The language of beauty gifting

With Christmas beauty gift sales providing an uplift for retailers in the UK, this is clearly an area to take seriously.

Apart from wider trends of Hygge, copper / rose gold metallics and personalisation, brands are also creating new variants: REN’s anti-pollution kit and ubiquitous moustache maintenance kits being two recent additions. For visual impact, highly illustrative and structural packaging from brands such as Benefit, theBalm, and Too Faced add visual theatre to gifting, whilst Laura Mercier’s “Iconics” limited edition box offers the ultimate in a city slicker style.

So how can brands achieve great ‘call out’ branding and still keep a creative edge? We invited Ashwin Shaw, director of Two by Two, to share some tips:

1. Simple is Smart

Award-winning Elemis Christmas Gift Packaging

The aim of any gift pack design is ‘buy me’ simplicity so make it a no brainer. Creating a product that is easy to buy removes the panic button for shoppers and retailers alike through visual immediacy, in store appeal and colourful multi-product displays.

2. Tell your Brand Story

Any creative concept should track back to your brand and its core personality. However tempting it may be to stray into glitz and glamour, if your brand is all about natural beauty, use an earthy and warmer colour palette before reaching for the gold ribbon. Similarly, if your brand is playful and full of colour, play with this language to invite the consumer to buy into a different category or range.

3. Get the Detail Right

Redken Christmas Gift Packaging

Whatever the price tag, effective design should look ‘too good to wrap’, with a seamless pack solution that clearly demonstrates the USPs of the product or products. This is essential to build those critical online sales and ecommerce presence, particularly for limited editions and seasonal collections.

4. …But be Brave and Bold

If budget allows, go big on detail and create a stir with your gifts – either through bold typeface, smart graphics or a well-executed visual story that works across online and in store. Choose a texture, colour or graphic theme and bring it to life.

For discerning consumers who are on the hunt – and in a hurry – for that certain something, branded gifts can take the pain out of last minute shopping. The challenge for brands is to stay innovative, stay simple and stay classy in a noisy gift marketplace.

New workshop

Two by Two have created a GiftLab workshop, new for 2017, to explore and solve branding and pack design issues. Please contact Louise Barfield to find out more.