For the past 6 weeks I have engrossed myself in re-branding Avon, a company selling cosmetics and beauty products to women since 1886.
From research, I established that bad connotations were associated with Avon. ‘Out of date’, ‘cheap’, ‘for old ladies’ and ‘naff christmas presents’ were all popular responses I received when asking for opinions.
After analysing the brand as a whole I felt that the main problems with Avon were:
I felt that the current marque was too hard and serious in contrast to the beauty products they were trying to sell which are all about being personal. I put this down to Avon concentrating more on the business side, with their corporate strap line being the company for women. This doesn’t communicate anything about the products, but the opportunity that they are offering women to create ‘their own’ Avon business.
With this, I wanted to change the marque to be more feminine, personal, fun and quirky:
In development I tried several approaches:
I thought these were a bit too serious for the quirky style I was aiming for…
… so i experimented with some more handwritten styles, bright colours and patterns.
Here is my final marque:
The main marque is the yellow/mustard colour, with the tangerine, turquoise, violet and lime colours used for different sections of products e.g. turquoise for hair care, violet for make up etc
With the current Avon packaging being very mismatched, I wanted to create a more consistent look for the brand…
Using the new marque merged into a circle, I created these labels which have the same structural base and typography elements, with only the colours to change depending on which product it is.
The packaging:
Each product is contained in a different style of glass bottle, to create an eclectic style, be visually interesting and convey quality. The glass bottles are something that the customer will invest in and keep, so they needed to look appealing and have women want to put them on show in their bathroom.
Shower Gel, Body Butter & Shampoo
Shower Gel
Body Butter
Shampoo Bag
I decided on a paper bag because it is eco friendly and also to be consistent with the image. An Avon rep that I had spoken to whilst researching also mentioned that it would be nice to have a bag that didn’t break when they handed over the products – this bag has strong handles so they won’t break!
With the glass bottles being a bit more luxurious and long-standing, to be more eco-friendly I decided to introduce refill sachets.
These refill sachets will keep expenses low and recycling high.
avon* Sample Box
From my research, I found that Avon were lacking in advertising and social networking interaction compared to other beauty and cosmetic brands. I identified that this limited Avon’s client range, as you would really only come into contact with Avon if you reached out to them – on their website or by contacting an Avon rep for a brochure.
Blogging has become a powerful tool in social networking now, with popular bloggers being able to influence their readers into thinking and buying the same as them. There are many ‘beauty bloggers’ on the web who test and review products so that their followers know which products to buy. Also popular at the moment are ‘beauty boxes’ which are basically product samples sent through the post. For around £12 a month you can subscribe to receive a beauty box containing new and exciting products that you may not have risked buying before.
I felt that Avon could definitely benefit from both of these type of social interaction and so decided to develop an Avon sample box.
The avon* box is covered in the print of the avon ‘a’ and includes descriptions of all of the sample products…
…along with the 3 steps you need to know about: 1. Test, 2. Review and 3. Love!
Customers can Test out all of the samples, go online to Review the products, read other reviews and become part of an online community and then if they Love the product they can buy again from online or get in touch with their local avon rep at the new drop-in counters in Boots stores across the country.
Above is the homepage of the avon* website. I named it avon* because the asterisk symbolises it’s something special, extra and small.
Re-designing Avon’s Catalogue
Avon’s current catalogues are quite boring, filled with cheesy graphics and dedicate most of the page to the price/how cheap the product is – ‘WOW only £1.99!’
I wanted to create a new visual catalogue, with more of a magazine style – something that you would want to go back and look at again. I set up my own little studio, shot some images and produced a sample number of spreads to show the look and feel of the magazine…
Front Cover
I adapted the label style to communicate all the information the customer would like to see/know: product name, price, description and ingredients.
Mini advert for avon*
I wanted to keep the magazine interesting so tried to replicate a shop window style, creating scenarios with items that were quirky/nice e.g. photo frames, flowers, rubber ducks, jewellery, cameras etc These are all items which the women looking through the magazine might own/ want to buy.
Mini advert for the new drop-in counters at Boots
Back Cover
… and that is my re-brand.
I had my critique on Tuesday and it didn’t go as amazingly as I had hoped, so I was a bit upset but I did pick up some positives:
- obvious that I had worked really hard
- identified and tackled the need for a better brand experience
- moved Avon forward in a positive way
- not the work that’s wrong but the strategy.
The improvements that need to be made:
- design wrong for specified target audience – would work aimed at younger audience/ quirky & vintage customers
- trying to solve the problem through the product, not the logo
- is the logo quite right?
- more reflection on design work at each stage, rather than as a overall
So I’m pleased that my design style wasn’t slated, just my strategy which I can see where they’re coming from. If only I had said I was targeting young adults!
Not sure when I’m going to get my grade but I’m nervous 
Fingers crossed!
What do you think? I don’t often get comments so I would really appreciate some feedback!? Let me know…
