The first ever Cosmopack Symposium New York took place Tuesday, September 23, designed to promote to the innovators in the Italian supply chain of technological cosmetics to the American East Coast beauty market. The prize is big: According to Euromonitor, in 2013 the U.S. beauty and personal care market generated $73.2 billion, and is expected to rise 1.6% at a compounded annual growth rate over the next five years, or $6.23 billion, to nearly $80 million.

 
The symposium, organized by Cosmoprof Worldwide Bologna, was attended by the Minister of the Environment, Gian Luca Galletti, who emphasized the value of Italian production, which he said is particularly recognized for its quality, natural profile, safety and environmental culture. Together with the President of BolognaFiere, Duccio Campagnoli, and the President of Cosmetica Italia, Fabio Rossello, more than 45 Italian and international companies attended the invite-only event to meet with representatives of the Association of American Manufacturers, as well as internationally known companies, such as Estée Lauder and L’Oréal.

 
The event included a series of workshops analyzing the B2B network, as well as a panel where executives revealed their secrets to success, featuring Dr. Robb Akridge from Clarisonic, Jane Iredale from Jane Iredale Mineral Makeup, Elana Drell Szyfer of Laura Geller Beauty, Anastasia Soare of Anastasia Beverly Hillsa and Kian Feyzgiu of Gotham Cosmetics.

 
Among the insights from the panel included:

 
Clarisonic’s Dr. Robb: Me and my team created a “blue ocean” with the development of sonic technology, which originated in oral care. But what came with transferring the technology into the beauty arena was the challenge of communicating its purpose to a market that had never heard of sonic technology. I credit Clarisonic’s packaging as critical to our success. We were a team of five people. We couldn’t make printed merchandising displays. We couldn’t advertise. Our packaging had to tell our whole story.

 
Laura Geller’s Elana: Laura Geller’s baked powder foundation was formulated and designed to transform women’s skin. It changed how they wore makeup and it set a course for an entire industry. It remains the collection’s number one selling sku 17 years after it was created. It’s important to find good partners. The best partners are those who are completely integrate into a brand’s strategy.

 
Jane Iredale: The authenticity of my product is what resonated most with consumers. When we first launched, the packaging of our products weren’t well liked. Our authenticity connected with the consumer and we communicated that with the transparency in our ingredients. That gave us a tremendous consumer following and created confidence. Authenticity trumps almost everything.

 
Anastasia: I was the first beauty entrepreneur to technically style brows based on face shape and bone structure. To take that one step further I decided to create products for this arena, because no one else was doing it. The hardest thing to match is skin to hair. I figured out a way to do it.

 
Kian: I think all companies should take note of the younger talent pool, especially if looking to penetrate the U.S. The U.S. likes fresh and new. The younger generation gives that.