Tom Branna, Editorial Director05.19.21
More than a year into the pandemic, consumers said they’re exhausted and unable to concentrate. These feelings don’t rise to clinical depression, but experts say they can result in feelings of general dissatisfaction and feeling “tired of it all.” With this kind of lingering brain fog, it’s no wonder more consumers say they have feelings of general unhappiness.
Therefore, it comes as no surprise Unilever found success with Find Your Happy Place, its line of sensorial bath and body products designed to create an experiential and holistic experience to uplift the consumer’s mood.
“We know that today’s consumer is looking for small ways to build wellness into their lives as a way to help manage everyday stress,” explained Greg Ross, VP-skin cleansing, Unilever. “Using this insight, we created Find Your Happy Place to help consumers reclaim bath time so they can find a little peace amidst everyday stress.”
Of course, Find Your Happy Place formulas are not a clinical solution to eliminate stress and anxiety, but they are intended to create a holistic sensorial experience to uplift mood during or after a bath or shower. Ross admits that people may not necessarily be thinking about their happy place on a conscious level, so Find Your Happy Place aims to make one’s exploration of different scents and mindsets during bath time a more purposeful practice of accessible self-care through the bath and body collections.
That self-care translates into more bath time, too. Ross said bath usage is up compared to past years, driven primarily by young and polycultural women. Consumers are increasingly seeking more pampering behaviors for self-care moments, including dual bath and shower moments. Additionally, through its consumer research, Unilever uncovered that we are all more stressed than ever before. Ross cites Kaiser Permanente data in which 55% of American adults say they experience a lot of stress during the day.
“We created Find Your Happy Place in partnership with Walmart to provide an accessible form of self-care that helps everyone find a little peace amidst life’s daily stress – even if just for a moment,” he explained.
Ross called Walmart a great partner to co-create Find Your Happy Place. So far, Unilever is getting very positive consumer feedback around the brand and the collections. With the launch of the March collections, Unilever also introduced new formats that include body mist, hand sanitizer, foaming handwash, bath salts and even candles.
News of Notes
Not all personal care products performed the same during the pandemic. According to Ann Gottlieb, the fragrance industry veteran behind the launch of CK One back in 1994, deodorant sales, shampoo sales, and personal care products in general declined during the pandemic because people were showering less because they were home most of the time.
“The surprising thing is that fragrance and fragranced product sales increased because – as the name of the collection implies—fragrance makes you happy,” she explained. “The name and positioning of Find Your Happy Place could not have been better timed with the challenging year.”
Gottlieb noted that fruity notes have resonated greatly with American women.
“With fruits also came a new sweetness that seemed to be energizing as well. This love affair with fruity accords continues and is very much in evident in the Find Your Happy Place fragrance collections,” said Gottlieb.
As for more ambiguous concepts like After the Rain, ambiguity allowed for multiple interpretations of the concept. Unilever chose a green outdoors, nature-inspired fragrance that fit the positioning indicated by this nature-inspired name.
According to Gottlieb, the notes and accords used to create the Find Your Happy Place fragrances come from a palette that literally explodes with thousands of ingredients from which to choose in creating a fragrance.
“Along with the perfumers with whom we worked, ingredients were deliberately chosen because they were reminiscent of some of the happy places consumers identified,” she said. “For example, blue rose and magnolia were the lead florals that helped cue the romantic feeling needed for Wrapped in Your Arms, while succulent fruits such as berries and white peaches were used to suggest summer for Summertime Sprinklers.”
Find Your Happy Place launched earlier this year, but Ross said it is not too soon to expand the line. He explained that consumers who shop in the specialty bath category are always looking for new and seasonal products and scents, and with the creation of Find Your Happy Place Unilever wanted to embrace seasonality and offer a portfolio to reflect that.
“We have seen that when we launch new seasonal collections, shoppers flock to those fragrances,” he told Happi. “For instance, our new Summertime Sprinklers collection is our best-seller at the moment. We want to continue to expand into fragrances that are tied to those nostalgic moments that people love.”
Crowd-Sourced Happiness
Find Your Happy Place actually crowdsources happy places from real consumers to inspire new product collections. For Gottlieb, both the challenge and fun of what she does is to translate an image into scent. In this case, the specific happy places were so well defined that it made her job, along with that of the perfumers, easier to create appropriate scents to celebrate each place.
“Because this collection was broad enough to identify quite a number of happy places such as Sunkissed Ocean Waves and Sweet Treats, we were able to capitalize on many of these ingredients to represent them,” she told Happi.
Gottlieb said she was drawn to the Happy Place project because it was creative, relevant for today and filled an important gap within the Walmart franchise.
“Partnering with Walmart, we gained insight into their consumers and were able to create a line specifically with them in mind,” she recalled.
Unlike her other projects, Happy Place is the first collection Gottlieb worked on that is targeted to a specific consumer where fragrance type, diversity, trend and price were all taken into account.
“To see it come to life and see it succeeding is very gratifying,” she said.
Ross said Unilever’s No. 1 priority is continuing to meet all of our consumers’ needs and interests.
“When there is a space in the portfolio or an unmet consumer need, we will look to expand our product offering – whether it’s through product innovation, incubation of a new brand or collaborating with a retailer such as Walmart,” he added.
What’s Ahead for Fine Fragrance
Gottlieb said it is an interesting time for fragrance because there are several trends, each reflective of a certain scent area. The nature/wellness trend consists of scents with notes that identify with nature such as eucalyptus and mint, as well as sea and sky notes. Fruity notes also continue to be popular because they suggest happiness, positive energy and just simply a feeling of good.
“Taking into account the fragrance trends, the Find Your Happy place products were created with emphasis on a cornucopia of fruity notes, plus the warm, rich, gourmand territories that connote comfort, also a key trend,” she explained.
Gottlieb said fine fragrance is moving into genderless territory. She observed that woods, ambers, accords that connote sunshine plus addictive gourmand notes resonate well with both men and women and will continue. The fragrances in personal care products trickle down from more premium offerings. No surprise then that notes found in brown sugar and caramel (Sweet Treats) and white birch and jasmine (After the Rain) that are found in the Find Your Happy Place scents are indicative of this phenomenon.
But no matter the fragrance preference, Ross reiterated that Walmart has been an exceptional partner to launch Find Your Happy Place.
“Walmart is a one-stop-shop for consumers to get all their household needs filled at great value,” concluded Ross. “Our hope is that as consumers are shopping for their everyday essential items, they can also be inspired by discovering exciting new products designed to deliver specific benefits at a great price. Find Your Happy Place is designed to help people Save Money & Live Better by providing a little positivity and peace of mind with every product experience.”
Positivity and peace of mind; two ideas that remain in short supply even as the world slowly emerges from the grips of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Therefore, it comes as no surprise Unilever found success with Find Your Happy Place, its line of sensorial bath and body products designed to create an experiential and holistic experience to uplift the consumer’s mood.
“We know that today’s consumer is looking for small ways to build wellness into their lives as a way to help manage everyday stress,” explained Greg Ross, VP-skin cleansing, Unilever. “Using this insight, we created Find Your Happy Place to help consumers reclaim bath time so they can find a little peace amidst everyday stress.”
Of course, Find Your Happy Place formulas are not a clinical solution to eliminate stress and anxiety, but they are intended to create a holistic sensorial experience to uplift mood during or after a bath or shower. Ross admits that people may not necessarily be thinking about their happy place on a conscious level, so Find Your Happy Place aims to make one’s exploration of different scents and mindsets during bath time a more purposeful practice of accessible self-care through the bath and body collections.
That self-care translates into more bath time, too. Ross said bath usage is up compared to past years, driven primarily by young and polycultural women. Consumers are increasingly seeking more pampering behaviors for self-care moments, including dual bath and shower moments. Additionally, through its consumer research, Unilever uncovered that we are all more stressed than ever before. Ross cites Kaiser Permanente data in which 55% of American adults say they experience a lot of stress during the day.
“We created Find Your Happy Place in partnership with Walmart to provide an accessible form of self-care that helps everyone find a little peace amidst life’s daily stress – even if just for a moment,” he explained.
Ross called Walmart a great partner to co-create Find Your Happy Place. So far, Unilever is getting very positive consumer feedback around the brand and the collections. With the launch of the March collections, Unilever also introduced new formats that include body mist, hand sanitizer, foaming handwash, bath salts and even candles.
News of Notes
Not all personal care products performed the same during the pandemic. According to Ann Gottlieb, the fragrance industry veteran behind the launch of CK One back in 1994, deodorant sales, shampoo sales, and personal care products in general declined during the pandemic because people were showering less because they were home most of the time.
“The surprising thing is that fragrance and fragranced product sales increased because – as the name of the collection implies—fragrance makes you happy,” she explained. “The name and positioning of Find Your Happy Place could not have been better timed with the challenging year.”
Gottlieb noted that fruity notes have resonated greatly with American women.
“With fruits also came a new sweetness that seemed to be energizing as well. This love affair with fruity accords continues and is very much in evident in the Find Your Happy Place fragrance collections,” said Gottlieb.
As for more ambiguous concepts like After the Rain, ambiguity allowed for multiple interpretations of the concept. Unilever chose a green outdoors, nature-inspired fragrance that fit the positioning indicated by this nature-inspired name.
According to Gottlieb, the notes and accords used to create the Find Your Happy Place fragrances come from a palette that literally explodes with thousands of ingredients from which to choose in creating a fragrance.
“Along with the perfumers with whom we worked, ingredients were deliberately chosen because they were reminiscent of some of the happy places consumers identified,” she said. “For example, blue rose and magnolia were the lead florals that helped cue the romantic feeling needed for Wrapped in Your Arms, while succulent fruits such as berries and white peaches were used to suggest summer for Summertime Sprinklers.”
Find Your Happy Place launched earlier this year, but Ross said it is not too soon to expand the line. He explained that consumers who shop in the specialty bath category are always looking for new and seasonal products and scents, and with the creation of Find Your Happy Place Unilever wanted to embrace seasonality and offer a portfolio to reflect that.
“We have seen that when we launch new seasonal collections, shoppers flock to those fragrances,” he told Happi. “For instance, our new Summertime Sprinklers collection is our best-seller at the moment. We want to continue to expand into fragrances that are tied to those nostalgic moments that people love.”
Crowd-Sourced Happiness
Find Your Happy Place actually crowdsources happy places from real consumers to inspire new product collections. For Gottlieb, both the challenge and fun of what she does is to translate an image into scent. In this case, the specific happy places were so well defined that it made her job, along with that of the perfumers, easier to create appropriate scents to celebrate each place.
“Because this collection was broad enough to identify quite a number of happy places such as Sunkissed Ocean Waves and Sweet Treats, we were able to capitalize on many of these ingredients to represent them,” she told Happi.
Gottlieb said she was drawn to the Happy Place project because it was creative, relevant for today and filled an important gap within the Walmart franchise.
“Partnering with Walmart, we gained insight into their consumers and were able to create a line specifically with them in mind,” she recalled.
Unlike her other projects, Happy Place is the first collection Gottlieb worked on that is targeted to a specific consumer where fragrance type, diversity, trend and price were all taken into account.
“To see it come to life and see it succeeding is very gratifying,” she said.
Ross said Unilever’s No. 1 priority is continuing to meet all of our consumers’ needs and interests.
“When there is a space in the portfolio or an unmet consumer need, we will look to expand our product offering – whether it’s through product innovation, incubation of a new brand or collaborating with a retailer such as Walmart,” he added.
What’s Ahead for Fine Fragrance
Gottlieb said it is an interesting time for fragrance because there are several trends, each reflective of a certain scent area. The nature/wellness trend consists of scents with notes that identify with nature such as eucalyptus and mint, as well as sea and sky notes. Fruity notes also continue to be popular because they suggest happiness, positive energy and just simply a feeling of good.
“Taking into account the fragrance trends, the Find Your Happy place products were created with emphasis on a cornucopia of fruity notes, plus the warm, rich, gourmand territories that connote comfort, also a key trend,” she explained.
Gottlieb said fine fragrance is moving into genderless territory. She observed that woods, ambers, accords that connote sunshine plus addictive gourmand notes resonate well with both men and women and will continue. The fragrances in personal care products trickle down from more premium offerings. No surprise then that notes found in brown sugar and caramel (Sweet Treats) and white birch and jasmine (After the Rain) that are found in the Find Your Happy Place scents are indicative of this phenomenon.
But no matter the fragrance preference, Ross reiterated that Walmart has been an exceptional partner to launch Find Your Happy Place.
“Walmart is a one-stop-shop for consumers to get all their household needs filled at great value,” concluded Ross. “Our hope is that as consumers are shopping for their everyday essential items, they can also be inspired by discovering exciting new products designed to deliver specific benefits at a great price. Find Your Happy Place is designed to help people Save Money & Live Better by providing a little positivity and peace of mind with every product experience.”
Positivity and peace of mind; two ideas that remain in short supply even as the world slowly emerges from the grips of the COVID-19 pandemic.