Citric Punch: Energy. The Story Behind Its Birth
Hello, I’m BAD ACE’s Product Development Chief.I reside in Korea and am in charge of BAD ACE’s overall product development and management.
Today, I’d like to share with you the inspiration behind our BAD ACE: ENERGY line of products.
In recent years, energy drinks have become an integral part of today’s young men’s active lifestyles. I, also, enjoy energy drinks and began, one day, to take note of their ingredients. Interestingly, energy drinks and men’s cosmetics shared several ingredients, and that germinated the idea of trying to create men’s skincare that utilized those ingredients. Among them, the final ingredients we choose were: caffeine, taurine, multivitamin, and red ginseng extract. Red ginseng extract may be unfamiliar to Western consumers but in Korea it is a popular health food and a proven, next gen ingredient for cosmetics.
For the face wash, we prioritized producing just the right cooling effect. Just as an energy drink chases away tiredness and invigorates one’s body, we wanted the face wash to refresh one’s skin via its cooling effect. We felt the popular cooling agent, methyl lactate, alone wasn’t cooling enough, and wrongly adjusting the amount of menthol resulted in an excessive cooling effect. Even when the desired cooling effect was achieved, the product’s ‘base’ fragrance was ill-effected. Such trial and error continued for 7 months ‘til we finally found the right mix of ingredients to produce the subtle cooling feeling found in our Citric Punch: Energy face wash.
We relied on feedback from 6 cosmetic development professionals (male and female) and 30 typical consumers (male) to guide our product dev and testing. As is often the case, some of the preferences were diametric; for example, for the moisturizer, a minority wanted the moist (slightly greasy) feeling to last longer, but the majority preferred the final product’s feeling on the skin. Naturally, our products can’t satisfy all prospective buyers, and our products aren’t right for all males.
This product’s fragrance – harmonious with the energy drink concept and the vitamin ingredient - took us 2 months to develop, and we named it Citric Punch.
We also referenced energy drinks for our product design, selecting a laminate tube to suggest a can’s reflective surface and shape, and we chose a lemon yellow for the main color.
Finally, the packaging box is made out of kraft paper. Kraft paper is 85%-plus natural pulp and is of course recycled in addition to being fluorescent-bleach-and-chlorine-free, making it safe for the body.
Moving forward, BAD ACE’s mission is to create masculine products that is also eco-friendly and based on the latest Korean cosmetic advancements.
