I was reading through my September issue of Real Simple magazine. They had an article on budget wrinkle smoothers which caught my attention. I had been thinking of updating my face regimen. This article recommended a variety of consumer products for different skin types and the different age needs.
One product caught my attention. It was called "Boots No. 7 Protect and Perfect Intense Beauty Serum". (Count the number of words, folks. Red warning bells ought to be ringing.) The author described the product
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"Dry complexions drank up this elixir packed with retinol and peptides (to minimize fine wrinkles), as well as antioxidants and alfalfa extract..."
I was not familiar with the brand, so I thought all I needed to remember was Boots No. 7 and I would have no trouble finding the product.
Off to Target I went (this was the article's suggested buying location). The Boots display was easy to find. But then the problems began.
It seems that the No. 7 is part of the brand name. I thought that it was an identifier for the product, sort of like Boots No. 5 was the cleanser and Boots No. 10 was the finisher. No such luck.
At this point, I no longer knew exactly what I was looking for. I was faced with over a dozen different products. Perhaps I could narrow down by type of product. I was looking for a moisturizer, wasn't I? All of the other words in the product name eluded me. Was it the...
- Instant Radiance Beauty Balm
- Protect and Perfect Beauty Serum
- Protect and Perfect Intense Beauty Serum
- Protect and Perfect Day Cream
- Soft and Sheer Tinted Moisturizer
- Time Resisting Day Cream
- Advanced Hydration Day Cream
- Advanced Hydration Day Fluid
- Lifting and Firming Day Cream
- Moisture Quench Day Cream
Talk about over-population of line extensions!
Now I am getting annoyed. So, I start looking at the packaging. I did remember that it had retinol and antioxidants in it. I am reading product ingredients. No sign of the words retinol or antioxidants on any ingredients list.
The product descriptions weren't any help either. Lots of silky, anti-aging, protect words in the descriptions. I couldn't figure out how to differentiate anything from anything.
At the price point, I wasn't going to buy anything. Exit Target. No Boots.
Neither a good outcome for me nor a good outcome for Boot No. 7.
In the upcoming posts, I am going to use this example as a case study on product naming.
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