Late last month, US personal care product brand Gillette released its third razor collaboration with international lifestyle brand Rifle Paper Co. The collection, which includes two new product releases, is a unique marketing move intended to elevate a traditional personal beauty care product and the user’s in-shower experience to a more beautiful and pleasurable aesthetic.
As detailed in recently released data insights from NIQ’s 2022 Q4 Beauty & Personal Care Overview, both the hair removal and bath and shower categories experienced declines in US in-store purchasing habits in 2022 Q4 with 2% decreases respectively in YoY sales. The report further notes that Beauty & Personal Care categories, which include razor sales, continued to experience the effects of inflation with the gap between dollar and unit sales further widening and dollar sales continuing to grow and outpace unit sales in Q4 2022.
The revelations from this data serve to further emphasize the importance of a collaboration like Gillette x Rifle Paper Co.’s in 2023, whose marketing efforts will likely give a much-needed boost to products in this category. To learn more about the development and planning behind this collaboration, as well as the execution of the collection’s launch, CosmeticsDesign interviewed Dana Malcolm, Senior Brand Director at P&G Gillette for her insights.
CDU: What is the potential impact of this collaboration on the cosmetics and personal beauty care product industries?
DM: We find that shoppers are seeking out products that blend function with design, helping them make the most of every moment of their day and elevating products to help them express their individual personality. By partnering with a beloved brand known for its design, we can tap into this consumer desire and create a new way to place our brand and products in front of shoppers.
Collaborating with Rifle Paper Co. offered the perfect opportunity to reach our shared target consumer by bringing Anna Bond’s gorgeous designs to a curated selection of fan-favorite Venus products. We hope this collection will help women to bring more beauty into the everyday.
CDU: Is this partnership the first time Rifle Paper Co. has collaborated with Gillette? If so, how did the idea for the partnership develop from concept to launch?
DM: This is the third year of our partnership with Rifle Paper Co. When exploring the potential of such a collaboration, we knew that we wanted to partner with a brand that shared our values and desire to provide superior products and designs that women love. We were deeply inspired by how Anna Bond and Rifle Paper Co. have elevated everyday moments with gorgeous designs.
Anna’s hand-painted illustrations and distinctive color palette are the heart of Rifle Paper Co. and it’s this vision of a lush and richly textured world that has inspired millions of admirers. This collection enables us to delight our shoppers with an even more elevated moment for their beauty routine by infusing Anna’s hand-painted florals and bold colors with our Venus performance.
Women of all ages and backgrounds have products from both brands in their homes and we hope to extend their love for Anna’s designs into their bathrooms and showers by bringing the two brands together through this collaboration.
Venus x Rifle Paper Co. Shave Collection features hand-painted florals showcased on collection packaging, as well as on each of the razors. Keeping a fresh color palette, the collection features calming greens and delicate pinks, as well as illustrated citrus and colorful blooms. The collection was created to bring beautiful design to an unexpected place.
CDU: Were there any challenges that needed to be overcome during the product development process?
DM: When two brands with distinct and strong equities come together, it can be a delicate process to ensure that the results not only honor each brand but also, are a culmination of synergistic elements that will surprise and delight consumers. To ensure this, all elements from products to packaging to marketing were jointly created with a lot of care.
We are fortunate that our partnership with Rifle Paper Co has been incredibly collaborative. We are very proud of the Venus x Rifle Paper Co Collection and are positive that consumers will agree that it helps to bring joy to their every day.
CDU: How is the consumer demand for a product collaboration like this one measured?
DM: To best understand how to meet consumer needs, we regularly and actively monitor how shoppers are reacting to our brand and products. We closely observe a variety of factors like sales, impact of merchandising, geographical factors, on-shelf availability, and benchmarking versus other products to better inform marketing and product planning.
CDU: Are there any future plans for further collaborations between Rifle Paper Co. and Gillette?
DM: We don't have any future news to share but remain excited about new partnership with the Rifle Paper Co. Currently, we are focused on introducing shoppers to the latest collection featuring the Marguerite design.
CDU: Why did you decide to partner with Rifle Paper Co.?
Our Venus team is deeply inspired by how Anna Bond and Rifle Paper Co. has elevated everyday moments with gorgeous designs. Anna’s hand-painted illustrations and distinctive color palette are the heart of Rifle Paper Co and it’s this vision of a lush and richly textured world that has inspired millions of admirers.
This collection enables us to delight our shoppers with an even more elevated moment for their beauty routine by Infusing Anna’s hand-painted florals and bold colors with our Venus performance.
Women of all ages and backgrounds have products from both brands in their homes and we hope to extend their love for Anna’s designs into their bathrooms and showers by bringing the two brands together through this collaboration.
CDU: Anything else to add?
Statement on partnership from Trish Whalen, Rifle Paper Co. CEO: We are thankful for Gillette Venus’s partnership and excited to introduce the Venus x Rifle Paper Co. Shave Collection with designs exclusively available at Target and Target.com.
The collaboration gives us the opportunity to share Rifle Paper Co. with a new audience while engaging our current customers in a fresh way with a new product category and retail presence. Venus is an iconic brand recognized for incredible performance products and tools, and Target is known for innovation and love of design, making them both perfect partners for the brand.
We are thrilled to debut a collection that celebrates the beauty and function of design in a creative way.