Avlon Industries, Melrose Park, IL, a manufacturer of salon and consumer hair products for the ethnic market, is leveraging structural design to assure that hair stylists use its Affirm Cream Relaxer hair salon products correctly. The new package structure also reduces costs.

How can packaging raise the bar for exclusive salon products? By positioning them as "lifestyle brands" to drive the overall marketing strategy, both in salons and in homes. Mario Tricoci Hair Salons & Day Spas offers an engaging example of how to do it in exclusive, personal-care products.

Salon Selectives is returning to store shelves after a four-year hiatus with new products and updated formulas among its 18-product line of shampoos, conditioners, and styling and treatment products. Packaging also updates the brand.

When LypSyl, a 100-year-old Swedish lip-balm brand, debuted in the U.S., Lornamead Inc. tweaked product formulations and rolled out enticing and functional packaging.

When suppliers talk proactively with the right people, the result often is packaging that stands out in a crowd—with money-saving efficiencies along the way.

It's all about stewardship, life, and energy, and it's playing out in the beauty and health and wellness categories.

For Teen Everyday Skincare System skincare products, packaging is the messenger for inspirational messages and a bit of attitude.

"The products are for teens and pre-teens, and we wanted to have packaging that was both attractive and inspirational for these girls," says Susan Shand, CEO and Co-Founder of TESS, Santa Barbara, CA.

Messages printed onto various packaging components include phrases such as "dare to dream," "speak your mind," and never settle."

TESS is using 2-oz and 4-oz clear and white PET Boston Round bottles, from The Cosmetic Packaging Group, O.Berk Co., with white disc dispensing caps or fine-mist spray tops. The range of packaging also includes 4-oz clear PET wide-mouth jars with white caps. Color hues on containers and caps match brand formulations and colors.

Can a package in the self-grooming aisles really influence which product a guy buys?

For Teen Everyday Skincare System skincare products, packaging is the messenger for inspirational messages and a bit of attitude.

Can a package in the self-grooming aisles really influence which product a guy buys?

Mintel spots two products that make geographic considerations the focal point of product and packaging development.

When Wall Street is pressuring you to quickly revive a recently purchased slumping brand, the tendency often is to default to tactics such as “me-too” packaging. That was anything but the case at Procter & Gamble.

Suave’s redesign shows that cost savings don’t have to compromise consumer wants.

Anyone who creates packaging should take note of two significant trends occurring in the battleground that is the store shelf. First, the steady growth of retailer-brand products in food and beverage has begun to create a “ halo ” effect over non-grocery categories. Second, mega- retailers and specialty chains are stealing market share from traditional supermarkets, strengthened with shelves displaying an abundance of brands exclusive to their stores.

From fabric and skin care to energy drinks, new packages communicate what the product does

Mintel’s Global New Products Database cites several products that have recently come on the market. Each product’s packaging spotlights the product benefits.

Package Design magazine seeks branding and design professionals to vote online to select its annual Makeover Challenge winner. Five teams have re-created new packages and a new brand identity for four SKUs of the Fresh Body Market brand of vegan-certified soap and lotion products.

Launches of new products have been particularly active over the last year in the facial-care aisle. The category is enjoying growth on two fronts: products formulated and packaged for men, as well as in-the-home, salon-style treatment kits.

Procter & Gamble Prestige Products is extending the Hugo Boss brand into men’s skin care at Bloomingdale’s stores with Boss Skin, a subbrand of eight products in what Boss Skin Global Marketing Director Marco Parsiegla describes as a “hero pack.”

If you believe in the adage “innovate or die,” you may want to look at personal care products for survival ideas. This “lifestyle” category is very personal to consumers, who are pushing marketers to provide customized packages that seem “just for them” and target consumer niches within the category.