More and more of today’s cosmetic brands rely primarily on naming to portray spirited and fun-loving characteristics and traits: Benefit was a trail blazer with its Bad Gal mascara and has recently brought out a Miss Popularity precision highlighter for face and eyes. Surly Girl Cosmetics names its eye shadows to meet every mood—from dark and sultry with, for example, Dominatrix, to pink and pearly, such as Flirt. The fragrance houses, too, are either teasingly leaving their fragrances open to interpretation or evoking a specific response with their naming strategies. Very Irresistible and Ange ou Demon are just two of the most recent offerings from Givenchy.
   
And while naming has become more lighthearted and emotive, we are also seeing a move away from the traditional design and color palettes to ensure that these fun brands stand out on shelf. Brands such as Too Faced and The Party Girl are using graphics in the form of cartoon storyboards to project a personality to inspire and amuse, and in a stroke of pure genius, Urban Decay’s new Clean and Sober gel based make-up remover has a mermaid motif/tattoo exclusively designed by celebrity tattoo artist, Amy James.
   
But, it’s not just the younger and more niche brands that are managing to connect on this more frivolous level. For Spring 2008, Dior is launching its Flower Blossom palette; a pastel and floral inspired eye shadow palette with the different colored shadows presented as a pictorial flower tableau.
   
However, as much as we are looking to brands to fulfill a quick burst of fun, we also want more. We want brands to truly understand this blurring of work and play and provide more integrated lifestyle solutions for us on an evolving basis. 

Play As Lifestyle

Increasingly, brands have taken note and reformatted their products or brought new packaging variations onto the market with many brands offering new ways to transport and use their products.  Aquolina’s quirky rollerball fragrance, Chocolovers, is transportable and plays to its fragrance heritage, but does not nec- essarily sit well with the rest of its usually chic portfolio, while Diorlight, the jeweled make-up necklace for lips, from Dior, does at least blend comfortably with both its premium make-up packaging and fine jewelery heritage. 
  

Urban Decay’s Clean & Sober makeup.

Essentially, rather than fragmenting their message to meet the needs of the 24/7 consumer, brands need to focus on the future and consider the design of new but responsible, and above all relevant, ways of creating engaging packaging experiences and ideas that will allow consumers to exchange, express and interact with brands in a fresh way—existing dynamically in real time in multiple places.
   
And this is the key.  Successful lifestyle brands are truly relevant brands.  Relevant brands do not try to be all things to all consumers, but only enter categories, or extend their brand offer, where and when it makes sense for them to do so to meet the real needs of their potential audience. Brand owners need to know their brand truth and remember that trying too hard to be fun never quite hits the mark.
   
There is no prescriptive answer for cosmetic brands when addressing today’s need for play except that they may need to look at why play was so successful in childhood and adapt these attributes for a new and adult audience. Today’s “kid’ult” is looking for a mix of both spontaneous and independent bursts of fun and unusual or unexpected brand packaging solutions that truly reconcile the needs of the work/play lifestyle.

About the Author: Jonathan Ford is an award-winning designer and creative partner for Pearlfisher, a London and New York design consultancy. More info: [email protected]