Samples For Unique Distribution

By Ava Caridad, Editor

S amples. Consumers love to gather them up, and beauty marketers are counting on those cute little promotional samplers to get a new product promoted and branded. Consumers are inundated with personal care products on the shelves and in advertising, so an attractive package with enough product to lure in a potentially loyal purchaser is what a marketer wants.

Sampler distribution is breaking out of the traditional avenues in an attempt to reach more (and different types of) consumers. The scent strip in your favorite magazine has made way for different sampler technologies, as well as more effective methods of distribution.Samples are now handed out at conventions and sporting events, attached to new clothes or found in new cars, and there’s no end in sight as new innovations in technology and distribution continue to flourish. According to Jim Gabilanes, senior vice president, sales/marketing, Flexpaq, South Painfield, NJ, new distribution methods include college sets in university bookstores, in-store events, samples at newsstands and book stores, or attached to catalogs and newspapers. Cross sampling, such as gentle detergents attached to lingerie, is a good option, as well as expansion of a product line, such as attaching a facial cleanser sample to a moisturizer.

Distribution Branches Out

According to Eric Ludwig, president of Telmark, Matawan, NJ, perhaps one of the least used and most effective methods of sample distribution is cross sampling—the distribution of samples by piggybacking them onto other products.

“For example, Lea & Perrins worked closely with General Foods to put a foil pouch of steak sauce into a box of Pillsbury Mashed Potato Mix,” explains Ludwig. “Both companies benefited. Lea & Perrin sampled their target market with low distribution cost and General Foods sold more mashed potato mix because of the added value of the enclosed sample. Companies can also piggyback samples of products onto other products in their line.”

Another new avenue is Internet sampling sites, such as www.startsampling.com, which registers consumers to receive selected samples of various products.

“Marketers who sample their products this way benefit because other companies share the distribution costs as multiple samples are sent to each consumer,” says Ludwig. “Also, consumers pick the samples that they want to receive which help marketers put their samples into interested consumers.”

Samples for Sale

Eric Desmaris, marketing manager, Rexam Dispensing Systems, Purchase, NY, says products using Rexam samplers are typically distributed free at the retail counter in a department store or cosmetics outlet. However, a new trend is to try to reach that consumer who doesn’t normally patronize cosmetic retail stores, but usually buys perfume in a more mass market environment such as drug stores. To get this consumer to try a fragrance and develop loyalty, Rexam introduced a new Blister Pack spray sampler for low-price sale (around $2 per unit) in drug stores, supermarkets and other mass market retail outlets.

The new sampler, designed to attract new fragrance consumers through a self-service purchase, offers the same kind of fragrance experience as the full sized retail brand. The Rexam trial package allows up to 40 sprays per mini dispenser, long enough to let consumers “fall in love” with the fragrance and entice them to purchase the full sized product. The Blister Pack also provides a large space (on the card or backing for the blister container) for communicating with the end-user.

“This new innovation package has already been used successfully by Elizabeth Arden for Curious Britney Spears,” added Desmaris.

To produce the new sampler, Rexam teamed up with NJ-based Le Papillon, Ltd, who provides the filling and packaging operations. Rexam supplies the Sofilux mini glass vial with invisible SP5 pump.

“Marketers have always had difficulty quantifying the results of sampling campaigns,” added Ludwig. “Often, companies are incorporating several marketing strategies at one time. It is challenging to decipher what the exact effect of sampling has on market growth.”

In order for marketers to better monitor their campaigns, many have begun sampling with saleable samples. Companies now produce small size and single-use packages that are sold at the retail level to provide the consumer with an opportunity to inexpensively try the product. These sales-samples are easily accounted for, better quantifying the success of the promotion. Also, the revenue generated from the sale of the sample offsets the cost of the packaging and distribution.

Kits Set the Trend

What new trends are consumers seeing in the samplers themselves?

“Recently, we have seen a large increase in the number of sampler ‘kits’ being produced,” explains Ludwig. “Marketers are taking several products and packaging them together as a unit. The consumer is presented with a regimen of products and corresponding product information. Marketers may spend more on each sampler, but the distribution cost is greatly reduced if compared to distributing each product separately. Also, kits have a higher perceived value and can easily be sold at retail.”

DMI, Wharton, NJ, offers the Sudden Sun Therapy sample kit, a sample package containing a three-step self-tanning system for face and body. The kit was structurally designed and printed by Boutwell, Owens & Co., Inc. and graphically designed by the 37 Design Group.

Getting Carded

Telmark produces die-cut header cards that hold a variety of different sample packages. The cards are inserted on the necks of bottles and other containers so that marketers can piggyback their samples to other products. This is effective because it gets the sample into the hands of a specific consumer. It also provides an added value for the host package.

Rexam Dispensing Systems’ Soficard is a brand look-a-like mini package that constantly reminds the consumer of the actual retail product. Soficard consists of a card, glued around a miniature spray vial, that replicates the exact appearance of the regular fragrance package. It can be produced in a wide variety of shapes and sizes including square, round or oval and is suitable for brands that want to use a communication medium indistinguishable from the product itself. The spray vials used for Soficard are Rexam’s Sofistic or the glass Sofilux.

What’s New

Sof’n’Touch, the latest innovation from Rexam Dispensing Systems, is a mini spray applicator that the company says is cleaner than a pen and more appealing than a roll-on. Delivered with an assembled cap, Sof’n’Touch clicks onto a glass or plastic bottle with capacities of between 1- and 4mL. Several models of applicator will eventually be available to dispense more viscous formulas, together with a wide choice of trim and dressing for the bottle.

Rexam’s Sof’Twist is a small, refillable plastic case with a 2mL glass miniature spray vial insert that is assembled with a small snap-in Sofilux pump. The top section of the case and the bottle or vial emerges in the same way as a lipstick. This easy-to-use product has development potential, from purse sprays used as GWPs to a multi-bottle gift box, making it possible to use several different fragrances. Sof’Twist comes in a standard version, but can be customized using a very wide variety of decorative trims including screen-printing, hot-stamping, lacquering or metallization.

Qosmedix, Edgewood, NY, offers a lip balm container and cap blow molded soft tube to package lip gloss. The squeezable, polyethylene 10mL tube and cap with push-in polypropylene slanted reducer make a portable package for lip products. The tube is filled at the opening and plugged with the reducer applicator and then capped, eliminating the need for crimp sealing.The 3-1/2 inch long tube and cap can be imprinted with a logo or message to enhance brand identity. According to Nancy Klimpel, Qosmedix marketing coordinator, the tube fills from the applicator end, so it can be used for smaller quantity and limited productions, and is suitable for smaller companies trying to get their product distributed and better known.

Ease of Use

Joe Hark, chief executive officer of Unette Corp, Wharton, NJ, believes the market is quickly shifting to a one-time use consumer.

“It seems people are making themselves familiar with brands that are more convenient for the user.Consumers seem less and less concerned with cost and more concerned with the benefits of the actual purchase. A perfect example would be smaller trial packages that offer a few uses before disposal.”

The Unette Tear n’ Tuck tube allows the consumer to try a product several times and easily rid themselves of the packaging. It offers the convenience the consumer demands and a potential profit margin for the company distributing it.

“The consumer is able to see the benefits of several applications and can truly fall in love with a product and make it part of a routine,” says Hark. “Once they finish the packet, they come to depend on the product and buy more. Consumer-friendly packaging is key to making a one-time user into a life-long customer. Remember the saying ‘always make a good first impression.’ Directional flow and precision application tipsmake use of the product easy andcomfortable, and the material conforms to the hand for maximum handling whether wet or dry.”

Benefits include a precision application tip that tucks into itself to secure the product within, numerous graphics options with a large advertising space and expedited turn around time.According to Hark, it’s proving to be a far more economical choice over small capacity bottles and replaceable tubes.

Suitable for product samples and travel packs, the Tear n’ Tuck can be modified to meet design demands and is made of flexible materials. It stands out because of its unusual shape, sometimes mimicking a bottle or tube. Because the Tear n’ Tuck is so economically feasible and offers a lower-cost graphics option, a company could also approach a lower income market as well. It can accommodate several secondary packaging options and can fit into retail box options, offering multiple uses of single applications.

Up to the Challenge

The sampler, explains Rexam’s Desmaris, although innovative or unusual, still has to be reliable and easy to use for the consumer, and not only at the moment of distribution. It must also function smoothly during the few days after the end user takes it home or puts it in her purse. So far as the sampler replicates the retail product in dependability and spray experience, it can be an extremely effective marketing tool to entice the consumer to purchase the full-sized fragrance.

The most common concern of any sampler is the cost, says Telmark’s Ludwig. Keeping costs low generally means that marketers can sample more potential consumers with their allocated budget.

“Sometimes, however, it is necessary to look past the direct cost of the sampler and understand the impact that the sampler has on influencing the purchase of the full-size product. Distribution expenses can be a major percentage of the total sampler cost and should be considered as samplers are being designed.”

Ludwig also believes that stability and compatibility can be a concern.

“The method of distribution will often dictate the type of packaging and packaging materials used for the sampler. For instance, packettes inserted into magazines need to be constructed of special materials to meet strict burst specifications. Samplers handed out at a beach might have to be water resistant. Samples that are mailed need to conform to mailing standards.”

Samplers for Nomads

Travel sizes may be a bit more expensive than your average sample, which is often free, but since travelers have to pitch their liquid products into an airport trashcan can anyway, they may be agreeable to paying a little more for a travel size, rather than pay full price for something bigger that will have to be discarded.

Nancy Kane, marketing coordinator, GCS/ Zeller Plastics, adds, “With the recent travel restrictions placed on air travel, the need for smaller size packaging will increase across the board.”

Once travelers reach their destination, they are ideal targets for the sample approach. Third party handouts, such as airlines, restaurants, movies, sporting events, theme parks, beaches, concerts, health clubs, physicians and even zoos are all examples of venues that are interested in handing out samples of products, says Ludwig.

“People love to get free stuff, so creative arrangements can be made with the venue that benefits everyone, especially theconsumer.”

GCS/Zeller Plastics is able to personalize sample closures with an embossed logo. This works well for any brand owner wanting to set their product apart from others on the shelf. The logo can also be used by hotels, airlines, etc. to enhance brand identity when travelers take samples home from vacation.

A Good Read

But what about that scent strip in your favorite magazine? They aren’t completely obsolete; on the contrary, they’ve just been updated. Magazine packettes can be distributed for a low cost to a very specific audience, says Ludwig. The demographics of magazines are well defined and companies can select the appropriate publication for the market that they intend to sample.

“Telmark uses special film materials to produce packettes for magazine insertion. This film material produces a package that withstands the pressure requirements specified by magazines.”

The patented LiquiTouch sampler from Arcade Marketing, New York, seals an actual fragrance formula of essential oil plus alcohol between two layers of material. The material pulls apart to provide on-skin trial via the enclosed applicator pad. With single or dual chambers, the stand-alone can be used as a cost-effective alternative to vials and can be wrapped, boxed or enveloped in multiples. Pressure-sensitive can be used for printed media and adheres to USPS Guidelines.

Valois’ most recent creation is Imagin, a “super flat” sampler that emits a spray and also provides a large surface for advertising. According to Valois, Imagin is more than just a sample, but a form of mini-packaging with multiple applications in mailings and cross marketing.

The credit card-sized sampler is 4.35mm thick and holds 0.3ml of fragrance which is dispersed through a minimum of six sprays. The outer is made of 330 g/m2 pure cellulose, which can be decorated in four or eight colors and is finished with a UV coating, providing a large surface area suitable for advertising.