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Accessory or secondary packaging plays two major roles in the cosmetics, fragrances and personal care markets. First, boxes, cartons and various types of bags hold and protect the primary container(s) from bumps and scuffs in handling so that the consumer takes home a pristine, intact package. Second, and becoming ever more important, is the function of attracting the consumer’s eye in the retail environment, differentiating a product from the competition and reflecting the image of the brand.
There is incredible equity in secondary packaging for prestige and mass products, according to David Nicosia, principal creative director of NICE Nicosia Creative Expresso Ltd, New York, NY. “It gives you a canvas and a way to protect the primary package,” he said.
Marketers’ Focus Varies
Two of the largest marketers of branded beauty products—Estée Lauder and Avon—are good examples of how secondary packaging strategies are pursued.
For Estée Lauder, secondary packaging is primarily about brand image, according to John Fling, vice president of design for packaging of the Estée Lauder brand. “Secondary packaging at Estée Lauder is extremely important in that it is really a piece of ‘take-away collateral’ that contains not only the necessary information about the enclosed product but also enhances the consumer's perception of the brand and it’s relevance to their lifestyle,” Fling said.
Estée Lauder stands for sophistication and elegance and its secondary packaging reinforces that message. Fling noted, “The secondary packaging for our saleable products is designed to be modern, sophisticated, and immediately recognizable as an Estée Lauder style. We tend to use clean, fresh, eye-catching colors and try to avoid unnecessary graphics or excessive decoration.”
For seasonal and promotional packaging, the packaging design may vary from traditional specifications. Fling explained, “We are more adventurous in the design of our promotional and seasonal packaging and often incorporate materials such as plastics, decorative ribbons, bows and flowers, as well as illustrations and photography. This helps to bring a seasonal feeling to our counters as well as heighten a sense of ‘special occasion.’ Our holiday gift sets this year are embellished with ribbons and bows, and our Mother’s Day sets have the added dimension of silk flowers.”
Direct Sales Demands Differ
Avon’s direct-to-the-consumer distribution mandates a different approach. Unlike products sold at retail where the secondary package is a key marketing tool, Avon has traditionally relied on secondary packaging primarily to protect the product through the rigors of Avon’s internal distribution system, according to Marilee Egan, the company’s senior engineer. Eagan noted that the use of carton board caliper .024” SBS (compared to the industry standard of .018” SBS) and aggressive slit lock configurations show Avon’s commitment to using sturdy, protective packaging.
While it’s primary purpose is to protect the product container, Egan explained that Avon has always integrated excellent design and engineering elements when developing carton styles and graphics to enhance the customer’s experience and satisfaction when receiving their Avon order. She said, “Secondary packaging has normally not been featured in the brochure product shots, which are used to promote product. This is changing as Avon continues to upgrade its image, with more emphasis being placed on improving the perception of its secondary packaging.”
Along with the extra strength of Avon’s cartons, Egan noted that e-flute liners are also used to provide additional product protection. She said, “However, we are beginning to use e-flute liners to simply enhance the product image. This is traditionally done for the prestige fragrance and Anew products, where in some cases, liners may not be necessary from a protection perspective, but are being used for a prestige appearance.” Other upscale products are also being cello-wrapped with heat-sealable oriented polypropylene.
Likewise, Avon traditionally packaged gift sets in e-flute partitioned cartons. Egan noted, “However, to enhance the image, gift sets are now becoming more ‘giftable’ in display style SBS cartons with vacuum formed trays, which project a department store image.”
Avon’s secondary packaging is created in-house based on product development and marketing’s creative concept. The design department creates package designs, working with package engineering to insure that the concept can provide product protection and be manufactured within cost objectives. Package engineering also proposes packaging concepts to design. This team approach is a true collaborative endeavor, according to Egan.
To support an upscale image for Treselle, Avon’s fourth quarter 2003 prestige fragrance launch, Avon has taken a new approach to packaging the all-product gift with purchase. Traditionally, two individual products were poly-bagged together and shipped to the customer. This year, Avon has developed an upscale presentation style n-flute carton to both hold and display the Treselle Body Soufflé and Fragrance Rollette. When formed, this tray style carton provides a die-cut platform into which the two products fit. With this top-opening construction, the customer immediately sees the two products. Carton graphics are harmonized with those of the lead fragrance.
Economy Flat to Up
“Our business in cosmetics continues to perform well, but the fragrance segment is slow, while personal care is up significantly,” said Mitchell Kaneff, president of Arkay Packaging, New York, NY. Kaneff pointed to brands such as Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson and Roc that are creating new lines for skin care conscious consumers as brands that are fueling growth in the personal care arena. “The secondary packaging adds perceived value to those products on shelf. The consumer is willing to pay more because they recognize the brand, such as Olay, but the look has been updated and they see it as a step-up item,” Kaneff explained.
Curtis Packaging Corp., Sandy Hook, CT, a supplier of paperboard cartons, is running ahead of last year in sales to the beauty industry, according to Don Droppo, company president. “From the holiday packaging that has already shipped, retailers seem to be betting on a larger Christmas,” Droppo said.
| Arkay creates an “aperture lamination” for Crest White Strips carton. A window is die-cut in the box and then a laminate covers the entire container. | Curtis Packaging manufactures a series of foil cartons for Slatkin & Co.’s candles that feature fine embossing of the brand name and fragrance type. | Brooklyn Accent adds the finishing touch of ribbons and bows to beauty products. |
“Budgets are a little tougher and there is less interest in high-end solutions,” reported Dan Shedd, president of Taylor Box Company, Warren, RI. “ At the same time, there is more competition from imported product from the Far East,” resulting in the company’s business within the beauty category being fairly flat with last year, he noted.
“The beauty business has been tough for the first half of 2003,” Richard Hartman, president of Brooklyn Accent, a ribbon and bow supplier, based in Riveria Beach, FL. “The result may well be a lack of goods on the shelf in the gift and decorative area. Most holiday projects should be complete by now,” he said in early August, “and we haven’t seen that much being done for holiday.”
The industry is changing in response to the economy, according to Rick Thomas, chief executive officer of CardPak Inc., Solon, OH, a supplier of blister packs and clamshells.
CardPak is receiving more small orders where in the past a marketer would commit to ordering all the packaging it expected to need for a longer period. Thomas said, “Now, we’re asked to produce half or a quarter of the units and deliver more often or “just in time.” We now produce products in as little as four days to a few weeks and delivery must be much faster. If you can’t provide the shipments—all the units on the right date—they’ll give the business to someone else.”
Fashion Trends in Packaging
The entire beauty industry is made up of brands that appeal to various groups of consumers. The Estée Lauder consumer is generally upscale and sophisticated. “I think that if there is a general trend in secondary packaging at the moment, it is away from the slick ‘high tech’ look of past years,” stated Fling, “and toward materials and colors that are rich, natural, and have a friendly approachable sensibility.”
Noting that there is currently a lot of mirrored board and cartons with holographic finishes that can look very busy and confusing on counter, Nicosia expects the trend in 2004 to become more minimalistic and plain. “Brands need to rethink their approach and understand that packaging can be too busy; simplicity works too.”
Pat McGee, marketing manager for AGI/Klearfold, a MeadWestvaco subsidiary, said that there's a growing trend to plastic visual packaging that is either all plastic or plastic and paperboard. “It’s so the consumer can see the product inside. But plastic is more expensive and so traditionally has not been used as much in mass. That’s changing.”
Based in New York, NY, Jennifer Chouraqui, exclusive U.S. agent for Raffypack-Ileos and Dapy Paris – MJC Enterprises, agreed that there is more transparency in secondary packaging. As a representative for two manufacturers with different kinds of packaging (Raffypack makes soft plastic and paperboard products, while Dapy Paris offers injection molded containers as well as containers made of mixed materials), Chouraqui said the trend comes out of new developments such as techniques of combining frosted and clear areas, which can give a package an air of mystery.
Mass cosmetics, fragrances and personal care lines are striving to look more prestige, while prestige lines are trying to find broader channels of distribution, resulting in some of the lines showing up in mass outlets, pointed out Stephen C. Pohlmann, director of marketing, packaging and specialty packaging resources group at MeadWestvaco, Stamford, CT. “There’s a blurring of the lines. At the same time, marketers are trying to differentiate their products on a budget.”
For mid- and mass-market products, packaging is all about drawing attention on shelf with razzle-dazzle. In terms of fashion trends, Droppo of Curtis Packaging, said, “There’s more use of holographic foils and the use of micro-embossing which can produce very fine, complex patterns.”
Fashion trends for Neff Packaging Solutions, Dayton, OH, include the use of foil and holographics that are eye-catching and gift boxes that are used to present a group of products with a theme, according to Bob Burckle, director of new business development. “Sometimes it’s a sample selection of a line, other times it’s a group of products related by a scent or holiday,” Burckle said. Neff supplies paperboard cartons—printing, cutting and gluing—and can handle fulfillment as well.
Taylor Box Company is working with a paper mill on a new foil paper laminate that promises to be an interesting alternative to add dimension and iridescence to cartons. “It offers a lot of appeal on shelf,” said Shedd, and will be able to be used cost effectively for larger volumes. He added, “The real key is the printing and what’s going on with the package graphically. It’s important to integrate a snappy look with unique, sophisticated printing. Printers are more and more capable of taking ideas to fruition.”
| Custom Paper Tubes offers Reveal (far left), a construction that combines paper and plastic as well as other paperboard tubes in a wide range of sizes and finishes. | Two Versace fragrances are gift-packed in rigid polystyrene trays created by Lombardi Design & Manufacturing. | Aveda packs its Uruku lipstick in a molded fiber carton of recycled paper from UFP Technologies. |
Such a printer is Scabrini Media, whose commercial printing division located in Quebec, Canada, has worked with Taylor to print wraps that cover the tubes.
“The idea is to get attention, but with certain brands, design cannot be too extravagant and remain consistent with the brand’s image,” explained Rick Pelletier of Scabrini Media.
For some brand’s, there’s a family-like relationship between lines and products that is shown through the use of colors and/or logos.
“There’s a lot of Mylar and foils being used and it’s become very complicated for designers,” Pelletier said. “The cosmetics market has changed a lot in the past five or six years. Before most (secondary packaging) was paper, now as much as 40% is Mylar or foil.”
Technology Drives Innovation
Innovation is as key in secondary packaging as it is in product development itself.
Arkay has been doing well with a construction that Kaneff referred to as “aperture lamination.” As seen in the Crest White Strips carton, a widow is die-cut in the box and then a laminate is put over the entire container. “It’s doing very well,” said Kaneff. “It has the look of plastic and paper cartons but has a better cost and is also filler friendly.”
Kaneff added, “We’re also working on micro-encapsulated coatings that are printed on parts of the carton to allow the consumer to experience the fragrance of the product by rubbing the spot. There are other unique coatings that will impart a unique texture to the surface of the carton.”
A new $5 million press is being delivered to Curtis Packaging this fall. Droppo explained, “It will be able to print eight colors, all UV, and have two coaters—one is a dispersion coater that can lay down heavy metallics for large areas, copy or spot printing. It’s scheduled to be running in January 2004.”
For Custom Paper Tubes, Cleveland, OH, the latest is the Reveal line, a marriage of clear plastic and paper consisting of a clear plastic tube with a paperboard top and bottom, according to Phillip Van Dyn, sales and marketing manager. “The new tube is popular and is growing in beauty because you can see the product inside and can also print on the caps,” said Van Dyn. “Another popular look right now is a natural look achieved with a brown paper tube and cap that is made with a natural parchment-look paper. It’s popular with products that feature natural ingredients and can be dressed up with labels and or ribbons.”
Recycled Fiber Offers Politically Correct Styling
UFP Technologies, headquartered in Georgetown, MA, offers its molded fiber products made of 100% recycled newsprint and office ledger to serve as secondary packaging as well as protective primary containers.
The containers are also 100% recyclable, making this type of construction a choice for Aveda, which is known for being environmentally correct in both products and packaging. UFP supplies four different cartons for Aveda’s Uruku line: a lipstick refill, a lip glaze, a compact and a mascara. The packaging has a soft gray color and textural look that contrasts nicely with Aveda’s primary containers as well as being entirely consistent with the brand’s commitment to environmental responsibility.
Each year, UFP uses more than 1,100 tons of recycled newspaper to produce molded fiber, custom engineered packaging, according to Steve McLaughlin, corporate sales operations manager for UFP, who added, “After an approved design, it takes four to six weeks to have the tooling done and samples ready.”
Rigid Plastic Cartons Offer Added-Value Benefits
Freeport, NY-based Lombardi Design & Manufacturing is a designer and manufacturer of injection molded packaging (caps, compacts, deodorant cases) for the cosmetics, fragrance and personal care industries. The company also manufactures rigid polystyrene display cases, caddies and trays that are often used as value-added secondary packaging, according to Carl Lombardi, company president. Alternatives to disposable cardboard set-up boxes, these containers are often reused as gift containers or storage boxes. The company maintains a line of 60 stock items in this category, in addition to providing custom cases—from design, through engineering and manufacturing.
“The demand for display cases, caddies and trays is a growing part of the business,” stated Lombardi, “although it can be somewhat cyclical as customers sometimes vacillate between plastic and board.” He added that the company continues to develop new sizes and shapes, to introduce techniques in decorating and finishing the cases and to offer alternatives that are fresh and exciting. “What is popular now is a printed shrink sleeve with up to 10-color printing, he said, “which also provides surface protection and is tamper evident.”
Lombardi Design and Manufacturing also offers “total fulfillment” services. “We can design and manufacture a display case, supply the vacuum form insert, assemble the package, putting the products inside and do the complete pack-out and shipment for a total turnkey service,” Lombardi explained.
| Promotional bags from Techpack-CMI are available in a range of sizes, shapes and materials. |
Supplier Offers Complete Menu
Techpack-CMI, New York, NY, is a one-stop-shop for promotional items and fragrance & cosmetic packaging, according to Jeannine Scimeme, executive director of product development, who added, “For promotional items, we boast strong, creative designs and personal attention to details—on everything from totes, cosmetic bags, and handbags to watches, fabric covered boxes and umbrellas. We also do spa products such as terrycloth mitts, headwraps, sachets, lingerie bags, etc. And we also have projects for home lines, including candles and pillows.”
Techpack-CMI is a Division of the Pechiney Group's Packaging Sector, headquartered in France. With close ties to European styling, the company’s fashion-conscious designers draw inspiration from images and emotions to play on fabrics, materials, shapes and colors, explained Scimeme. “We are committed to presenting and researching the most up-to-date trends to our clients—whether it be new designs or materials. The CMI designers are known for their innovative ideas. For every season, our teams in Europe and the U.S. work together on an accessory and promotional trend presentation specifically for our markets—including CD roms, trend report handouts and of course, the newest samples from here and all over the world.”
Complex Engineering Brings Innovation to Mass
AGI/Klearfold has recently been the supplier for high-profile launches including AquaFresh Extreme Clean from GlaxoSmithKline and Olay’s Regenerist from Procter & Gamble.
“The mass market has so many items, this kind of packaging is a way to distinguish what’s on the shelf,” said McGee of AGI/Klearfold.
The packaging for the Regenerist line is especially effective and reflects the complexity and sophistication of today’s packaging. AGI/Klearfold produces and prints the outer sleeves for the containers using a glossy, transparent 14-mil amorphous polyethylene terephthalate (APET) rollstock. Each of the three sleeves is dimensionally different to accommodate the primary containers within. Once printed, the sleeves are folded scored and glued into an elliptical shape and then secured top and bottom with plugs molded in the same elliptical shapes. These are friction-fit plugs that not only seal the sleeve, but also seat the primary containers, preventing them form shifting and holding them in place—seemingly floating within the sleeve. The plugs are injection molded of translucent polypropylene by AGI’s sister company, Poly-Matrix.
Anyone who has struggled to get a bottle out of a plastic outer carton will appreciate the way the plugs release. To open the package, the consumer holds the top plug, twists clockwise and pulls. It comes out easily and smoothly, because the sleeve expands and allows the plug to be released.
| Star Light Candles dresses up its line with star charms from Stoffel Seals. |
Seals, Ribbons and Bows for that Special Touch
Stoffel Seals, Nyack, NY, supplies all manner of metal and plastic seals and medallions that add a finishing touch to packages. Right now metal charms are hot in the beauty category, according to David Feldman, sales manager for Stoffel. “They’re small, cute and allow the marketer to differentiate on shelf. They’re often attached with ribbon.”
Star Light Candles, based in Bloomington, MN, recently launched 18 fragrances in six SKUs, two of which wear a metal charm made by Stoffel. “We shipped in July and so far, the charm has had a great response. We are also getting requests from some of our private label clients to create charms for their candle lines as well,” said Connie Schmidt, vice president of marketing at Star Light Candles. The charm is based on Star Light’s logo.
Myrian Zaoui of The Art of Shaving, explained that the company uses two Stoffel items to dress up its line of high-end shaving products. “The Art of Shaving seal is a plastic component with a wax seal-look that hangs from a braided cord on the line’s accessories—shaving brushes, razors and stands—that are often displayed on retail shelves out of the cartons. “The seal identifies the brand and adds a very nice touch. It enhances the value of the accessory.”
Metal nameplates from Stoffel are attached to the printed cartons for the accessories. “These add a very rich touch to the cardboard cartons and identify the metal of the accessory—nickel-plated or sterling silver—within the box. The whole presentation is very upscale.
A glazed, striped white tissue paper is used to wrap each item within the box,” Zaoui noted.
Brooklyn Accent, a division of Brooklyn Bow International, is a 90-year-old, family-owned company that moved to Florida in 1991 from its namesake city in New York, according to Hartman, third generation president.
“We create interest, enhancement and distinction for packages with ribbon or other substrates,” said Hartman. “and because of our experience as designers, we do it very well and in an cost effect way.”
| Ribbon Connections offers sheer ribbons as well as printed styles. |
Brooklyn Accent grew out of marketers’ needs to find someone to tie the bows for their packages. The company now maintains labor pools in Mexico and will not only make and tie bows, but will also perform other contract packaging functions such as assembly for their customers.
San Leandro, CA-based Ribbon Connections also supplies ribbons to the beauty market. Its parent company in Japan has been making silk ribbons for over 50 years, according to Alistair Ono, company sales representative, who added that the company now offers a wide variety of silk and polyester ribbons in hundreds of colors and styles. “Most cosmetic applications are looking for a touch of elegance with satin or sheer ribbons,” said Ono. “We also supply printed ribbons and have recently added a new line of cut edge ribbon to our woven edge styles. They are still very elegant but less expensive.”
Soft/Flexible Bags
Marketers use Imex vinyl bags to hold gift sets and/or three or four mini-items sold together as samples or as travel packs, according to Steve Jeffrey, president and owner of Imex Vinyl Packaging, Charlotte, NC.
Greg Hutchinson, of Imex sales, added that in addition to the company’s clear vinyl bags, beauty product marketers also source canvas bags and frosted items with drawstring or zipper closures from Imex. “Right now, the organza-look is popular,” Hutchinson added.
Orlandi Inc., Farmingdale, NY, packages groups of samples in custom flow over-wrapping that is all done in line, according to Gina Shaughnessy, company marketing manager. “The group of products comes out in a sealed pouch that is printed to carry the brand’s message,” Shaughnessy noted. “It keeps all the items together and is tamper evident.”
| Paperboard from M-real USA makes cartons that are bright and vibrant. |
Paperboard Foundation for Cartons
Because M-real organizes its operations into business areas, there is a separate cosmetic business group that interfaces with cosmetic, fragrance and personal care companies in order to supply products that meet the real needs of the market, according to Alexia Karpilov, sales manager, consumer packaging for M-real USA, based in Norwalk, CT.
Avanta Platina is M-real’s newest grade of paperboard for beauty business applications. “It is a much brighter, whiter and stiffer product than domestic grades, said Karpilov. “We have also increased its fade resistance so that it will not change color as it sits on a retail shelf and it has very good consistency and smoothness, so that it lays down evenly and takes any type of lamination very well.”
Carta Solida, also new, was developed for the personal care and pharmaceutical markets. “It’s ideal for blister cards with an eye-catching whiteness and brightness and it’s good for windows and for complicated conversions. It’s consistency makes it a good choice for high speed running lines and, because it has a lighter weight but the same caliper, there is a cost savings,” she added.
Holograms Add Shimmer/Shine
PROMA Technologies, based in Franklin, MA, produces HoloPRISM, a holographic paper that is used to add sparkle and shine to secondary packaging. Because the nature of a hologram causes light to be reorganized as the viewer or the hologram moves, its eye appeal is unique, according to Ruth Kemp, marketing programs coordinator.
| Elizabeth Arden’s giftsets use custom HoloPRISM patterns. |
Kemp explained that “PROMA Technologies uses a proprietary process to directly emboss the impression of a hologram onto paper, then vacuum metallizes the material to produce HoloPRISM holographic paper.”
HoloPRISM holographic paper is available in many standard patterns and PROMA Technologies offers custom imagery as well. Kemp noted that “Elizabeth Arden’s Red Door, Sunflowers and 5th Avenue Gift Sets used a custom HoloPRISM pattern, which was tinted in three colors, one for each fragrance then laminated to board. The packaging was highly reflective under store lighting. The holographic effects appeared either matte or sparkly depending on the viewing angle.”
Blister Cards and Clamshells
Even blister packaging is getting dressed up with more foil stamping and metallizing, according to CardPak’s Thomas, who explained that brand marketers such as Bonne Belle that use blister card packaging for the traditional reasons of product presentation and protection are adding special touches such as a recent rainbow foil effect added to attract attention in a crowded retail environment.
While blister packaging is common for small mass-market goods priced to a maximum of $8 to $10, CardPak’s clamshells are used for higher-priced merchandise. “Clamshells have a higher perceived value and cost about two and half times more than a blister pack,” Thomas noted. CardPak has developed a mock clamshell, a hybrid container that has the clamshell’s plastic front but not the back. The front is attached to a card, cutting the plastic used by half.
