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Personal Care Feature: Dispensers That Dazzle

Custom Designs Turn Heads

Dispensers can do more than just draw product out of a bottle. Sometimes they can be the inspiration for an entire package design.

Calvin Klein's new fragrance for young men, Crave, for instance, takes the dispenser to a new level. The package is a case with a plastic bottle suspended inside. When depressed, an elastomeric trigger causes the bottle to move up, thereby releasing the spray through a stationary valve on the package. Rexam Dispensing Systems (Thomaston, CT) supplies the custom crimpless pump, and Risdon-AMS (Watertown, CT) supplies the rest of the packaging. (For more details, see the sidebar on page 44.)

Rexam also supplies pumps for Calvin Klein's Truth for Men fragrance as well. "It's a spray-through package," says Dennis Desrochers, vice president of sales and marketing for Rexam. "You have a lever that's flush with the top surface of the cap that you depress, and the spray comes out of a slot on the front." The package uses a crimpless plastic pump with a plastic collar. Risdon-AMS supplies a spray-through cap, which is slanted to correspond with the bottle's unusual shape.

Rexam also manufactures airless pump systems, which help keep lotions and other products from deteriorating. "As product is dispensed, air has to go back in to displace the product; otherwise it would turn into a vacuum," Desrochers explains. "This technology gets beyond that [limitation], so the product will stay fresh longer." The airless technology also allows packages to be used upside down.

Han Hean (Edison, NJ) has also designed a unique package around a dispenser. The company's Frosty Perfume Pen looks and feels like a pen, but it's really a cleverly designed perfume bottle. The 4.5-ml package is made of opaque or translucent plastic, and can be hot-stamped or silk-screened. The company also offers a variety of fine-mist spray pumps, treatment pumps, and refillable purse atomizers.

Fun Is Where the Foam Is

Dispensers can also help companies find a new audience. In the case of foaming dispensers, that new audience is children. To make hand-washing fun, some firms are turning liquid soap into foam. Ever since Johnson & Johnson placed nonaerosol foamers on its line of liquid soap for kids, the trend has taken off.

The Body Care Group recently specified foaming pumps from Airspray International (Pompano Beach, FL) for its new line of children's body care products. The Butt Ugly Martians line is packaged in semitransparent bottles so consumers can see the brightly colored liquid. "When they push the dispenser and the product comes out as blue, red, or yellow foam, the dispensing technology makes that transformation happen and makes it exciting for the kids," says Debby Coles-Dobay, vice president of marketing for The Body Care Group.

Coles-Dobay says "the other advantage of this packaging, especially for the parents, is the efficiency and cleanliness of how the soap is used," she explains. "It's easy to dispense, there's not a lot of waste, and it cleans and rinses very efficiently."

Foaming soaps aren't just for kids, though. Bath & Body Works has two new lines of hand soap for both children and adults that use Airspray's Table Top and Mini Foamers. The lines include eight scents of liquid hand soap (four for adults and four for kids), and eight hand sanitizers.

"At first, many people thought [foaming technology] was a novelty or a fad," says David Stob, director of business development for Airspray. "But now that it's been out since 1996, it's become a major part of dispensing in the personal care industry."

The pumps have an air chamber with a liquid chamber running through it. When the pump is activated, both air and liquid are dispensed simultaneously to create a foam. Just about any liquid product with enough surfactant can be used with a foaming dispenser.

Since the pump's function depends on keeping water out of the air chamber, Airspray also developed a new line of water-resistant foamers. Nivea is the first company to specify these dispensers, which are being used for a foaming baby-wash product recently launched in France.

Added Features

Dispensers can also enhance a package's function. For instance, companies like Emsar, a dispenser manufacturer based in Stratford, CT, are working to make packages more portable. To do so, the firm is devising "products that are easy to lock,"says Des McEttrick, global marketing director. Emsar has developed several new products, including an uplocking fine-mist sprayer. "It looks slightly different than a standard spray pump," he explains. "It's got a wider finger pad, which is actually easier for consumers to spray. The other reason for the different aesthetic is so people know it relocks." The company is also marketing a snap-on uplocking treatment pump and an anticlog relocking pump.

Better control over product dispensing can also be achieved. Taplast s.p.a. (Doylestown, PA) has developed the Trio dial-a-dose pump dispenser that allows the consumer to dose a preselected amount of product (either 3, 5, or 7.5 cm3) by turning an external dial on the pump closure. The pump is completely recyclable and has no metal parts, which makes it well suited for use with formulations containing hydrogen peroxide or ammonia.

Laboratoires ELP specified the Trio dial-a-dose pump for its new line of shampoos for color-treated hair. Since the shampoo contains a color pigment that reacts with metal, the firm needed an all-plastic pump. Also, "they liked the dial-a-dose feature because it allows consumers to select the appropriate dose depending on whether they have short, medium, or long hair," says Deborah Bowe, sales manager for Taplast.

Satisfying the Cravings of a Technology-Obsessed Male

Obsession, Eternity, CK One, CK Be, Contradiction, Truth. These Calvin Klein fragrances target the confident, strong, sexy man. But what about the gadget-obsessed guy, aged 15–24 years, who spends more time thinking about laptop computers, cell phones, and MP3 and DVD players than he does about romantic strolls on the beach?

Calvin Klein's newest fragrance for men, Crave, targets this male, previously underserved by today's fragrance lineup. "Having the newest piece of equipment is a way for young men to demonstrate power," explains Fabien Baron of Baron & Baron, the design firm behind Crave. "So technology is the inspiration behind the bottle."

Figuratively and literally. While the bottle is fashioned to feel like a PDA or a cell phone, hallmarks of today's digital age, technology is actually what makes the bottle function like a fragrance, yet feel like a gadget.

To create the package, specific aesthetics were necessary, explains Bernard Quennessen, director of marketing and packaging resources for Unilever Cosmetics International (UCI), the distributor for Calvin Klein Cosmetics. For example, the spray orifice had to be round and the trigger had to be on the side of the package, explains Jim Bigham, manager of project engineering for Risdon-AMS (Watertown, CT), which worked closely with Baron and Quennessen. Since orifices are usually oval to accommodate moving actuators, Bigham's team was charged with designing a dispensing system that did not use a moving actuator.

Risdon-AMS's solution was to place a bottle inside a shell with a stationary actuator. A lever put in motion by a trigger on the shell's side pulls the bottle up inside the shell and forces product out of the actuator.

To make this innovative design work, internal and external components were specially designed by Ralph DeVito, product development manager for Risdon-AMS (Danbury, CT), through computer-aided design and rapid prototyping, and made of high-performance materials. The angular slotted lever attached to the bottle through lugs on the bottle's neck is made of acetal, because the material's shape memory springs the lever back to its original position. The lever moves smoothly beneath the side-walled thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) trigger, owing to acetal's flexibility and lubricity. TPE was chosen because it gave the trigger a soft-touch feel that conforms to the rounded side walls.

The pump and custom-designed actuator were provided by Rexam Dispensing Systems (Thomaston, CT), formerly part of Risdon-AMS (Watertown, CT). Dennis Desrochers, vice president of sales and marketing, says the stationary actuator is pretty unique. "I am only aware of one or two other fragrance packages that use one," he says.

Thanks to Eastman Chemical Co.'s (Kingsport, TN) Eastar copolyester, the shell was molded with complex contours and thick walls free of sinks. According to Quennessen, the copolyester was "the material most compatible with the fragrance that would achieve the transparency required for the project." Adds Baron: "The milkiness . . . is very modern."

All these design elements translate into a package that should appeal to a modern generation, says Baron. For instance, the placement of the trigger on the side of the package, rather than on the top, gives Crave a technological feel. "It reminds me of a Palm Pilot or a computer mouse," says Baron. And its durability makes it portable, like a cell phone. Says Bigham: "It can be carried in a back pocket."

Launched this fall with what industry sources call "a promotional war chest of $45 million," Crave is being marketed in a way that emphasizes technology, making it sexy. TV commercials and www.cravecalvinklein.com promote just that.

Another innovation in dispensing technology is the dual-chamber dispenser. Philadelphia-based RPC Wiko has developed a package that features two separate chambers housed within one shroud. A pushbutton dispenser draws product from both chambers and combines them at the point of dispensing. The dispenser is being used for a new self-tanning lotion, marketed under the Coppertone Endless Summer and Bain de Soleil Radiance Eternelle brands by Schering-Plough HealthCare Products. The package keeps the two ingredients from reacting with one another before application.

Mega Pumps (Eatontown, NJ) has also developed a similar device, called the codispenser, which uses the patented all-plastic Mega Pump engine to dispense two separate products side by side with a single stroke of the actuator. The products can be combined or remain separate during dispensing. According to Frank Porfido, president of Mega Pumps, the technology would work well for color cosmetics, exothermic/endothermic products that turn hot or cold when mixed, hair-color products, and oral-care products.

Mega Pumps and Rexam are also developing bag-in-a-bottle systems. If filled under vacuum, the system would provide 100%-airless protection, preventing product dryout, contamination, and oxidation. "It will offer design flexibility and an added level of barrier protection for products that have greater sensitivity to moisture or oxygen or where material compatibility is an issue," says Porfido. The bag can be made of a variety of materials, including nylon, polyethylene, nylon/polyethylene blends, or multiple layers.

Spray pumps that won't clog mark another advance in dispensing technology. One company that specializes in anticlog pumps is Packaging Concepts LLC (Boynton Beach, FL). The company is currently expanding its line of anticlog products, both with finger and aerosol pumps.

JB Williams uses the company's finger pump for its Powerhold hairspray for men. "The number one problem with hairspray aerosols is clogging," says Lou Posner, director of marketing for Packaging Concepts. And as stricter limits are placed on the amount of VOCs that can be used in aerosols, clogging problems will only get worse, Posner says. "We're offering a product that prevents clogging and will also avoid the use of the overcap. It will cost the same as or less than the current aerosol/overcap combination."

One company whose pumps and dispensers offer a unique look is Pfeiffer GmbH (Radolfzell, Germany). The company manufactures spray pumps for fragrances and body mists, gel pumps for skin treatments and foundations, and lotion pumps for higher-viscosity products. The company also custom designs pumps.

For instance, Pfeiffer provides custom pumps for the new Diesel Green fragrance. And Dunhill uses one of the company's low-profile spray pumps coupled with a custom actuator.

Bath and Body Works uses Pfeiffer lotion pumps on its Purely Silk body lotion product. "The look of a pump or dispenser is as critical as its performance," says Rich LaPosta, senior director of packaging development for Bath & Body Works. "We were looking for something that wasn't the conventional saddle pump. The pump we chose has a more elegant look to it, and the actuator is very sleek."

He also says that because the Purely Silk lotion is a very viscous product, he had to be certain that the specified pump could handle the job.

"Our forté is low dosages, exacting spray patterns, and fine mists," says Cindy D'Antonio, vice president of cosmetics and fragrance sales for Pfeiffer. "We've been able to carry many of our pharmaceutical industry developments over into our cosmetic line." *

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