Orly International has introduced a new sophisticated look in all company facets, including an updated logo, packaging, in-store displays and a newly designed website. And yes, business cards were tweaked, too – every Orly employee now has a selection of six cards in the brand’s best-selling shades, complete with color name and number.
The changes were spurred three years ago when Senior Vice President of Marketing, Carina Breda, launched a consumer market research study, which then took the Hollywood, Ca.-based company on their re-branding journey.
“There were a lot of positive things we found out about from the research. Consumers and professionals think Orly is ‘warm and approachable.’ The user sees it as their ‘best friend and confidante.’ There’s a very friendly, familial feel to it,” said John Galea, Orly’s Advertising and Communications Manager.
But the research also showed that some of the company’s communication pieces were “cluttered” and “without much direction.”
Orly, which is privately-owned and generates an estimated $45 million a year, according to industry sources, is sold in more than 100 countries worldwide and is available in professional salons nationwide.
“We took the best of what people said they liked and paid attention to the barriers. So the result was a more streamlined and modern approach,” said John.
Orly tapped a creative agency to refine the process but all art direction was done by their in house art department.
One example is the Orly logo.
“Research showed people thought the ‘O’ in Orly was too big. So we came up with a more modern, uniform look,” John said. Now, all the letters in the brand’s name are the same size.
Also, Orly’s lacquer bottles were tweaked to better showcase the nail color housed inside: The brand’s famous gripper cap remains unchanged, however, caps are now black, which along with a more uniform logo, aims to make the color inside the bottle really pop. Orly’s treatment box imagery also touts a more uniform logo; each category is color coded with a matching display for easier merchandising.
“We found that our displays were too masculine and heavy before,” John said. In-store and salon displays are now white and modular that can adjust to a client’s needs.
The brand’s website, orlybeauty.com, was redesigned to reflect the new, sleek Orly as well. The site is more streamlined, has substantially more white space and includes a carousel where it can highlight products. Featured lacquer collections can link directly to the brand’s social media platform.
“What we want to build on is making it a destination for color trends and how-to videos,” John said.
Orly works 18 months in advance for trends and looks—not just to get at the colors that are going to be asked for, but the cultural and the psychological reasons why these colors are popular.
Its ad campaign—It All Started With Pink—launched in the summer and refers to the company’s Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Jeff Pink, who founded Orly in 1975 when he created a natural nail look to help screen actresses speed up the time between wardrobe changes. Once it hit the runways in Paris, Jeff named the look the French Manicure.
