Stock Packaging: Blending In
The stock packages in Tony & Tina's new skin-care line look great standing alone ( left), or in a line (above). How mixing and matching stock components can yield a unified product line.
By Jennifer Kwok, Managing Editor For many beauty brands, stock packages are great alternatives to custom molds. Thanks to design-savvy suppliers, today's stock components are more stylish than ever. Often, the challenge is in pairing stock components for a consistent-looking line. Sourcing components from a single supplier is one solution. When using packaging from several different suppliers, sticking with streamlined shapes and colors can also help. Using decoration to tie packages together is another tactic. The following companies discuss how they have worked with stock packages to create their lines' own distinct look. 
A Feel-Good Mix
To celebrate the new year, beauty brand Tony & Tina (New York City) launched its first complete skin-care line. The brand's founders, Anthony Gill and Cristina Bornstein, relied on a strong graphic design to unite the line's stock packages, which were selected from several different suppliers.
"We always like to use stock packaging, partly because we like mixing and matching components," says Gill. "I like the idea of working with what's out there. It's not always as easy as it seems, because there aren't always nice styles in the stock market. But I feel that working within these limitations forces us to be more creative."
Developing the 15-SKU line and finding the right packages took six years, according to Gill. "We went to packaging trade shows, did research on supplier Web sites, and called supplier representatives in to show us their lines," he says.
Among the suppliers that Gill and Bornstein chose was Cosmetica, which provided the Herbal Skin Refiners' silver bottles, white pumps, and clear overcaps. The white Herbal Toner bottle and silver cap were provided by 3C Inc. (Hawthorne, NJ). Airspray International Inc. (Pompano Beach, FL) supplied the Herbal Foaming Cleanser dispenser. Korean supplier Joycos provided the silver Herbal Eye and Skin Serum bottles, while Yon Woo, also in Korea, supplied the Herbal Cream Cleanser and Makeup Remover bottles. The Herbal Face Mist dispenser is from World Wide Packaging Inc. (Florham Park, NJ), while the plastic-encased silver jars for the Herbal Face Cream, Moisturizing Mask, Daily Face Scrub, and Purifying Mask are from Cospack America Corp. (Edison, NJ). A similar jar in a larger size from Bottlemate (Commerce, CA) was used for the AHA/BHA Fruit and Nut Acid Peel pads.
One way that Gill says he and Bornstein were able to make the different suppliers' packages match was to stick with basic colors of white, clear, and silver. The neutral colors also served as a background for the colorful graphics. The graphics include a color bar that indicates each product's star herb.
"Unique packaging has a lot to do with the images and the logos that you print on the containers," says Gill. "Customers often look first at the logos and colors before they look at a container's shape."
Tween Temptation
Sephora stores host a sea of brand names. Among them is Sephora's own collection of beauty products. One of the brand's recent hits was Sephora Girls, a line of bath and body products for tweens. It was launched in spring 2003 in stock packages that stand out with cute graphics and colors..
Colorful labels make Sephora Girls' packaging anything but standard. For the line's scented bubble bath, lotion, and bath beads, Sephora selected a single, unnamed supplier to provide the tall 5.07- and squat 1.41-oz stock plastic bottles and silver caps. The clear plastic shows off the products' most noticeable feature—their bright colors.
"It's very straightforward, simple packaging," says Rod McFadden, vice president, divisional merchandise manager for Sephora USA LLC (San Francisco). "This is a case where decoration on the packaging is critical to making it special."
The labels on the bottles are, in particular, what make this line stand out. A cartoon Sephora Girl character, specific to each of the four scents, takes center stage on each label. "The Sephora team in France specially commissioned a designer to create the four girls," says McFadden. "At first, we [the U.S. Sephora division] were a little skeptical that marketing to tweens was the right way to go. But the Europe-an Sephora branch has had success with its young client base for some time. They felt these girls conveyed personalities that teens could relate to. It's turned out to be very successful in the U.S. market as well."
The Sephora Girls labels are featured on the line's other packages, for products including a fragrance, nail polish, roll-on glitter, and lip gloss. The packages are also standard and clear with silver components, making them easy to mix and match with the personal care containers for gift sets.
Pure Style
When Berlin Cosmetics launched its line in July 2003, it wanted its stock packages, all sourced from stock, to convey professionalism.
Among the line's components are black compacts, pots, and lipstick containers from Techpack (New York City). Clear container lids emphasize the products' colors. "They wanted a pure design," says Ludovic Anceau, vice president of marketing for Techpack. "The package had to embody the aspect of a makeup artist's line—pure, clear, professional. The transparency of the packaging allows the customer to see the highly creative color formulations."
One of the biggest challenges that Berlin Cosmetics had mixing Techpack's components with those from other suppliers was finding a nail polish container that matched the lipstick container from Techpack that Berlin Cosmetics wanted to use. "Many suppliers offer lipstick and mascara units in stock lines, but we found few lines [that included a nail polish component]," Katrin Kiessling, product manager for Berlin Cosmetics GmbH & Co. KG.
Anceau says that Techpack purposely tries to create packaging that is easy to match. "Designers create our standard lines," he says. "Their target is to provide original, unique designs that are discreet [enough to match other types of components] and that are still outstanding enough to differentiate a brand."
Other suppliers, like Inoac Packaging Group (Bardstown, KY), try to design stock components with standard looks that are easy to coordinate with other packaging. "We have established a streamlined system for accommodating custom-ers that want to use stock bottles or jars for their product lines," says Paul Horgan, Inoac's corporate vice president.
Inoac offers in stock heavy-wall PETE bottles, including rounds, Boston rounds, ovals, and jars. "A variety of sizes are offered in each package category, but the design remains consistent," says Horgan.
An Eye for Extensions
Choosing simple stock styles helps to ensure that a brand will have an easier time creating line extensions. "Berlin Cosmetics' style of packaging is unique, yet simple, so that in the future, product additions can be easily integrated," says Kiessling.
DieterBakicEnterprises (Munich) is one supplier that designs its stock packages with manufacturers' line extensions in mind. In fact, DieterBakic creates entire stock packaging lines, each with a distinct style, making it easier than ever for manufacturers to package entire product lines using just DieterBakic's components.
"Brand owners are compelled to define and differentiate their market position," says Dieter Bakic, founder of DieterBakicEnterprises. "So there is pressure to create new product launches, which in turn means putting new products with shorter product life cycles on the market. This entails a demand for timely and cost-effective production of packaging, and raises the need to streamline the entire value chain from concept creation and design to production and supply-chain organization."
Bakic designs his stock lines with components that are interchangeable, making it easy for suppliers to create many different packages that look cohesive. "I believe that customers are looking for complete and consistent solutions, rather than picking packaging items from different suppliers and dealing with a fragmented, cost- and time-consuming supply chain," he says.
More brands are catching on to the benefits of using stock lines like DieterBakic's. One such company is Roger & Gallet, a brand owned by YSL Beauté. For its September 2003-launched aromatherapy products, the brand chose packages from DieterBakic's Laurie stock line. The packages include a 200-ml, transparent, soft-touch polypropylene bottle for the shower and bath products, and a 200-ml white polypropylene jar for the body moisturizer.
For a supplier, creating an entire stock line can be much more complicated than simply creating one or two new components. "Stock lines must be designed to coincide with many brands' personalities," says Bakic. "This is a challenging process that requires a very consistent and long-term approach to design, product development, and marketing."
Custom-Designed Stock
Working with a single stock packaging supplier can be beneficial in many ways for manufacturers. Suppliers with a long relationship with a brand are often able to go the extra mile for them. Sometimes, suppliers even let a brand help design its stock packages. And, of course, the manufacturer that inspired the custom-designed stock component often gets to be the first to use it.
When Too Faced (Irvine, CA) introduced its Sexy Calling Card compact in 2002, the lip gloss compact, designed with wells that spell the word sexy, was a huge hit. Too Faced's supplier-partner for the project was HCT Packaging Inc. (Bridgewater, NJ). Together with HCT Packaging, Too Faced's owners developed the concept of the letter-shaped wells. Now, compacts with letter-shaped wells are popular for HCT Packaging, and other brands have launched products in them. But no one will forget that it was Too Faced that first introduced the compact to the market.
Cosmetic brand BeautiControl also knows the benefits of working with a single supplier. For more than six years, the brand has worked with Rexam Beauty & Closures (Purchase, NY).
In 1997, it was Rexam that developed BeautiControl's compact line. "When we spoke with BeautiControl back in 1997 about developing a new compact line, they were displeased with their existing design, which was 'pillowy' with rounded corners," says Christopher Wandsnider, Rexam's Sussex division account representative for BeautiControl. "They were interested in developing a new sleek design with a push button."
Though BeautiControl liked the new custom compact that Rexam designed, the brand did not want to pay for a custom mold. So instead, Rexam made the design into a stock item. "Actually, we developed the compact with their suggestions in mind," says Wandsnider. "The reason the compact became stock was because BeautiControl did not want to buy tooling. Therefore, we implemented the design to fit BeautiControl's liking and built the tooling to be an addition to Rexam's stock compact catalog."
Four years after Rexam designed the stock compact for BeautiControl, the brand decided to add another, smaller, compact to its line and once again turned to Rexam. Since the companies had worked together before, creating a new
compact was simpler. "This time, they were looking for a smaller compact with similar styling," says Wandsnider. "We were able to use our experience to make this new, smaller compact fit right in with the rest of the line. Working with BeautiControl over the last six years has helped us to understand exactly what it likes and dislikes."
Wandsnider also believes that other brands and suppliers can benefit from creative collaboration. "The customer can take advantage of a lower budget by not having to invest in tooling. The supplier can optimize its production capacity by selling these items to multiple customers. It's a win-win situation."