DESIGN INNOVATION
Dow Industries Re-energizes IZOD Fragrance Brand
Gemini Cosmetics & Grace Beauty LLC recently performed a unique redesign of Gemini's IZOD Fragrance line using a highly reflective mirror-quality label affixed to both the front and back of the ice blue glass decanter.
The IZOD fragrance is a unique citrus blend inspired by the cool feeling of frosted air with warm aromatic notes, according to Gemini. The brand owner considers it a new wave in men's fragrance that brings to life the adventure, adrenaline, and energy of the IZOD lifestyle. It's released from a chiseled, ice blue reflecting cube decanter.
The original package design incorporated an injection-molded plastic piece that was electroplated for a high-gloss finish. The packaging proved to be expensive and difficult to assemble. Jonathan Needham, executive vice president of operations at Gemini/Grace, and his team took on the challenge to achieve the same aesthetics, while offering some economies with cost, application, and branding.
Needham elicited the help of Dow Industries to develop a more cost-effective solution for brand identity, which was becoming particularly important as the product line was quickly moving into additional distribution channels. "I provided the overall concept of using a high-quality label, and [Dow] provided the technical solution of the unique label stock," says Needham.
The label idea was born from a meeting between Walter Dow, CEO, Dow Industries, Andrew Farquharson, president, Dow Industries, and Needham during which a label sample was considered that was used in a non-fragrance application. Gemini was trying to achieve a very clean, athletic look, according to Needham. "It is a technical looking package with very azure blue-based roots," he says.
Dow Industries was able to respond by sourcing and converting a 7-mil mirror quality polyester with a permanent adhesive for automatic application. The key attribute needed on the mirror-quality polyester, reflectivity, was very important to the design of the label, according to Needham. "The label was replacing a vac-metalized plastic piece, which was highly reflective," he explains.
The reflectivity properties for the new material are:
• Of the 100 percent light that hits the surface, 13 percent reflects back off the top surface and 87 percent goes through to the silver surface.
• Of that 87percent that goes through, 99.6 percent reflects back, which means a very high-quality mirror.
The printing was done by Dow Industries using web screen printing, which afforded a rich, raised, and opaque look. Needham commented that, "by using printing, various branding options are now opened up to us including tinting the silver mirror quality to present special effects, while maintaining color consistency."
Needham also commented on the pressure-sensitive material. "The assembly of this product was made easier as we are now able to use automatic equipment to apply the label to the decanter," he says. "This allows us flexibility with custom graphics and improves our turnaround time. We have been able to˛realize a 200 to 300 percent cost savings by using this pressure-sensitive mirror-quality material provided by Dow."
The resulting package enhanced the brand because, "from a costing standpoint, it has enabled us to expand distribution into Tier 2 and 3 retail accounts with a package of department-store quality," he says. "Many thanks to Walter Dow and Andrew Farquharson for being great business partners and spending the up-front time to make the project a success." pP
