New Brands: Don’t Do This!

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This is just a tiny selection of samples that I have here that ALL look the same! The pots above are all from different brands and yet, the old black lid on a clear pot is significantly a theme. Product prices above range from £15 to £1.

I’ve seen a couple of new brands that haven’t launched yet but guess what? Black lids and clear glass pots. They look exactly the same as just about every other brand out there and my heart sinks for them. I know what they’re trying to do – which is what virtually every brand would like to do – and that’s look like MAC or NARS but they don’t, because it’s not the pots that MAC and NARS use.. it’s the fact that they’re MAC and NARS.

Packaging is so important and the use of generic pots gives no point of difference whatsoever. Why, as a new brand, would you think, “hmm, I think we’ll do our exciting new range in exactly the same packaging as ever other range out there.” I just don’t get it. It’s dull, far too safe and not really giving consumers a fair idea of what the product inside might be like.  If your products don’t look different to a million and one other products then why would people buy them? I think new brands get a little bit obsessed with the ‘quality of the product, the pigments, the longevity, etc’ which is all well and good but wrapping it up in a generic, same-old, pot doesn’t entice anyone. And, I might say, it makes PR-ing the products a nightmare. Imagine being the picture editor on a magazine trying to make your page look lovely and you’re faced with yet another black-lid pot.

There’s a similar theme with new skin-care brands. It’s going to sound very harsh to say that the world and its wife can make a lavender salve at the kitchen table and pop it in a little tin pot. I can’t tell you the number of these that I see and without a point of difference I really struggle to find something to say about them, much as I want to support new brands. All the base ingredients are sourced from the same place and I know exactly what happens. Each little brand thinks they’ve found the ultimate miracle balm, without realising that so has everyone else!

If there has ever been a time to think about the packaging before you even consider what to put in it, it’s now. The skin care market is flooded and so is the make-up market. If you want there to be room for you, step it up.

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Jane Cunningham

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7 responses to “New Brands: Don’t Do This!”

  1. hogsandwich

    this is why i sigh inside whenever I see skincare in faux-medical packaging. I AM NOT FOOLED. stop dat. go play with a color wheel.

    Reply
    1. Lily.

      This is why I don’t like the new Soap & Glory skincare packaging -_-

      On another note, I like that kind of packaging – makes it really easy to see what’s what when digging through the make-up drawer.

      Reply
  2. shoppingaholic Jiya

    I totally agree! I think the same and this copy thing makes me laugh sometimes. I want a change in packaging and probably this is why sometimes unknown brands with different packaging become more popular than the copies.

    Reply
  3. LoveLyndaLovely

    Packaging is what sucks me in every time.I do care about the product quality but packaging is what makes me swoon.

    Reply
  4. Tricia

    Totally agree, although even when brands try to be different, they still get it wrong. The new Benefit cream eyeshadow packaging has that retro look they’ve been adopting, but the colour information is on the lid, not the base of the pot, with the result that at the counter the lids get mixed up…and you get home and find you’ve got the wrong shade. Not clever.

    Reply
  5. sam

    I must admit, I was a little surprised by this post. I appreciate the consumers’ view on this (I am one after all) but there is much more cost involved in creating a skincare (and makeup) line than simply mixing a pot at a kitchen table.
    I can understand how if everything looks the same on a shop shelf, it would raise a few eyebrows, but when free samples are being handed out, why would anyone expect them to be in some sort of unique or different packaging? It is already expensive enough to have some 50,000+ (minimum order) containers designed, manufactured, printed and shipped from China, without doing the same for sample sized packets that are given away free. Would you be prepared to pay more for your products to simply cover the promotional costs of more unique looking samples?
    In part, it’s a shame, because purchasing decisions based on packaging (and lord knows we all do it) is why big brand companies spend millions on hiring celebrities, developing pretty boxes in collaboration with fashion designers and so on, only to off-set that cost to the consumer and spend miniscule amounts on product itself.
    In short, 90% of what you pay is for the box that you rip apart, and plastic container that both end up being throw in the bin. That being the case, why do we spend time discussing the contents? Why not simply blog about beauty packaging and whether we are getting value for money etc? After all, that’s what we are actually spending our money on.
    The world and his wife may well be able to make a lavender salve at their kitchen table and pop it in a tin pot. But selling it is another matter entirely. Challenge testing, bacteria counts, cosmetic assessment costs, MOQs of 25kg per ingredient (commercial brands typically buy pre-made formulas from the same manufacturers thus avoiding this), paperwork costs, toxicology reports, labour, marketing… unless you have landed a windfall of some £150,000+, you are restricted to using what the market provides. And packaging at less than 500 pots a count, comes in very few varieties – mostly brown, blue or clear with black lids.
    The large brands can afford to design their own packaging. They can afford to purchase MOQs of 50,000. They can afford to have their new packaging tested for compatibility with their ingredients – another legal requirement before you can launch your products onto the market. But the smaller player cannot.
    Personally, I’d rather purchase a carefully thought-out, tested formula, manufactured from premium ingredients including the latest scientific advances that can cost upwards of £4,000 a kilo, and have it presented in a basic jar with a black lid, knowing that I am also supporting the local industry, than fork out for some A List celebrity and expensive designer creation to adorn my plastic tub of off-the-shelf formulation, made in China and sold through non-tax paying Switzerland!

    Reply
    1. Jane Cunningham

      I do agree with so much of what you say but everyone settles for what there is rather than creating demand for something new. I’m well aware of the costs involved (although I wish you could see what I see – a lot of small brands on say Etsy or Ebay don’t test.. they rely on ‘tested ingredients’ so no toxicology etc although I’d say Etsy does bring out the creative side of new brands because although a lot are home made they are often fun and inventive) but the facts are that the more ‘like’ products that come along the more immune the consumer will get.

      Reply

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