As an expert in packaging design, Nick Gray knows how important it is to get the whole package right - concept, character, communication and presentation
The cosmetics industry has come a long way since the turn of the millennium. With the back end of the 20th Century dominated by the fragrance and beauty powerhouses such as Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent and Christian Dior, the explosion of new products over the past decade – well over 3,500 in the fragrance category alone – has left marketers with a rather daunting challenge. With so much choice, how can brand owners successfully differentiate their brands from both the competition and within their own portfolio? What makes consumers pick up and buy one beauty product as opposed to another?
Brands are more than just a name for a product, service or company – brands are about reassurance, a positive statement of a company’s intention to offer consumers a service they need, require or indeed desire. In the fragrance and cosmetics category, brand communication is about promoting well-being – “you use brand X and it will make you feel sexy/beautiful/younger/ desirable...” And it’s not just a tactic aimed at women – men are increasingly susceptible. For example, one of dunhill’s new male fragrances, Pursuit, is being promoted as the Scent of Adventure: “dunhill Pursuit is a fragrance that inspires the quest for adventure, wherever a man finds himself.” But what does adventure smell like? How can marketers successfully promote a brand based on a feeling rather than a tangible, physical benefit?
Whereas many FMCG brands are able to rely to a certain degree on the pack itself to do the selling, beauty brands offer something that is much harder to convey. They offer an aspiration that requires a far more expansive approach to brand communication.
SOWING THE SEED
The selling of a cosmetic or fragrance brand is initiated long before consumers even venture into a store. Traditional touch-points such as beauty magazines and television advertising and the less conventional internet promotions, celebrity endorsements, strategic product placement etc ensure that a brand is in the heart of a consumer long before they even realise it’s something they actually want. However, the continuing fragmentation of the media and the information overload that typifies the communication environment within which we live can pose as many problems as it does possibilities. The answer for brand owners is to create an experience around their brand – one that engages with consumers beyond the restrictions of a piece of packaging or an advertising campaign.
It is quite amazing to see the disparity between brands when wandering round the cosmetics floor of any large department store in the UK. Whilst they are all selling arguably the same product, the experience greatly differs from one to the other, depending on who the brand is targeting and therefore how the brand is positioned.
Identifying the target audience, choosing the right media channel with which to engage, positioning the brand within the right socio-context and clarifying the brand essence or big brand idea are just some of the considerations that need to be examined prior to creating a brand communication platform to ensure that messages are consistent, on brand and on target.
CHARACTER CREATION
However, it’s not just the creative elements that marketers need to consider but who best to characterise their brand, embodying the promise in a physical representation of what, or who, the audience can aspire to become. Get this wrong and no matter how amazing the product and the perceived benefit, without a personality, or worse the wrong personality, the brand will alienate the consumers it is trying to reach. Think Paris Hilton as the face of Chanel...
The cosmetics fixture itself is, of course, the penultimate delivery of a tone of voice that has been systematically developed over the course of the brand’s exposure to consumers. Whether it’s the classic, confident chic of Chanel or the natural, pampering, self indulgence of spa brands such as Aveda or Espa, consumers have an expectation that has been carefully and cleverly nurtured throughout the brand experience.
It is the culmination of everything that the strategy has aimed to achieve and is a macrocosm of that brand’s promise. From the meticulously styled and rehearsed sales assistants and the beautifully designed merchandising display to the carefully considered soundtrack that changes from retail counter to retail counter, the harmonious interaction between all of these touch-points reinforces what the consumer has come to expect and believe. The exuberance, energy and excitement of Shu Uemura’s retail counters are in stark contrast to the maturity and elegance of Estée Lauder, and rightly so. Different audiences require different reassurances that their chosen brand is in tune with their specific needs.
PERFECTING THE PACKAGE
The final touch-point is the packaging. The predominant sales tool for many FMCG categories, in beauty and cosmetics it has been relegated to the second tier of consumer engagement. However, whilst not as prominent, it is of no less importance, needing to be developed in unison with all other brand communication activities to ensure that the desired experience continues beyond the point of purchase. Its role is one of delivery – from the shelf or fixture into the home or handbag, and from the promise to the actual benefit and experience, perceived or otherwise, that the brand has already guaranteed.
Above all else, packaging is an opportunity for the brand owner to create a further connection with the target audience and their perception of that brand throughout the product lifecycle. A great example is the development of the Rimmel London cosmetics range, where a rather dated approach to the pack lacked any synergy with the cool, fashion-forward advertising epitomised by the brand’s relationship with Kate Moss.
Through rejuvenating the pack to reflect the youthful and experimental values of the brand, the revived crown equity, first used by Eugene Rimmel in the 19th Century, provides an intrinsic link with Rimmel’s London heritage and acts as a shorthand for the brand that is as comfortable on the pack as it is in the advertising. Whilst still a value for money brand, the use of such an iconic representative and the development of such a strong identity helps to combat any negative perceptions previously held, making the brand that much more acceptable to a larger number of consumers, both young and old.
Packaging completes the communication strategy and, when carefully considered in the larger context of what that brand is attempting to say, ensures consistency of message, which is paramount when engaging through multiple touch-points. Without a link between the pack and the lifestyle positioning of a beauty brand, the total experience that a consumer has come to expect can become disjointed, losing relevance and negatively impacting upon brand perception through an unsatisfactory conclusion.
Whilst an everyday, lifestyle activity for a vast majority of women, cosmetics and fragrance can also offer a valid entry point into the super premium, luxury market, making once unattainable brands accessible for a larger number of consumers. They can act as effective substitutes for the more exclusive products within the portfolio, where the promise of exclusivity is guaranteed by the price tag. A perfect example is the new fragrance from Chloé, one of this summer’s predicted hits not only because it is on trend with its floral signature that has typified female fragrances, but also because it transcends the divide between couture and beauty products.
Developing this further is the recent trend for collaboration between separate beauty houses, such as Viktor & Rolf and Shu Uemura, where the eyelash specialist created some unique and theatrical lashes for V&R’s 2008-09 fashion show. Now available to consumers, this could mark the beginning of a new wave of strategic relationships between the beauty and fashion industries where cross-category fertilisation could play a major role in developing fashions and trends previously found in more niche sectors of society.
Of course, beauty and fashion are as subject to market and societal influences as any other industry. With the downturn in economic prosperity as predicted by the financial sector, beauty and fashion will invariably suffer, with these and other indulgent purchases inextricably linked to disposable income. A decline in consumer confidence could spell a difficult time for the industry, especially for the beauty and fashion houses at the more premium end of the market. If beauty houses have successfully positioned their brands as indispensable lifestyle requirements through creating an experience based around an engaging personality, consumers will invariably find a way to have what they want. It is beauty and excitement that capture your attention but personality which captures your heart.