Clinique are currently collaborating with Crayola for a collection of 10 limited edition Chubby Sticks. Initially when this product launched back in 2011, it became a game changer in the beauty world, described as a hybrid lipstick/lip balm, the range successfully expanded not just for lip products but for chubby blush sticks, and eye sticks and most recently foundation chubby sticks. Competitors quickly imitated the concept of the Chubby stick as expected. The shape of the Clinique chubby stick resembles a child's crayon, not quite as sophisticated as a lipstick but lower maintenance and quicker to put on. Personally I have been a Clinique customer for years, finding that their gentle products suit my highly sensitive skin, and over the last few years I have bought a few chubby sticks.
So a few months ago I saw on a Make Up Artist's Instagram feed a photo of these Clinique X Crayola Chubby sticks saying launching in February 2017. I admit, I didn't feel any rush of enthusiasm for this. Then this weekend I spied the collection in the beauty halls in Selfridges and again I felt underwhelmed. Clinique were clearly banking on the consumers nostalgia for Crayola crayons and they were trying to sell them as new colours named after Crayola shades i.e 'brick red', 'mango tango' etc. The colours offering for the existing chubby stick range was already pretty good and they had additionally launched an 'Intense range', so from that perspective I would say they were well covered.
Regarding collaborations, the first question always is; how well does it work for both of the collaborated parties? In this case I would say that Crayola have a new kind of PR where their colours and branding get exposed in the beauty market, which may trigger nostalgic sales of their art materials. And as for Clinique, they get to refresh the range with new colours and generate a new style of packaging for their product in the form of a Crayola crayon, and of course launch and advertise it cleverly. The second question is this; do the concepts suit each brand? I can obviously see the parallel here between the wax crayon and the tinted lip balm crayon, however I am not sure how much this adds to the Clinique product. The premium beauty industry and the child's arts and crafts industry are of course both completely different sectors with no cross over in the middle. Then finally the third question; does the collaboration go beyond the concept and deliver in the product?