FEATURE

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Chromastics is a quality, high-end hair coloring line recently launched up by Tom Dispenza, a retired senior manager at Clairol. The brand is aimed at the trained master colorist looking for the best color in the industry. Working with Dispenza since the line’s inception, Expressivepush helped create a balance between research, observation, listening and marketing goals. Using Chromastics’ clean, simple approach to coloring, the design firm created a consistent application of the brand for stationary, packaging and collateral materials. The logotype and color scheme make the line look and feel luxurious and important to the colorist and the consumer. A minimalistic approach contrasts nicely with the flashy marketing used by Chromastics’ competitors. In this way, Chromastics’ niche as a “serious" coloring line has solidified. According to Dispenza, the branding and packaging increased sales and strengthened brand awareness. The launch opened regional and national accounts for Chromastics. Expressivepush continues to develop the positioning and produce all consumer and sales collateral material for Chromastics, including p-o-p material, consumer/ trade brochures and print ads, as well as an e-commerce website set to appear in Spring 2005.

Expressivepush created the quarterly newsletter of Nars Cosmetics with the aim of strengthening the brand and the relationship between Nars’ regional beauty advisors and the consumer. Nars is a design icon. The company wanted to continue with its clean, minimalistic design approach, and the Expressivepush team worked with Nars’s internal marketing and PR team to produce an easily updated newsletter that would continue to uphold the union of function and aesthetic appeal that Nars was built on. The newsletter functions as both an informative PR tool and as a sales and marketing tool. The “Tips and Techniques,” “What Works” and “News and Noteworthy” sections highlight new product releases. The three-panel newsletter offers a clean approach from the outside, while the inside is filled with runway reports for the fashion-savvy consumer and domestic and international sales news to keep beauty advisors on their toes. The Nars beauty advisors and makeup artist are now on their second season of newsletters, also designed by Expressivepush. As a result, the internal marketing team at Nars and its regional and international sales team are on the same page. Both the brand and quarterly sales have strengthened since the launch of the newsletter.

Recent beauty trends suggest that soap is no longer about cleaning, but rather about beautifying. Bradford Soaps, one of the nation's largest soap manufacturers, recently decided to develop their own premium brand by providing a perception of unique beauty benefits and evoking the luxury of a Mediterranean spa. Wallace Church was engaged as their branding resource to help shape and reflect that brand experience at every consumer touch point. Through the firm’s “Visual Brand Essence” process, it was determined that promoting the soap’s organic ingredients was both relevant and unique. Wallace Church named the brand and helped design the product shapes as well as the packaging. The message: Dendera beauty bars, with their rich colors and voluptuous illustrations, embody the quality and luxury that invite indulgence.

Odgis + Company conceived, designed and photographed this steamy Valentine’s Day promotion for Elizabeth Arden’s Red Door Spas. An enlarged, translucent photographic image of a hand-drawn heart on a steamed-over mirror was made to cover the window of the spa’s flagship Fifth Avenue location. Says Janet Odgis of the project, “Breaking out of the confines of the page, it’s wonderful to utilize the window’s scale and transparency to dramatize the visual experience.” The graphic approach is meant to depict the experience that the spa offers, while giving it a sexy, seductive edge for Valentine’s Day. The site-specific design invites passersby during the cold winter season to look though the transparent heart into the inviting, warm spa. Posters of the image are also displayed throughout the location and in all the spas nationwide. Mario Tricoci, also owned by Red Door Holdings, has adopted the design for their Chicago-based salons and spas, as well.

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