09.01.12
Jon Dinapoli |
The idea for packaging this launch— Glowing by Jennifer Lopez—emerged in a brainstorming session with JLo and Catherine Walsh, senior vice president, Coty Prestige. In fact at this year’s keynote panel at HBA Global, Walsh spoke about the groundbreaking bottle. The fragrance—Lopez’s 18th—launched earlier this year, 10 years after the superstar’s first blockbuster scent, Glow, hit shelves and prompted a celebrity fragrance frenzy. To mark the decade anniversary, Lopez’s latest fragrance literally glows—thanks to a bottle that lights up. Not only does the enhancement break the fragrance packaging mold, Walsh commented, “People are so obsessed with the glowing factor that use-up is really fast”—as they keep spritzing to experience the effect again and again.
Following are a few details on Glowing, which Dinapoli enlightened us on:
Beauty Packaging: Where did you get the idea to literally make the bottle glow? Was this difficult to achieve?
Jon Dinapoli: The concept behind this project was to reinvent the original Glow. When we created Glow ten years ago, Jennifer was on top of the world. She had a number one album, number one movie and number one fragrance. When we decided to come out with Glowing, it was crucial that we illustrated that Jennifer was on top of the world yet again and glowing brighter than ever.
At Coty, we are always seeking new and exciting innovation and ways to make packages stand out. The idea came about organically in a very early brainstorm meeting with the team and Jennifer. We kept saying the words “glow” and “glowing.”
Then Catherine Walsh said, “What if the bottle actually glowed? Everyone loved the idea and it grew from there.
he bottle for Glowing by JLo was inspired by the beauty and lines of Baccarat crystal. The debossed, shiny silver carton features an image of the groundbreaking illuminated bottle on the back panel. |
JD: As always, Jennifer was very involved in designing the bottle. Once she was onboard with the idea of it lighting up, the trick was to figure out the best possible bottle to highlight and showcase the light. I knew I wanted to use some sort of faceted glass, as the light refractions would be pretty impressive. Somehow, at the time, I knew Jennifer was into these Baccarat crystal vases. We always start the design process with things that are close to her at the time. For instance, when designing My Glow, the whole project was inspired by the interior design of her twins’ nursery. This project was no different.
BP: How exactly does the glowing feature work?
JD: Without giving all of our secrets away, I can say that the technology is fairly simple and not that far from how a toy would light up or make noise. The great part about the technology is that we engineered the light to illuminate when the fragrance is sprayed. This results in a multi-sensory experience when using the fragrance. You have the touch of the heavy faceted glass, the sight of the illuminating light and of course the scent of the fragrance.
BP: Any special challenges?
JD: Yes—of course there were many challenges. The biggest challenge was to ensure the safety of the product. Mixing power and fragrance... not the easiest two ingredients to combine. Once we established the safety of it and passed all of our legal and vigorous R&D testing, the next challenge was to make the design work within all of the constraints of the technology. When looking at the bottle, I think we did an excellent job of just that. All the wiring, lights, etc., are contained underneath the large metal collar that looks like an integral part of the design and is not seen as a technical solution.
BP: How long did the project take from start to finish?
JD: About one year.
BP: As far as you know, is this the first fragrance package to carry this special effect?
JD: Yes, this is an industry first—an illuminating fragrance bottle.
BP: What purpose does the pull tab on the bottle serve—prior to using the fragrance for the first time?
JD: The pull tab prevents the light from activating before the consumer gets it home. Inside the mechanism, it prevents the metal and the battery from touching, hence it cannot activate accidentally. Once the tab is removed, the bottle will operate as intended.
BP: What other materials were used, aside from the glass? Can you name the suppliers who helped accomplish this?
JD: The glass bottle was produced by Heinz, Germany. The metal pump is Rexam, U.S. The plastic cap, metal collar and lights are all produced by Jackel, Hong Kong. Curtis Packaging supplied the carton.
BP: When the atomizer is pressed, the bottle beautifully illuminates for 15 seconds. Why 15 seconds?
JD: It was very accurately calculated. We wanted to make sure that the light lasted as long as the fragrance. Since we used batteries as the power source, we were limited to their life span. In the 100ml, we calculated how many sprays it would take to completely evacuate the fragrance.
BP: Why did you decide to feature an actual photo of the bottle on the carton? What other details can you provide about the carton and its relation to the flacon?
JD: For this project, in particular, it was very important to feature the bottle on the carton to properly illustrate the fact that it lights up. This also makes for a strong merchandising tool as the cartons can be alternated with graphics on front and photo on back. The carton is shiny mylar with the JLO logo blind debossed. The shiny silver mimics the collar of the bottle while reflecting light as the glass does. The carton also has a transparent hit of a “blush” color that is signature of Jennifer.
BP: I see that Glowing has an exclusive first run at Kohl’s. Is that unusual for a prestige fragrance launch?
JD: The rules of retail are changing vastly and will continue to change in the future. Sure, we can call it unusual, but given that Jennifer has an exclusive line of clothing, accessories and home with Kohl’s, they were the natural retailer to partner with to debut Glowing. That consumers can now experience the full lifestyle brand of Jennifer Lopez in a one-stop shop doesn’t seem too unusual to me!
