NEW YORK — New Year’s is a time for reinvention, and Infusium 23 is ready for its makeover.
The mass market hair care line plans to kick off January with a bottle redesign and tweaks to its shampoo and conditioner formulas.
Infusium 23, a solutions-oriented line, has changed little since Procter & Gamble acquired it with Clairol in 2001. In 2004, P&G relaunched several Clairol hair care brands, including Aussie and Infusium 23, to better position them as midtier items. Eric Austin, assistant brand manager for Infusium 23, described those changes as “slight and unnoticeable.”
But now, Austin noted, Infusium 23 is attempting to keep up with consumer trends. The brand generated $36.8 million in retail sales, excluding Wal-Mart, for the 52-week period ended Nov. 5, according to Information Resources Inc. Austin cited the customer’s affinity for appealing packaging as a driving force behind the revamp. “Infusium has been around for years. Consumers love the product for what it does, but the packaging has been one of our barriers,” he said. The design’s new theme conveys a “modern apothecary,” said Austin. “We are trying to modernize the look and bring it to 2007.” The white “medicinal-looking” bottles of old will be replaced with a steel-blue, pearlized design.
“We are bringing out the science aspect of the brand on the bottles,” said Austin. To accomplish this, each step in a collection, from shampoo to conditioner to leave-in treatment, is numbered in order of suggested use, and product descriptions on the packaging have been pared down for a cleaner look.
The line comprises five collections based on various hair care needs: volume, repair, color care, moisture and frizz control. Each collection has been renamed to convey what Austin calls “the study of hair care.” For example, the moisturizing formulas have been dubbed “moisturologie.” But not all elements of Infusium needed fixing. Austin calls the leave-in treatments the brand’s “hero stockkeeping unit,” so the formulas were unchanged. “Now we really want to drive the sales of our shampoo and conditioners,” said Austin. The fragrance of each has been changed to a “very fresh, outdoorsy scent.” The shampoo formulation was changed to improve its lathering and cleansing abilities.
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All products are $6 each. Industry sources estimated sales of Infusium 23 would increase 10 percent in 2007.