Perspectives: George Kress, The Estée Lauder Companies
As vice president of corporate packaging innovations for The Estée Lauder Companies, George Kress’ responsibility is to keep informed of trends happening in every industry—in and outside of beauty. His ability to think creatively, as an inventor would, is what allows him to envision new concepts such as a vibrating mascara wand. He has had prior experience in product development in toys and consumer electronics—experience that is proving extremely useful for designing cosmetic packaging.
Click here to read a profile on George Kress.
Estée Lauder’s vice president of corporate packaging innovations discusses a new breakthrough technology in mascara.
by Marie Redding, Senior EditorEstée Lauder’s TurboLash All-Effects Motion Mascara brings an industry first—a vibrating mascara wand. The subtle movements of the brush allow the user to perfectly apply mascara to every lash, with an extreme amount of separation and without causing clumping. George Kress, vice president of corporate packaging innovations for The Estée Lauder Companies, worked on developing this concept for the past four years.
How did the idea for the vibrating wand first come about?
I was at home painting my daughter’s room, and I was cutting a line between the wall and the ceiling using a paintbrush and subtle pumping movements. My wife had also asked me to go with her to our local “big box” store, where I noticed new vibrating razors and toothbrushes on display. The idea just came to me. I wondered if vibration technology could be used in conjunction with applying mascara. I wondered if the vibration could simulate what I was doing with the paintbrush.
What did you do next?
I bought the vibrating razors and toothbrushes and took them apart. Using some mascara I had at home, I used the motors and batteries from the toothbrushes and razors to make my first prototype. My wife and daughter were the first to test it. They said they weren’t sure what it was doing, but felt that it was doing something—and they liked the effect.
The following Monday, I showed the idea to Richard Byrd, Estée Lauder’s executive director of package engineering, and Ken Boeckle, our director of industrial design. I asked them to help me make a more refined prototype. Together, we redesigned the cap assembly to hold the electronic components so that it more closely resembled a typical mascara package. Then I contacted Estée Lauder’s patent attorneys to ask them to do a patent search on this technology, which came back as an open field.
How did you get everyone at Estée Lauder on board with the idea?
Being in charge of the packaging innovations group gives me access to everyone at Estée Lauder who can help move projects forward. I knew that R&D had to be involved early on, because how well a mascara applicator works is dependent on the mascara formula.
I reached out to Isaac Cohen, who is staff vice president for our sun and color cosmetics division. He put me in contact with Paul Marotta. Paul is group leader for makeup, research, and development for Estée Lauder. Coincidentally, Paul had also been thinking about vibration and mascara. We worked very closely together to develop more prototypes while testing different types of brushes.
Next, I brought the concept to our product development team. Ann Carullo, who is Estée Lauder’s senior vice president of product innovation, gave me immediate feedback that the idea was interesting and encouraged me to continue.
How does the package work?
Estée Lauder’s TurboLash All-Effects Motion Mascara package. The NyPro Company (Clinton, MA) handled engineering, design, and production of the motor inside the cap. An Energizer battery powers the motor, causing the wand to vibrate. Alcan Packaging Beauty (New York City) produced the bottle and the twisted-wire brush, which contains a mixture of fibers designed to work with vibration technology. Radius Product Development (Clinton, MA) consulted on the engineering and design work.
When you start to unscrew the cap, the first eighth of the turn starts the motor, and the wand vibrates. The technology utilizes a conventional twisted-wire brush; however, there are some unique aspects to the fiber, which was developed by Alcan Packaging. When you return the brush and rod to the vial and screw it closed, the last eighth of the turn shuts the motor off. The cap clicks when the package is closed completely.
How did you go about developing the package’s motor?
We spent a lot of time looking at different rpm motors and configurations to decide the right rpm and counterweight. We also had to achieve a balance between the speed we felt we needed to provide the right effect, and a speed that would feel comfortable when the user is holding the wand and applying the product to the eye area.
During testing, we used a slow-motion camera to study the frequency and rpm range as it relates to movement. We qualified our motor at about 125 pulses per second.
Was it difficult to engineer an electronic package?
Yes, this was all new to us. My background in toys and electronics helped, but we needed to enlist the help of an engineering design firm.
What were some other design concerns?
During the final stages of development, we spent a lot of time working on the design of the package, in partnership with Radius Product Development. We wanted to make sure that it was an intuitive design so that the package could be used in one fluid movement without requiring the customer to push any buttons to activate vibration.
Additionally, we wanted to make sure that the package had a look that was familiar to customers to ensure that the user experienced a seamless transition when switching from regular mascara to this one. I believe that this design and the way that the vibration automatically starts with the turn of the cap is a design-engineering element that makes our vibrating mascara stand out as a luxury cosmetic product. It stays true to our belief that a package’s role is to enhance the consumer’s experience of using a product.
We have seen several other motorized mascaras on the market, with even more launching shortly. How do you feel Estée Lauder’s compares?
Our vibrating technology delivers an end benefit that a rotating device [on some other motorized mascara packages] cannot. Additionally, the design of our system is much more familiar to the customer and provides great performance, intuitive function, and a luxury experience.
Did you face any challenges with getting the product to market?
A huge challenge faced in any company is making sure that an innovation moves through the proper channels in a timely manner. Roger Caracappa, executive vice president of global packaging, quality assurance, store development, and design merchandising, supported the idea from the very beginning. [Caracappa passed away this past July.]
When we presented the concept to Dan Brestle, vice chairman and president of Estée Lauder North America, he recognized the opportunity and trusted in our team. He provided us with the funds and support we needed all the way through, so that we could bring this breakthrough technology to the marketplace as quickly as possible.
Is it exciting for you to see this project go from an idea you had at home to a product being sold globally?
Yes, it is definitely a career high, but I can’t emphasize enough the fact that this was truly a team effort. There are a lot of talented people at Estée Lauder who were instrumental in turning it into the product it is today. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time, because I believe part of innovation is luck. I was fortunate enough to have mascara and that motion I was creating with the paintbrush on my mind at the same time. My “aha” moment was when those two thoughts just happened to cross paths.
TurboLash All-Effects Motion Mascara launched at select retailers in July and is rolling out to all of Estée Lauder’s department store counters in the United States in December.