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WEBpackaging’s CEO Duncan Briffett recently sat down to review the state of the packaging industry with expert packaging professional and MWV’s Vice President of Beauty & Personal Care Global Sales Guillaume de Demandolx. In today’s market, as Mr. de Demandolx says,” innovation is crucial and packaging professionals have to figure out how to bring value to the product and brand”.
MWV unveiled its packaging solutions from the Melodie Spray Collection: Melodie Agile and Melodie Forever. These new fragrance pumps evoke an emotion through different spray patterns when actuating, pairing the essence of a fragrance with its perfect spray partner.
When asked about the Melodie collection Mr. de Demandolx commented,
It is all about controlling the pressure you build in the pump when pressing the actuator, combined with our technology to master spray pattern and particle sizes... to offer really different consumer experience to spray its favourite fragrance.
This is a new concept designed to further the emotional appeal of fragrance through packaging, and impacts the way consumers perceive the scent, conscious or not.
Melodie Forever: A prolonged, fine atomization for an airy, voluminous spray. Consumers can adjust each dose for nuances in the spray.
Melodie Agile: A fine powerful dispersion for luxury fragrances.
The R&D team at MWV take their job very seriously and are constantly bringing ideas to the table. Their central development locations for fragrance are in Barcelona and Milan where they must contend with industry issues such as how to add technology to packaging, make products both functional and appealing to consumers at point-of-purchase, and assure that the packaging solutions are convenient – all things Mr. de Demandolx considers as top challenges today.
MWV has a global footprint with manufacturing facilities around the world and the company headquarters located in the US in Richmond, Virginia. In addition to the fragrance centre of excellence in Barcelona, they also manufacture the Melodie Spray Collection in Mexico for the North American market, as well as in Brazil. When Mr. Briffett asked how a company like MWV is able to monitor quality at all its locations, Mr. de Demandolx responded:
There are many processes and tests involved. Of course we have a look at our manufacturing processes and capabilities to make sure the process itself is fully under control. We do dimension checks and so on. 100% of our pumps are tested online and checked for performance and priming.
Despite current economic uncertainty, MWV continues to focus on the basics and continue growth. Recently having announced big investment in Brazil and acquisition in India, the company consistently demonstrates an interest in its international commitments. In terms of innovation, MWV always has projects in the pipeline, and Mr. de Demandolx recognizes specifically that today, health and beauty care is a really robust market in which MWV is working on breakthrough technology where they see an opportunity.
WEBpackaging CEO Duncan Briffett:
Could you tell us a little about your latest product?
MWV Vice President Guillaume de Demandolx:
It is all about controlling the pressure you build in the pump when pressing the trigger and handling the actuator. You can play with the actuator lens. Being able to spray difficult formulas is something we have developed over the years in the US and in Europe. Our sprayers offer really different ways to spray and release the particles, and appeal to different markets. We saw a gap in the industry to offer different sprayers that convey the emotions of fragrances through the type of spray. We combine our expertise with the brand to convey its emotion. In the end people buy a fragrance for the smell, but our consumer insights work proves that beyond that people react to different sprays, the force makes a difference – conscious or not. It effects your emotions and so on. This impacts the way we perceive fragrance so we need to match what the consumer and the brand owner are trying to convey.
Duncan Briffett:
Do you work with the brand owner or the consumer or both?
Guillaume de Demandolx:
Both. In this case we worked more with the consumer directly. And now we are working with the brand owner to see which spray they want to develop. Companies say, none of the sprays I have today are exactly what I want. Can we develop that? And we can do that with our R&D resources. We’ve proven we can do that.
Duncan Briffett:
Where is the R&D for these sprays done?
Guillaume de Demandolx:
Between Barcelona and Milan. Those are our central fragrance locations. It is where we make most of our fragrance bottles and pumps.
Also, we have manufactured this product in Mexico and Brazil, and would for example in Asia if there was a demand for it there too. We have capabilities in Mexico for the North American market and capabilities in Brazil too.
Duncan Briffett:
And a product like this is all about the quality of the product. It has to be extremely accurate to be able to work...
Guillaume de Demandolx:
Yes, if there is one defect and the product doesn’t work that is it. It is your perfume and of course you are expecting it to work.
Duncan Briffett:
So how do you ensure the quality of these manufacturing plants around the world?
MWV Vice President Guillaume de Demandolx:
There are many processes and tests involved. Of course we have a look at our manufacturing processes and capabilities to make sure the process itself is fully under control. We do dimension checks and so on. 100% of our pumps are tested online and checked for leakage and priming.
Duncan Briffett:
So this is cutting-edge, state-of-the-art perfume spray technology today...
MWV Vice President Guillaume de Demandolx:
Yes. I believe that you would not find something in the show better than this. I think we have strong, good, very respectable competitors. Some of them are leaders. In the past few years I think we have been bringing new technology into the stream starting with the invisible dip tube that a lot of people already know of. The initial feedback I am getting from customers on those new sprays is very positive and it will be soon seen in the market. It’s already available but it is going to be officially launched soon, and the initial feedback we got was very positive.
Duncan Briffett:
So this is today, what about tomorrow? Are there more exciting developments in the pipeline?
Guillaume de Demandolx:
Yes, there always are. I think the next few big things you will see from us over the next few months might not be in fragrance, but in other innovations. Today health and beauty care is really robust and we are working on breakthrough technology, and have been for some time. It takes some time to get this stuff to the market. Some of our core products have been available for a while, but we are trying to improve and match consumers up with our design capabilities and innovation capabilities to bring something new to the market.
Duncan Briffett:
What’s the biggest single topic for you right now?
Guillaume de Demandolx:
Despite the financial problems that we face in Europe and the uncertainty of the upcoming months MWV still has growth. There is economic instability for everybody, but we just announced an acquisition in India for big business on the packaging side so we are subtly increasing our presence in India. We are just finishing an investment in Brazil on the paperboard side too and I think we are interested in how can we manage ourselves in other countries.
I think people are discovering that it can be hard to find packaging that competes on the shelf, consumers tend to be less loyal and a lot of consumer decisions are made on the shelf. Having packaging that is more attractive and brings more convenience and has more functionality beyond just an image is important. Also, how you can bring technology to packaging is crucial.
Duncan Briffett:
Great. Thank you very much indeed. It has been great speaking with you.
