Fine Fragrance Packaging: New Perspectives

Zorbit Resources, part of the Maesa Group, has been the source behind many successful beauty product launches during its relatively short life span. Most recently, the company has broken ground in the hard-to-crack fine fragrance arena. Beauty Packaging’s editor Jamie Matusow spoke to the firm’s Scott Oshry, EVP branding & design, and Sean Brosmith, EVP innovation & new product development, about their creative forays into new territory. Key, they say, is designing with manufacturability in mind.

Scott Oshry

Beauty Packaging (BP): Is fine fragrance a relatively new area for Zorbit? Why is it difficult to break into?
Scott Oshry (SO): Zorbit has been a creative source to the industry since its inception six years ago. While we have made significant headway raising the bar in package design in other categories such as skin care, hair care and color, it has only been relatively recently that we have made inroads in the world of fragrance design. Fragrance has always been elevated and construed as the most premier packaging in the beauty industry. Traditional fragrance designers have done an

Zorbit’s rendering for Christian AudigierKing/Queen.

excellent job of promoting themselves to the brand marketers that are responsible for managing and hiring fragrance branding and packaging design. It is a tight-knit community, making it challenging for new entrants to gain access. We were given our first fragrance design opportunity withTrue Religion. After that success, we quickly received a number of exciting new fragrance launches including Christian Audigier, Kat Von D, Kim Kardashian and 50 Cent.

BP: What is Zorbit’s forte in fragrance packaging? It appears that you’ve produced a tremendous amount of innovative packaging in a rather short period of time.
SO: We approach fragrance design with the same philosophy and methods as we approach all design. We like to dive deep into the brand’s image and promise, as well as the brands’ history. We strive to create packaging that semantically embodies the unique character of the brand.

Sean Brosmith

BP: Packaging has a key personal dimension. It is a process driven by creative people. How do you approach each project? Arrive at a vision? What factors do you take into consideration?
Sean Brosmith (SB): We strongly believe in a team-oriented approach to the design process. Every design process starts with what we call “ideation,” where we brainstorm through line drawings and sketches. Sometimes this can include more than 40 potential directions. After ideation, we begin to further refine the design by exploring different color palettes, materiality, forms, textures and graphics.We pride ourselves on our ability to understand the brands’ positioning within its consumer base and the market as a whole. Every aspect of the design must be a reflection and extension of what makes it unique to the market and consumer.

Zorbit’s rendering for Kim Kardashian, set to launch in November.

BP: How do Zorbit’s capabilities to provide all elements—from design to components (including glass, metal and paperboard) contribute to the process? Is there any other design/packaging company that offers all of these services? Does this help in your role as a designer?
SB: One of the most common problems and frustrations to the brand marketer is hiring a designer who doesn’t understand manufacturing. Designers will sometimes create concepts that look beautiful on a screen, but cannot be manufactured; or just as importantly, cannot be manufactured for their client’s price. Zorbit is the only branding and design firm that manufactures. Because we understand manufacturing, everything we design is designed with manufacturability in mind. Our concepts are fully engineered and cost estimated prior to turnover, providing a unique speed-to-market approach. Zorbit has also invested in rendering software that no one else in the beauty industry possesses. This high

Zorbit’s rendering for 50 Cent Tank.

level of visual communication allows our clients to see what a finished product will look like without having to necessarily spend on comps. At the point in which a design becomes finalized and a comp is required, Zorbit also built and maintains its own in-house comp room to fulfill those needs. Everything is vertically integrated within Zorbit.

BP: What can a client typically expect from Zorbit when looking to develop packaging for a new fragrance? What is a typical timeframe from initial client meeting to finished product on-shelf?
SB: We offer a full service, seamless approach to the entire development process. Zorbit maintains core competencies in branding, design, and manufacturing. At the end of the day, we design to manufacture. Because design fees are not our only revenue source, Zorbit hasn’t traditionally charged industry standard rates for design work. Our creative work has proven to be incredibly successful in the field. Our designs have been nominated for Fifi Awards and represent some of the best sales in the market today. We have been able to demonstrate to our clients that excellent design doesn’t necessarily have to be the most expensive design. Where it usually takes most brand marketers 10-16 months to get a fragrance from conception to completion, we can typically do it in 6-8.

Zorbit’s design for True Religion has been a big hit.

BP: How do you see fragrance packaging evolving in the future?
SO: During the past five years, the number of fragrance launches has skyrocketed, resulting in the “dumbing down” of design. Brand marketers used to aim to create “classics” that could withstand the test of time. Now, the average fragrance has a shelf life of about one year. We believe that the pendulum will swing back in the other direction as brand marketers take notice that only truly unique and distinctive fragrance designs drives sales, perhaps even more than advertising.