Smuuti Skin
The cooperation with Beautyko Import, Finland’s largest importer of Korean cosmetics, which started in 2021, opened up the opportunity to design both the brand image and packaging concept for a new Finnish cosmetics brand. Smuuti Skin, based on Korean skincare principles, is designed specifically for Gen Z, so it was important that the visual identity was high-quality and appealing to young people, noteworthy and distinctive from the competition, as well as fitting the target group’s values and budget.
Customer
Smuuti Skin
Service
Brand & Identity, Packaging Design, Presentation, Illustrations, Trade Show Stand, Marketing Materials, Point of Sales, Promo Materials
Korean cosmetics for all
Cosmetics trends emphasise K-beauty, natural cosmetics, and veganism, but these are mainly available in specialist cosmetic shops. Beautyko Import identified a clear niche market to bring Korean cosmetics to the supermarkets for all. The target group was engaged in the design process through A/B testing, allowing them to comment on the brand image and the appearance of the packaging already at the design stage. The work also included a comprehensive competitor survey to ensure that the product packaging would stand out on store shelves. The careful background work resulted in a brand image and a scalable packaging concept, which has enabled new product ranges with delicious ingredients.
Distinctive packaging design
Even before the launch, Smuuti Skin’s products heavily hyped on social media. When Smuuti Skin was launched in January 2023, all products were sold out in all Prisma hypermarkets in Finland within just two days. The success was driven by a niche market: the right target group and its engagement early on, the attractiveness of the brand and packaging, price and easy availability, as well as Smuuti Skin’s clever use of social media. Our work succeeded in getting a select customer profile to choose these products from all competing brands for their shopping basket. When our customers succeed, we succeed.
The role of the brand and packaging concept designer is not just to design beautiful packaging, but to get a defined customer profile to choose that particular product from all the competing brands.
Marketing that reaches
Smuuti Skin’s marketing excels in its versatility, inventiveness and playfulness. While the company also uses traditional marketing channels such as magazine and spotlight advertising, during our partnership we have also designed more cohesive promotional products – playful characters are featured on stickers and bath towels that come with the PR packages, and they have also found their way onto soft key rings and foil balls.
Diverse and visually inventive marketing increases your company’s visibility, attracts interest and reaches a wide audience beyond your main target group.
Brand visibility in Finland and worldwide
Smuuti Skin’s in-store marketing and POS materials emphasise playfulness, deliciousness and distinctiveness. Our team’s desks have produced a diverse range of stand concepts of different shapes and sizes for domestic retailers and cosmetics stores, such as displays for Sokos beauty weeks, shelf terminals for Kicks stores, stair and floor stands for Prisma hypermarkets, along with product display materials for Lyko stores. Floor stickers, shelf buffers, various ceiling and table materials, and brochures. When designing the spaces and stands, we use illustrative images to make it easy to visualise the planned layout and sales materials before they are physically implemented.
The team
Virpi Vainio
Virpi, who leads Höyry’s Oulu office, is a versatile expert in design and marketing communications with 18 years of experience. Her dual Master of Arts degrees have proven to be an unbeatable combination in the field. Virpi’s strengths include brand building, customer insight, and concept and campaign design.
Sini Liikanen
Sini, soon graduating with a Master of Arts from the University of Lapland, is a designer with skills in layout design, advertising, and the design and delivery of websites. She has also built previous work experience in journalism, which is why writing and content creation are close to her heart as well.
