Australia makes its mark on the men's grooming market

The new range has caught the eye of marketers and retailers in Australia and is already said to have carved out a significant niche for itself since its soft launch three months ago.

The next stage will be to fully launch the product in Australia in August followed by plans to launch in the UK towards the end of the year and continental Europe and North America during 2007.

"We decided on a local 'soft launch' strategy because it enabled us to fine-tune our products and ensure our systems were running smoothly to cope with future overseas expansion plans,"​ said Stephen Damiani, BioBotanics managing director.

The range includes cleansing products, which has an active enzyme facial cleanser, shaving products, including a cream and oil as well as hydration products that include a 24-hour facial moisturizer. The range is also set to be extended to include perfect and protect skin care products.

The company says that the range has been formulated from select ingredients sourced in Australia, including Certified Organic and Wild Harvest active ingredients.

This means the company is able to pledge that its formulations are free of petrochemicals, synthetic colours and fragrances, sulfates, phosphates, DEA, TEA, MEA, cocoamide, paraben, urea, mineral oils, animal products, propylene glycol and PEGs.

Added to the innovative product range is a distinct packaging design, which Damiani, says has also gained the company significant recognition.

"In order to deliver on this value proposition the packaging system had to not only be aesthetically pleasing but had also be functionally effective at the formulation level to ensure the product's contents were delivered without the use of harsh synthetic preservatives,"​ said Damiani.

The packaging incorporates an Airless Pump, as well as other parts from Sonoco, TechnoPlas and Colorpak. But perhaps the biggest innovation comes in the design, which was carried out by James Revansdale.

It has avoided the stereotypical graphite and metallic design that often adorns male grooming products, and instead has gone for red, cream and blue in an effort to convey a harmonious scheme that is in keeping with the colours prevalent in the Australian outback.

Indeed the packaging has been nominated for the Australian Packaging Awards 2006.

Another innovation behind the launch is the marketing approach, which, together with the soft retail launch in Australia, has also featured international on-line sales.

Damiani says that because of its marketing campaign in Australia, the market has proved the leading one for on-line sales, but this has been supported by considerable sales in the UK, USA, Germany and Singapore.

The encouraging response from its international on-line sales leads the company to believe that there will be big opportunities for the range on the international market, which will soon be backed up by the retail launch in the UK.