Bringing Clarity to Brand Vision and Repositioning for Greater Relevance

The challenge

Faced with exploding demand for natural wellness and beauty products, combined with the rising popularity of niche beauty brands (sustainable, ethical and/or artisanal), sold online or in specialized stores (Sephora, Ulta), Lotus Aroma was seeing its market becoming increasingly saturated with competing brands. While there was still a limited “natural” offer in conventional drugstore skincare departments, the brand wanted to seize the opportunity to secure and grow its share of the market.

The fact that Lotus Aroma is based on high quality, 100% pure essential oils makes it clearly different from the beauty industry’s current offer, and makes it perfectly relevant with emerging consumer needs and trends. However, brand awareness was lacking in the market, especially in the skincare realm. In fact, it was not quite seen as a skincare brand by consumers, even though it did carry a few skincare products in its line. Lotus Aroma therefore needed to assert its positioning while preserving its essential oil key differentiators, clarify its brand vision and highlight its role within the category of natural wellness and skincare.

An immersive approach that uncovers essential insights

Brand diagnosis
In order to better understand consumer needs, identify market opportunities and Lotus Aroma’s conditions for success, and to carve out its place in the highly competitive category of natural beauty and skin care, BrandBourg:

• Conducted interviews with beauty specialists: cosmeticians, employees, external collaborators and category experts
• Visited various drugstores and health food stores
• Carried out data analyses (sales analysis, competitive environment, marketing and promotional plans, merchandising tools, in-store incentives, digital performance audit)
• Performed a thorough audit of global trends in essential oils and natural ingredients, skin care products and routines, competitive environment, emerging brands and rising needs (around the world and in other retail environments), packaging, pricing strategies, etc.

Collaborative workshops
BrandBourg’s collaborative approach was put to good use during this mandate and has proven, once again, its relevance and power. Thus, the development of the brand’s new positioning and the exploration of its potential visual territories were done jointly through various creative workshops with the client. In addition, co-creation sessions were conducted with the Dermolab team and Lotus Aroma’s target users to explore facial care product innovations based on skin care regimen and to define key development parameters for new facial care and sun care products.

The results: A holistic brand emerges

A contemporary, inspirational natural skincare brand that embodies Lotus Aroma’s DNA and essential oils heritage.

Positioning of a new inclusive brand focused on users’ functional and emotional needs, that addresses beauty in a holistic manner.

• Beauty is about being beautiful inside and out (inner beauty, radiance or glow)
• Balance and harmony of mind and body: benefits provided by the unique high-quality skin care formulations that combine textures and aromatherapy (pure essential oils found in all Lotus Aroma products)
• Definition of the target consumer: looking for value-added, multi-purpose, multi-benefit and easy-to-use products, reasonably priced, with natural and worry-free ingredients, simple and efficient routines, and eco-friendly packaging.

Brand signature: Radiant. Naturally. (Rayonnante, naturellement)

Logo :

• Blue lettering, a tribute to Lotus Aroma’s iconic little blue bottle.
• Slightly raised “o” that evokes the sun’s trajectory across the sky or the “elevation” part of the brand’s promise. The same device is also being used as a navigation tool.

Development of brand identity elements :

• Navigation systems: Instead of navigating by classic skin care categories (product type, age or skin condition, or skin type), we took the approach of categorizing the product offer by mood and benefits provided by the essential oils contained in each product:
  • Prevent & Protect
  • Uplift & Energize
  • Cleanse & Purify

• The same classification is used for the core products of the brand (essential oils with a single base, and blends) and for skin care products. It reinforces Lotus Aroma’s essential oils heritage, expertise and uniqueness. Both newcomers and connoisseurs can easily navigate, explore, and learn about their properties and benefits in a very intuitive and accessible manner. Each halo of colour has a different position on the packaging in order to better differentiate the product moods/benefits and increase merchandising impact (colour blocks).
• Ingredients chart: Ingredients are at the heart of essential oils. In order to make essential oils accessible and educate consumers about their various benefits and functions, BrandBourg came up with an ingredient-based chart with a scientific signature that mimics the periodic table of elements in chemistry. and is balanced with naturalness and real representation of each ingredient’s source — a flower, plant or fruit. This visual tool is implemented in the various communication assets of the brand, such as packaging, merchandising and its website.

New product packaging:

BrandBourg worked on the development of the new packaging platform for 4 new facial care products that were launched in spring 2021, both online and across national drugstore banners: Daily Face Cream, Mousse Cleanser, Soothing Mist and Face Sunscreen.