“There are numerous personal care products available in the market and thus the key differentiator is in its package. The shape, size, color, and the total look of the (package) has become the selling point of personal care products,” says Anupama Ramaswamy, research analyst at Frost & Sullivan (www.frost.com), a global growth consulting company.
A new report from Frost & Sullivan forecasts that personal care products in the United States will grow from revenues of $3.04 billion in 2005 to $3.97 billion in 2012. Although plastic containers dominate personal care packaging, tubes are gaining in the market, which also features glass and metal packaging.
Sales growth will come to personal-care brands that not only offer a quality product but innovate through package design, the report says. Dial Corp., Scottsdale, AZ, offers a recent example of a marketer doing just that by marketing body wash in gender-specific packaging.
Dial markets Antibacterial Body Wash to women in clear PET bottles exhibiting feminine cues, such as a curved neck and soft hues in which the translucent cap’s color matches the product color. The clear bottle and clear pressure-sensitive label on the front panel make the inside panel of the reverse-printed, pressure-sensitive back label visible through the bottle. Graphics on the reverse-printed label, such as a gently flowing stream on the Spring Water variety of body wash, take on a 2-D effect when exposed to light, and they play to the tranquil emotions women feel when applying the body wash.
In contrast, Dial is rolling out Dial for Men Hydrating Body Wash with the goal of gaining a foothold in the fast-emerging subcategory of men’s grooming products. The Dial for Men package is “masculine,” with darker, opaque colors and a ribbed grip in the waist of the matte-finish bottle. The bottle’s shape and contour appear to draw inspiration from plastic motor oil bottles.
Dial for Men’s utilitarian product-benefit message—”The Ultimate Clean”—appears first in the communications hierarchy inside a silver metallic oval on the front label. The word “Recharge” occupies a secondary position, in smaller-sized text, at the bottom of the front label, reverse-printed in white on a red banner.
