The packaging industry is constantly evolving and changing as millennial consumers crave authenticity, so brands are adhering to these requests. Through customization and personalization, and to give the consumer a “say so” in what their product looks and feels like, brands are stepping it up.
Nearly 52% of U.S. food shoppers report being drawn to eye catching designs on packaging, and 44% of Chinese consumers are interested in personalized packaging for carbonated soft drinks, according to a Mintel report. Mintel’s Global Packaging Trends Report 2017, noted how in Belgium, Coca-Cola introduced a label that allowed the consumer to create a bow. The interaction was said to reinforce the brand value. ProfilePro LLC, a pioneer of customized and personalized hair care has officially launched Cloud 10 Hair Care to cater to the millennial market.
The concept of personalized and customized haircare products was inspired by Jodi Dery, owner of Cloud 10 salons in Boca Raton, FL. Dery observed that her stylists were mixing shampoo and conditioner formulas to satisfy the haircare needs of individual clients.
“That was the eureka moment when she [Dery] realized this would be a wonderful opportunity to make customized shampoos and conditioners available to everyone,” says Ellen Langas, Co-CEO of ProfilePro LLC.
Cloud 10 Hair Care conducted a survey of 1,000 women ages 18 to 35, and 77% of respondents indicated they’d prefer to purchase shampoos and conditioners customized to their haircare goals. Nearly 10% weren’t aware that customization and personalization was even an option.
How it works
“The website offers a simple series of questions that we prompt the user to answer that are based on their unique haircare needs and goals, plus scent and lather preferences. We assign a proper formula that would be best suited to help them achieve those goals,” says Chuck Pulcini, chief operating officer, ProfilePro.
Advertisement
Once that is completed, the consumer has four label options to choose from, and they’re able to enter a name or nickname, which personalizes it even more.
“Our packaging aligns with the brand goals of being unique and different. Not only are your haircare goals and wishes unique to you, but the packaging you receive your product in is unique as well,” Pulcini adds.
Finding the formula for the haircare brand wasn’t a huge task, but it took a lot of research.
“How we went about finding the formulator was inviting 20 top formulators from around the world to submit their best shampoo and conditioner formulas to us at the Cloud 10 Salons,” Langas comments. “We selected Originitalia, located near Venice, Italy, and challenged them to develop their best shampoo and conditioner formulas that would address the haircare goals that are most frequently requested by women, such as volumizing, frizz taming, strengthening, thickening, etc.”
The formulas were further refined by being previewed with 3,000 licensed stylists throughout Pennsylvania.
Pulcini adds: “We think we are well positioned to tap into the multibillion-dollar haircare industry, because we’re meeting a need for women’s haircare and how they shop for it in a way that hasn’t been done previously.”
Advertisement
Getting the word out
To engage on an even more personal level with millennials, the brand is developing a video series.
“The video series is both inspirational and lighthearted,” says Langas. “The inspirational ones are built around our overarching philosophy that every woman is unique. She has unique goals, and we hope to support and inspire her to pursue them. That mirrors our approach to haircare. Everyone has unique hair, and your shampoo and conditioner should be unique, too,” says Langas.
A brand ambassador will be spotlighted each month, as well. The first ambassador is a 24-year-old entrepreneur who will share her dreams and visions with the community of women Cloud 10 Hair Care is building.
The brand also has a salon stylist board and the board will offer tips and tricks and ideas for hair care, for example, how to fight frizz, or how to do your hair on vacation.
Other personalization
There are many other brands on the market making headway with millennials. For example, the Scratchpad 2014 Central Coast Sauvignon Blanc has a blank label and includes a pencil so that the consumer can write on the label. It also comes with social media logos printed on the label, so the consumer can share their personalized bottle on Facebook or Twitter. Another personalized and customizable packaging is the Graze box. Graze allows its consumer to pick four snacks to fill four sections of the pack.
Each personalized package tends to catch the millennial eye.
Advertisement
“With millennials, everything is about individuality, about being unique and separating themselves from the crowd,” Pulcini concludes.
