Retail Report: Coordinating for Cacharel
How Raison Pure helped coordinate the packaging and retail store displays for Promesse by Cacharel.
by Marie Redding, Senior EditorWhen the new fragrance Promesse by Cacharel was launched, design agency Raison Pure was called upon to coordinate its primary packaging with its retail store displays. Raison Pure’s creative team used each merchandising element to tell a different part of the brand’s story. “Marketing teams often write the ‘story’ behind a brand, and a designer’s role is to visually convey this story,” says Frederic Jentgen, partner and general manager, Raison Pure Paris.
The fragrance’s folding carton was used as a visual point of focus for the consumer. Instead of a classic rose, a tulip was chosen as inspiration for the design because it is “a modern representation of the promise of love,” according to Jentgen. The simplicity of the tulip graphic on the carton conveyed modernity and pureness. “It is less of a direct representation and more of an artistic interpretation of the flower. It’s a lighthearted, less-conventional approach to the idea of love, commitment, and the promise of engagement,” Jentgen says. Only two colors were used, rose and white, to project a clean, simple image. “In a crowded department store environment, the eye gets confused when too many colors are used,” Jentgen advises.
The retail store display is designed to represent “a forest of flowers, representing innocence and fidelity,” says Jentgen. “A dream world is opened up as the consumer is drawn in and discovers the universe of the merchandising materials. The consumer must be allowed to dream a little bit to experience the story behind the brand.”
A Plexiglas sheet, decorated with a pattern of tulips, was coiled around the Cacharel Promesse point-of-purchase display.
In order to make sure the point-of-sale display is noticed by department store customers within a few seconds, Raison Pure used specific design techniques. “We think of the display as a theatrical backdrop, and the flacon is the main actor,” Jentgen explains. “The consumer is naturally attracted by color and light, which are used in ways to guide the consumer toward the product. A well-designed display easily draws the eye to the space where information juxtaposes.”
A garland of flowers on the display wraps around the shelf containing the flacon. In order to make the garland, a tulip design was printed on a double-sided adhesive sheet. This adhesive sheet was then glued onto a piece of Plexiglas. Next, the Plexiglas was custom cut with a tulip pattern on each end and then wrapped in a soft coil shape. The display’s glorifier and shelf display were manufactured by Media 6 (Saint Denis, France).
Coordinating all marketing elements of a launch, including retail displays and packaging, helps reinforce a brand’s marketing campaign to consumers. “You must always present a unified image, throughout every merchandising element,” says Jentgen.