Rimmel London has been leading the sustainable clean beauty charge with its Kind & Free range, featuring minimalist, natural, vegan formulas. But the world of beauty and especially clean beauty, has changed considerably over the past decade. Consumers are more demanding, more discerning – and younger. Gen Z is yesterday’s news; it’s all about Gen Alpha. And clean beauty is no longer a niche with them, it’s the norm.
The creative studio Butterfly Cannon was brought onboard to redesign Rimmel’s new skin tints, co-created with Gen Alpha to target their real skin concerns.
London has always been Rimmel’s home and muse. But like the beauty world, it has also undergone a shift from the grungy 2000s days of Kate Moss, Union Jacks and red telephones to a new London which feels more diverse, inclusive and energetic.
Inspired by the ‘New London’ aesthetic, Butterfly Cannon developed a design idea that reflects the bold, vibrant and lively energy of the city, to live on and off pack. The design speaks with all out confidence – block, stacked type in a vibrant colour palette of turquoise, pink and blue stands out as a fresh and energetic evolution of the existing range – while still working in harmony with it.
Arron Egan, Creative Director at Butterfly Cannon, “With Gen Alpha, clean beauty isn’t a trend – it’s a given. So the real challenge was creating something that feels fresh and credible to them. We dialled up the vibrancy, stripped back the fluff, and let the product benefits do the talking. It’s bold, punchy and unapologetically confident – just like the audience it’s made for.”
This confidence informed a bold and punchy tone of voice. Butterfly Cannon developed catchy naming for the two skin tints with go-viral potential that calls out the benefits: ‘Glow It Up’ and ‘Blur It Out’.
The new look is a clear and confident shift for Kind and Free, from passive clean beauty to an active and live beauty brand, fitting for a younger audience.