Creative agency Free The Birds reveals its latest work for global life sciences company Bayer which has recently launched a new range, Bepanthen Derma, for the daily management of dry skin.

New branding, 2D and 3D packaging designs, typography, illustration, tone of voice and photography bring together Bepanthen’s 75-year heritage and proven efficacy with familiar category codes and semiotics from the cosmetics space – positioning Bepanthen Derma as the preferred consumer choice for the daily management of dry skin.

The global roll-out of the new branding and packaging follows Free The Birds’ previous work refreshing and consolidating the entire Bepanthen design portfolio, which also includes wounded skin, baby skincare, and medicated skincare ranges.

Sara Jones, Partner and Client Services Director at Free The Birds commented: “Bepanthen had recognised the opportunity to compete in the daily management skincare category by leveraging its heritage and trusted efficacy. However, the brand felt very clinical and pharmaceutical-orientated, which limited consumers’ perceptions of it to a medical treatment, rather than a product they might select as part of their daily skincare regime. Our challenge was to build on Bepanthen’s established positioning and develop the design for a new, everyday skincare product by balancing its trusted science and medical expertise with the familiar visual cues seen across the cosmetics category.”

To achieve this, Free The Birds has translated the science of Bepanthen’s mode-of-action into a new graphic depicting the skin’s surface and cells layered over a gentle gradient in the brand’s core colours of blue and white, communicating a sense of action, efficacy and skin barrier repair. This graphic expression is used consistently both on and off-pack to communicate the product’s effectiveness to consumers in a simple and approachable way that stands out from other competitors in the daily-use cosmetics space.

The graphic is paired on-pack with a ‘B5 icon’ to signpost Bepanthen’s signature ingredient and the trusted efficacy that Bepanthen brings to daily skin management. Typography has been designed to facilitate clear and direct messaging of the product’s benefits in the brand’s new encouraging, empathetic and assuring tone of voice, giving it more personality that moves it on from its clinical origins. Meanwhile, a confident new logo lock-up conveys a sense of trust, heritage and expertise, with the inclusion of the blue gradient in the underline providing another nod to the healing process.

Nick Vaus, Creative Director and Partner at Free The Birds added: “We also created on-pack copy and were involved in the naming of the different variants in the range to help engage consumers looking for daily skincare products, such as ‘Restoring’, ‘Replenishing’, ‘Repairing’ and ‘Regenerating’. A secondary colour palette of bold orange, red, magenta and purple set against the brand’s blue and white helps solidify consumer perception of Bepanthen Derma as a daily skincare range and aids navigation across the different variants.”

Free The Birds also collaborated in the design of the new 3D pump structures for Bepanthen Derma’s wash and cream products with product design consultancy PENSA, to help facilitate the transformation of the brand as it begins to compete against others in the daily management category.

Chris Padain, VP Head of Design & Packaging of Bayer commented: “We are very excited about launching the new Bepanthen Derma branding and bringing the products to a wider audience of consumers seeking a proven solution for the daily management of dry skin. Free The Birds have been excellent partners to work with throughout this process and we are delighted with how they have evolved the brand whilst maintaining a strong connection to the heritage and scientific efficacy that we are so proud of.”