Freestyle eco – fresh concepts for sustainable beauty innovations

Pink has become the new green, and nature and sustainability are now a massive trend, which one everyone’s talking about. However, the ubiquity has a downside – the concept is becoming diluted and clichéd. Fragrance house Düllberg Konzentra has successfully tackled the challenge of recharging nature and sustainability by injecting them fresh ideas and humour.

THE RISING ECO-CONSCIOUSNESS of consumers globally – and particularly in the last 20 years – has catapulted sustainability to the forefront.

‘Meeting our own needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’, is the most common description of what sustainability means to consumers. This places great responsibility on enterprises, society and consumers. Many have already embraced the new mindset quite happily.

At the same time, sustainability has become much more: it’s a lifestyle and an emotion, largely due to its multifaceted nature. It can mean eco-friendly, fairly produced, organic, regional or seasonal – or a combination of all of these. It is also evolving.

“Sustainability used to be synonymous with sacrifice, avoidance and a bad conscience, yet it has acquired a new slant. It no longer means deprivation and is more attuned to pleasure. Sustainability can be aesthetically pleasing and huge fun,” explains Christian Lüke, head of R&D and marketing at the Hamburg fragrance house Düllberg Konzentra.

IMPLICATIONS OF SHIFTING PERCEPTIONS

“Naturalness and sustainability have become mainstream,” Lüke comments. “That’s especially obvious in the start-up scene: a product innovation aiming for longevity simply has to have a compelling sustainable and aesthetic approach, otherwise it doesn’t stand a chance.”

However, this ‘new normal’ has become a bit dull – particularly in appearance.

He adds: “In the beauty industry, the ‘natural’ look that has dominated since the 1990s is beginning to look dated. Marketing and product communication are faced with the challenge of developing the sustainable products that consumers want, but at the same time stand out from the mass. Our concepts offer a fresh, novel approach to help clients achieve this goal.”

INNOVATIVE FRAGRANCE FORMULATIONS

Düllberg Konzentra demonstrates how to approach the topic of nature and sustainability with humour and irony using a fun, engaging brand for skin care products.

Freaky opens up a new playing field for how we think about sustainability – and shows that you can take a serious topic and make it even more impactful by adding some fun.

“For us, ‘go green’ means – ‘go freestyle’,” exclaims Lüke!

The underlying idea extends beyond launching appealing new fragrance formulations. Freaky is an overall concept consisting of several products, complete with matching colour worlds and sophisticated wording. It is a world that seems to have been turned on its head. It offers natural formulations that imitate synthetic ingredients and are then garnished with a colourful retro vibe.

“Eco bling is playfully cheeky with effective textures and intentionally loud, bold colors. Of course, all the ingredients, materials and formulations are eco-friendly and sustainable,” he says. “Retro pop takes a different approach and is an ironically kitsch homage to the late 80s and the beginning of the 90s – think early Photoshop, MTV style and Stranger Things.”

The ranges poke fun at the greenwashing of modern marketing.

“Terms like ‘naturalness’ and ‘sustainability’ have lost their appeal, while buzzwords such as ‘vegan’, ‘gluten-free’, ‘lactose-free’, ‘caffeinefree’ and even ‘frutan’ have spilled over into other areas of life, reaching far beyond food and cosmetics into fashion, furniture, toys or even travel,” says Lisa Achilles, a marketing expert at Düllberg Konzentra.

She advises brands to be cautious when using perceivably positive descriptions such as ‘vegan’.

“They do not necessarily contribute to the success of a product, even if they are applicable. This is because what is appealing to one person, could be interpreted as irrelevant by another, resulting in them not buying your product,” adds Achilles.

STRIKING BACK WITH HUMOUR AND CREATIVITY

Freaky uses obviously absurd and lurid eco-declarations to poke fun in an ironic way at the excessive use of greenwashing in product marketing and brand communications. Achilles describes this as ‘a peaceful yet powerful form of activism’.

“We are parodying the way that some consumers seem to want to see a long list of hip green words,” she says.

The result is astonishing ingredients like 100% caffeine-free lavender, lactose-free raspberry and sugar-free rosemary. Düllberg Konzentra’s recipe is to counter media overkill and overcommunication with humour and consumer insights.

Achilles adds: “We don’t want to put the absurd in ‘eco’. On the contrary, we want to celebrate nature and sustainability with deep appreciation and at the same time illuminate a questionable trend in an ironic way. We are striking back with reason, using our sharpest weapons: humour and creativity.” •

Düllberg Konzentra – www.duellberg-konzentra.de/en

UNUSUAL FORMULATIONS FOR SUSTAINABILITY WITH A SMILE

Düllberg’s freaky brand includes a variety of product concepts:

1. Natural fruit-energy cream with pure power berries is formulated with 100% lactose-free raspberry combined with passion fruit and cranberry extracts. For the fragrance, Düllberg Konzentra has created a fresh, fruity composition with a light sweet note: mandarin, lemon and orange in the top note; passion fruit and raspberries at the heart and a base of sandalwood and vanilla.

2. Super-natural relaxing cream with 100% caffeine-free lavender and eucalyptus hits the spot with an aromatic, herbal, oriental blend of bergamot, orange and coconut in the top note, lavender and eucalyptus at the heart and patchouli and vanilla at the base.

3. Elemental force cream, a natural herb bomb, brings 100% sugar-free rosemary and mint to the game, kicking off with lemon and a green accord, adding rosemary, thyme, mint and geranium at the heart and finishing on a note of cedar wood.