Look in the mirror at your lips. Are they the same thickness all the way across? If you pucker them, can they squeeze into the space of a bottle cap? So why is it that lip balms only come in flat-top tubes or pots? These questions have led EOS to develop what has become the first spherical lip balm.
Sherry Jhawar is the director of brand strategy for EOS, or Evolution of Smooth. The brand is focused on solving product usage problems in an intuitive way by looking at how products are actually used.
The company, now two years old, began with a simple question: Why are personal care products so impersonal? Lotions, body wash, and especially shaving cream are often simply repackages or reformulations of the same products men use. “In the cosmetics industry there’s a lot of personality and a lot of fun,” said Jhawar. “We thought there’s no reason why that category shouldn’t have excitement too.”
Intuitiveness
User-friendliness is what drives EOS’s product design. Take for example conventional women’s shaving cream. “It was a man’s can with a pink wrapper and a feminine fragrance,” says Jhawar. “There was no thought of why she’s using it even though she shaves so much more of her body surface than a man does.”
The average woman shaves in the shower, so EOS’s shaving cream forgoes a metal can that leaves rust rings. For one-handed ease of use, its container has a pump and non-slip grip. For those “Oh no, I forgot to shave” moments, the formula can be used without water.
EOS’s spherical lip balm combines the surface area of a pot with precision better than that of a flat-top stick.
“I grew up in the world of cosmetics and watched a lot of my colleagues stick their faces in pots of Carmex trying to avoid sticking their fingers in, and walking down the halls with their tongues literally in the thing.” said Jhawar.
To avoid that, the spherical balm carries the product in a dome shape. Twist off the top and it’s right there.
Soaring Popularity
Intuitive packaging is only one-third of EOS’s appeal. Natural formulas and intriguing scents complete the package.
The EOS lip sphere, for example, is 100 percent natural and USDA certified organic. It comes in three flavors: Honeydew Honeysuckle, Summer Fruit, and Sweet Mint. The balms contain no petrolatum, which is a synthetic oil-based ingredient that tends to blanch lips of their color after prolonged use. “It puts in a lot of moisture but it also constantly creates a need for more moisture,” Jhawar said.
Within one week of arriving on the shelves of Duane Reade, the EOS balm had sold a third as many units as Burt’s Bees without any advertising, according to Jhawar.
Recently, EOS’s promotional site (www.theeosphere.com) was giving away 50,000 units to Web users who referred the product to their friends. Within 24 hours, all 50,000 units had been given out. EOS then switched to offering 200,000 dollar-off coupons.
EOS products are available in select Target stores, major drugstore and supermarket chains nationwide, and online at www.evolutionofsmooth.com . A lotion will be made available in 2010.
