Applications: The Look of Retail
The Pureness sample packages, including an award-winning triple-blister design, provide instant brand recognition for the retail line.Blister-style samples simulate the retail packages for Shiseido Pureness.
By Jennifer Kwok, Associate EditorBefore launching its Pureness line in September, Shiseido wanted to distribute samples in packages that would give customers a hint of what the retail products would look like. To this end, Klocke of America (Fort Myers, FL), a form-fill-seal company, developed blister-style samples that look like miniature versions of Pureness's retail packages. In addition to evoking instant brand recognition, the blister-style packages provide Shiseido with several other marketing benefits.
"A sample package that is a replica of the retail package reinforces a brand's identity and increases prod-uct recognition," says Timothie Kanagawa, strategic purchasing manager for Shiseido America Inc. (East Windsor, NJ). Blisters with foil backings were created to emulate the Pureness packages for the Foam-ing Cleansing Fluid, the Balancing Softener, the Matifying Moisturizer, and the Moisturizing Gel-Cream.
In addition, a triple-blister package was fashioned to house the cleansing fluid, the softener, and the moisturizer. The package received the gold award for promotional packaging in the New Jersey Packaging Executives Club's 2002 Awards. Klocke's German division molded the thermoformed blisters using the products' retail packages as well as technical drawings provided by Shiseido. "The retail bottles' 3-D contours are difficult to imitate, but Klocke was able to duplicate the look and impression of the packages," says Kanagawa.
The line's soft-blue pearlescent colors were reproduced on the blisters us-ing Klocke's proprietary printing-distortion technology. "Klocke also needed to duplicate in miniature the retail bottles' graphics," says Donald W. Hopta, vice president, sales and marketing, for Klocke of America.
The blister-style samples fulfilled Shiseido's budgetary and marketing requirements. "The advantage to using a blister is that the retail packages' images could be [copied] at a much lower cost than [they could on] conventional custom injection-molded or blow-molded packages," says Kanagawa. In addition, the triple-blister package allowed Shiseido to simultaneously promote the cleans-er, the softener, and the moisturizer as a beauty regimen in one package. "We wanted to reinforce that using the three products together gives the consumer the full benefits of the products," says Kanagawa.
From its range of materials, Klocke was able to provide blister and foil substrates that were compatible with all three products and that prevented the products from evaporating or becoming less fragrant during their two-year shelf life.
Klocke designed a paper card to house the blisters with enough space to print a description of the products and their ingredients in six languages. The cards' front and back were UV offset-printed and finished with a glossy UV coating by Arko Paper Products (Piscataway, NJ).
The sample packages were formed, filled, and sealed at Klocke's U.S. facility. As part of its contract packaging services, Klocke sourced the blister's raw materials from V.A.W. (Mount Arlington, NJ), labels from Im-Press Labels (Philadelphia), and labeling services from Pro-Motions (Hammonton, NJ). "Having Klocke [oversee] the entire package saved Shiseido time and manpower," says Kanagawa.
The packages are designed to give customers a sample of Pureness. "The customer can truly test the products before committing to buy," says Hopta. With Klocke's sample blisters, customers can get a feel for Pureness's packaging as well.