PURPLE BLAB

At a later date, I must come back to Space.NK – it’s a loooong story, sort of like dating the guy you always, always had a crush on only to find out he’s a terrible kisser!

But now we’re back on the press kit. I was finally able to nip, tuck, finish.

PR 101: Editors, writers, journalists, media types, bloggers… they get hundreds of press kits and product samples every week. When you’re in their position, everyone wants you to cover them so they drench you in product.

I still have 37 hand creams, 46 conditioners, 7 eye creams, 18 toners, 3 foot creams, and an entire shelf of SPF and self tanner left over from the good ‘ole days of my swag-a-licious life as a reporter (and that was about five years ago so imagine what I had back then! It was mayhem, I tell you. Mayhem. My friends constantly came over to pilfer my stash).

The problem when you get so much loot? You get jaded. The more you see, the more discerning you become, the harder it is for brands to stand out. 90% of the products I received went to interns, my housekeeper, friends, the cab driver on the way home from an event. Brands need to cut through the clutter. They must stand out at every touch point.

A strong visual impact for our press kit was vital. No product of mine was to be relegated to the trash bin, i.e. no plain white folders, please!

JD showed me a rendering of a custom $5 folder, about 6×10″, in a gradient purple with fuchsia metallic hot stamping (the official color – Crown 750 foil). I melted. I would need 1,000. Yes, that is 5k on folders.

Todd raised his eyebrow in suspicion. “You’re spending how much…???”

“Baby, we need it. We’re new. We need to pop,” I explained, some how convincing him. It was not an option for me to go any other way. I’m kind of stubborn when it comes to design and imaging.

To fill the folder, we used super duper cardstock – printed on both sides, one with info, the other with repeated logo graphics and lip print marks a la Murakami/Louis Vuitton (dare I compare myself!). The point was that as we had new press releases and info to send out, we could just send cards and everyone would have the folders and just insert them. It was actually saving money in the long run, I justified to myself.

Side note: the other self justification I love when buying something beyond my price range – I divide the number of times I’ll wear it by the price and then convince myself that that is really the price! Works every time.

In went a cover page – a Marilyn Minter (my fave photographer – Tom Ford collects her work which is very sexy and raw) inspired close up of a mouth with the Huge Lips Skinny Hips logo inside.

It was followed by the press release, about Purple Lab, my bio, the product sheet about star ingredients, a page for each color and its inspiration, and lastly, a contact page for PR.

When all was said and done, it was a $15 press kit. Doesn’t sound like it’s that bad when you look at the price for one. But need I remind you that there were 1,000?

Remember that savings I was dipping into? It was near gone.

I didn’t even mention that there was the little issue of what these things would be in when they’re sent.  God forbid, a brown paper bag with a label on it. The bags I really wanted were out of our price range – and Todd put his foot down, rightfully so! But they were pretty amazing – glossy white. Instead of string handles, the handles were cut out in a triangle shape at the top of the bag.

Alas, I could not have them. So we customzied white bags and hot stamped them with our logo and what would become our signature lip print mark (Mwah!) in the crown 750 foil we used on our box and component. Consistency is key. Then we added tissue paper of a hot pink shade to match. See below.

All of this culminates into the business plan and money. We needed both and the real stuff hadn’t even begun yet.  The topic for next week. Catch up then!

Mwah!

Karen

Purple Lab Creatrix

Tags: Appetite Suppressant, Beauty, Hoodia, huge lips skinny hips, Karen Robinovitz, Lip gloss, Lip Plumper, Makeup, Purple Lab PR

This entry was posted on Monday, June 29th, 2009 at 8:19 am and is filed under Purple Lab Behind the Scenes, Purple Lab PR. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.