Packaging Colognes for an Unexpected Young Audience: Tween Boys

Brands must balance maturity, ethics, and price to reach this young audience through social and other channels.

Melissa Griffen Young, Freelance Writer

July 16, 2024

5 Min Read
Tween boys
Alys Tomlinson/iStock via Getty Images

At a Glance

  • TikTok influencers are targeting tween boys as a market for expensive, high-end colognes.
  • Brands seeking to tap tween demand should skew package design younger, but not too young.
  • Glass is the premium material of choice, but sample and gift packs can reduce cost barriers to entry.

A trend has arisen alongside TikTok’s popularity and is set to become a generational norm. It would seem the high-end cologne market has a new customer base in tween boys.

Their phase of life finds them no longer children but not quite teenagers, yet these tweens find themselves facing the beginnings of teen trends and issues.

Such challenges include self-consciousness towards personal hygiene, uncertainty as they find their social standing and friend group, and desire to no longer be seen as a child. TikTok influencers targeting tweens have inspired them to try expensive, high-end colognes to manage these challenges, according to a New York Times article (NYT).

“Asked why middle schoolers have suddenly developed a nose for Dior, almost every teenager, researcher, and merchandising expert offered the same answer: TikTok. On the platform, influencers offer tips for ‘smellmaxxing,’ or improving one’s musk, and recommend scents for working out, date night, and middle school,” it reads.

A 14-year-old quoted in the article says that social media and TikTok inspire his age group to want to be older.

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Social media is the marketing channel.

Though branding plays a role in consumer purchasing, the more powerful player is social media, according to Peter Boosalis, head of strategic packaging design at Quad, a marketing experience company. TikTok and other social platforms carry a certain influence with an incredible reach and appeal specifically to younger generations.

Related:How Packaging Elevates Everyday Products to Luxury Treats

“The ability for a 12-to-15-year-old to have a tool at their fingertips that can reach potentially millions of people their own age is unprecedented,” says Tom Newmaster, owner and partner at FORCEpkg, a branding and packaging design agency. “And what better way to reach your audience than directly talking to them?”

According to Newmaster, marketing to this young audience through social media and influencers is the optimal method, and the fact that physical retail locations have noticed the trend may even be the first signs of it becoming a generational norm.

Packaging should speak to the younger audience.

Whether this becomes a generational norm or simply a trend that will fade over time, brands should adapt primary and secondary packaging to reach these tweens more effectively.

Both Newmaster and Boosalis agree that a data-first approach to packaging design, followed by package testing, is the best way to determine what is most important to these younger boys and will resonate with them. As Newmaster points out, the algorithms that power social media channels make it much easier to pick up on the interests of the market segment and to reach them.

Design, marketing, and scents have traditionally skewed older and the needs of this trend will be no different. The goal for both the bottle of cologne and its packaging is to connect with the boys’ zeitgeist and speak to their view of their future selves.

“Boys are eager to take their next steps to being young men. They want to create a sense of self and personal identity,” says Boosalis. “Brands should develop messaging that is aspirational without overshooting the aims of these boys. You want the packaging to say, ‘This is what the senior in high school is wearing,’ because that is who tweens aspire to.”

To this, Newmaster adds, “As soon as [the cologne] feels ‘less mature,’ the whole thing falls apart.”

In the same vein, these grooming products should not be advertised as colognes for tweens as that would make them appear less mature to the intended audience.

Peter Boosalis quote on tween cologne

Packaging strategies may impact sales.

Though glass is more expensive, it will likely remain the packaging material of choice to attract tweens. Glass’s highly reflective, sleek look and association with luxury products suggest maturity and status.

One of the main challenges facing the widespread adoption of this tween trend is the price of the cologne, which is too high for most parents’ budgets. However, some packaging strategies may lower consumer prices to mitigate this issue.

Without gearing the product messaging directly at teens and tweens, one such strategy could be sample packs and gift packs for special occasions that are sold at a lower cost. Newmaster says that anything a brand can do to increase trial will be beneficial in long-term success for the brand, as well as make the product more accessible and break down cost barriers.

Boosalis warns against “Dad & Son” package deals, explaining that parents are only involved in paying for the cologne. “These tweens and teens are aiming to find their own identity. They don’t want to smell the same way their dads smell,” he says. “They’re coming up with their own grooming regimen, and that includes their own scent.”

Multipacks may also prove less effective, according to Newmaster, as the young TikTok influencers are very brand- and product-specific, resulting in the tween boys following suit.

Be conscious of ethical packaging.

The NYT article states an issue that has arisen with this age group’s interest in certain colognes:

“Some parents and teachers wonder about the appropriateness of these products for a young audience. Teenagers are especially fond of the packaging of Angels’ Share by Kilian, which resembles a glass of cognac, and Le Male, a strapping torso with wide shoulders and a bulging crotch. … Those concerns do not seem to be shared by teenagers, who see the colognes as a way to exude maturity, status, or anything other than B.O.”

Age appropriateness, cultural appropriateness, and ethical appropriateness are all aspects of the cologne’s package design that need to be considered. Newmaster emphasizes that a brand must stay true to what it stands for. The marketing, advertising, and packaging should align with those values, maintaining consistency and authenticity.

It’s difficult to balance between appeasing parents and attracting the tweens. Newmaster explains that if a brand tries to appease the parents but the cologne doesn’t appeal to the tweens, then the product has failed.

Boosalis suggests approaching the issue in a healthy way. The cologne bottle’s design should be masculine but not over the top and sexualized. “Self-esteem, social media, peer approval, and advertising all play big roles” in this growing trend, he says, adding that participating in these grooming regimens is an opportunity for them “to celebrate their evolution from boyhood to young manhood. Elevated grooming products should be a celebration of moving on to the next phase in life and emulate the natural cycle of growing up.”

About the Author

Melissa Griffen Young

Freelance Writer

Now a freelancer, Melissa Griffen Young is an experienced writer covering the packaging industry. She was Editor-in-Chief of Contract Manufacturing and Packaging, a publication of the PMMI Media Group, from 2022 to 2024. She joined the group as an editorial intern in 2019, and during her tenure, also contributed articles to sister publications with the group, namely Healthcare Packaging and ProFood World, as Contributing Editor.

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