Developing Packages with Punch
The Rumble Boys hairspray and pomade—recent additions to the men's line—promote an industrial-like appeal.Rumble Boys products feature knockout packaging for male consumers in their teens to early thirties.
Sexy Hair Concepts (Chatsworth, CA) is anything but shy. With product names like Shark Attack Pomade Schtick and Knockout Stimulating Shampoo, the hair care and beauty company projects a provocative image. When the firm added two new products—Bullet Proof Hard Hold Hairspray and Axel Grease Hold and Shine Pomade—to its Rumble Boys men's line in January 2001, it sought packaging with a rugged, industrial-like appeal.
"Our goal is to create packaging that is different from some of the more conservative men's lines," says Cyndi Dart, marketing manager for Sexy Hair Concepts. "We want to get an emotional response out of customers that will translate into sales.
For example, the [label] color we chose for the Rumble Boys line was industrial safety orange, the color used on construction worker signs. Orange says 'caution' or 'danger,' and we think that it will attract men's attention." The company chose the color using the Pantone color-matching system.
To promote an industrial image for its Bullet Proof Hard Hold Hairspray, Sexy Hair Concepts chose a tin-plated, steel aerosol can. The can, supplied by the United States Can Co. (Lombard, IL), is a 2 2/16 x 4 6/16-in. necked-in model, thus the top and the bottom of the can are narrower than the body.
The hair spray label was applied directly onto the can using lithographic printing. "Normally, labels are joined to an aerosol can with a white coat underneath," says Steve Sanchez, account sales manager for the United States Can Co., which also printed the labels on the can. "But in this case, the ink was printed directly onto the can, allowing the metal to show through the design. This gave the label a nice brassy look."
United States Can printed the cans flat. Then the cans were rounded into cylinders with their ends welded together. Both the dome and the bottom were crimped onto the bodies of the cans. Sexy Hair Concept's art department created the label templates with a military-like font, a depiction of the American flag, and the company's logo in a stenciled font.
The dispenser for the hair spray also enhances the product's industrial-like appearance. Seaquist Perfect Dispensing (Cary, IL) supplied the Sirena actuator, which features a decorative siren on the outside. The see-through overcap, constructed of translucent, orange-colored polypropylene, is pressed onto the can. The mechanical break-up insert that controls the spray pattern is located within the siren. Sexy Hair Concepts chose a fine-mist spray pattern with wide coverage
"The siren gives the sound of the spray a lower pitch. The indentation on the back of the pump clearly shows where to put your finger so you know exactly in which direction the spray will be distributed," says Carleen Kreider, vice president of innovations at SeaquistPerfect.
Adds Mike Thaete, sales representative for SeaquistPerfect, "[Sexy Hair Concepts] wanted a very industrial look that's different from what's on the market today. Michael O'Rourke [founder of the company] wanted to see everything Seaquist had, including the components not usually used for personal care packaging, so as not to stifle his firm's creativity." Until its use in the Rumble Boys line, Thaete says, the Sirena actuator had only been used for industrial products, such as household cleaners and insecticides.
The Rumble Boys line is marketed to men in their teens to early thirtiesSexy Hair Concepts used the Sirena actuator for its Rumble Boys High Voltage Think Big Foam. The product was first launched with a clear cap. Sexy Hair Concepts is in the process of switching the foam's cap to the same orange color as the hair spray. The 53 x 125-ml aluminum can for the foam was supplied by CCL Container, Aerosol Div. (Penetang, ON, Canada). The aerosol can is pressurized from the bottom; a plastic piston separates the product from the propellant.
According to Sam Tameny, West Coast regional sales manager for CCL Container, "If the propellant was mixed with the product, the product would foam immediately once dispensed. This way, the product dispenses in a gel first, and then turns into foam."
Roberts Container Corp. (Chatsworth, CA) supplied a 30-g SAN jar with a twist-off cover for the Axel Grease Hold and Shine Pomade. "Because the brownish-green color of the product is so unique, the packaging was designed to show off the color," says Dart.
I. L. Walker (Los Angeles) provided a promotional folding carton for the launch of the Bullet Proof Hard Hold Hairspray and the Axel Grease Hold and Shine Pomade. The duo-pack carton contains inner dividers to hold the can and the jar. "When dealing with flat products, it's hard to figure out how to show them off [in a secondary package]. The pomade had to lie flat so that the product wouldn't melt and become distorted," says Dart. The solution was a package that houses the can on the bottom and the jar on the top. A window on the side of the carton allows customers to view the can's labels; a window at the top provides visibility of the jar's label.
Other products in the Rumble Boys line launched in August 2000. These items include the High Voltage Think Big Foam, Heavy Weight Hold Glow Gel, Shark Attack Pomade Schtick, Knockout Stimulating Shampoo, and War Paint.
The shampoo bottle's shape was chosen to promote a masculine image. Arroyo Packaging (Anaheim, CA) distributed the 8-oz, clear PVC bottle, which was molded into a squat, oblong shape. "We've noticed that men tend to like bottles with a strong shoulder, instead of a round shape," says Dan Fugate, outside sales representative for Arroyo. The closure for the shampoo was supplied by Drug Plastics and Glass Company, Inc. (Boyertown, PA).
Arroyo Packaging also provided the dispensing cap for the Heavy Weight Hold Glow Gel. The standard push-pull closure was supplied in opaque polypropylene. "Sexy Hair Concepts wanted more of a hard-edged look to attract men. The cap provides more of an industrial, water-bottle look. The cap has also been used on liquid soap and dishwashing detergent bottles," says Fugate. The closure's wide orifice is well suited for dispensing thick gel, he adds.
Label Express (Midvale, UT) supplied pressure-sensitive, self-adhesive labels for many of the line's bottles using the template provided by Sexy Hair Concepts. Once the design was approved by Sexy Hair Concepts, Label Express used the Pantone system to match the colors exactly.
TricorBraun (St. Louis) provided packaging for the Shark Attack Pomade Schtick.
The packaging for War Paint, a collection of decorative paints for the hair and body, was supplied by I. L. Walker. The company created a fold-over card for War Paint because it was inexpensive to produce and suitable for holding the pots of paint. The card, made from 100% recyclable white-clay-coated newsback, achieved the rugged look Sexy Hair Concepts wanted. Instructions for use and ingredient information are printed on the back of the card.
I. L. Walker printed designs for the front and the back of the card on one side of the substrate, then folded the card over and glued it together. Printing on one side of the paper meant that the card had to go through only one pass, which saved time and money and eliminated the risks of ruining in a second pass what had already been printed.
The biggest design challenge in producing the card was finding a hole size that would be tight enough to hold the pots, according to Ted Schramm, national accounts manager for I. L. Walker's parent company, Impaxx Inc. (Schaumburg, IL). The pots were placed in individual holes with their bottoms extending through the back of the card. The card's holes had to be small enough to hold the pots snugly. To achieve this, I. L. Walker used a trial-and-error process until an appropriate hole size was found.
Rumble Boys is marketed to men in their teens to early thirties. The line has captured approximately 15% of Sexy Hair Concept's salon products' market share. With its bold ideas and progressive packaging, the Rumble Boys line is a force to reckon with.