April 14, 2021
A Look Inside Our Vitamin C Refresh
We recently teamed up with Avalon Organics to redesign and expand their Vitamin C line. With the ever-present demand for clean and functional skin-care products in a competitive market, Avalon discovered a unique opportunity and enlisted our help to bring it to life. Read on for the inside story from our internal beauty branding experts—Audra Nebolini, Associate Creative Director, and Tina Mangan, Senior Client Director.
Q. What was the business challenge CBX was hired to solve for Avalon?
Audra: The skin care category was being dominated with new clean beauty brands, as more premium brands became mainstream. One of Avalon’s best performing lines “Intense Defense” had the opportunity to be elevated into the clinical, premium space with new naming, adding new products to fit trends in beauty, structure, and packaging graphics. The goal was to pull it further from the mainline to premium but retain the brand’s meaning.
Tina: Vitamin C products were hitting the shelves from major brands across the country, and Avalon Organics wanted to redesign the Vitamin C line to not only be an extension of the Avalon family, but also compete with premium, Vitamin C products that were trend-right.
Q. What CBX services did Avalon take advantage of to solve for the challenge?
Audra: We started our process with several design strategy and verbal strategy tools—category codes, naming ideations, sensory workshop, and architecture schematics to create a design brief for the brand.
Tina: Then, we looked to consumer research – both qualitative and quantitative, to ensure our packaging design was delivering on the Vitamin C product’s brand refresh objectives.
Q. What was the key strategic insights that drove the work?
Tina: The Vitamin C line had the ability to connect to the larger portfolio, while also being able to stand out. Our orange color palette and premium metallic finishes allowed the line to compete with top beauty brands, while the holistic, “rooted in beauty” illustration work connected us back to the core of our brand essence, “deep rooted beauty.”
Audra: We also needed to maintain our current consumer base, so we used a connection back to the core brand to keep the portfolio visually connected. We also hoped to attract new consumers with a new, enhanced-benefit product, premium finishes and clinical beauty graphics (clean lines, structured communication, premium detailing). Changing the name to the ingredient Vitamin C from Intense Defense also provided more clarity to consumers and connection to the brand’s purpose.
Q. What was the outcome?
Tina: After a slight shift in package design and packaging finishes, we had a successful product launch. The addition of metallics on pack drew consumers into the brand and contributed to an increase in sales.
