By: Ron Farnum
Looking back at one of our earliest collaborations with The Walt Disney Company, it’s remarkable to reflect on this project as one of Disney’s first ventures into personal care products. While Disney was highly experienced in licensing its properties across numerous categories—ranging from school supplies to clothing, toys, and snack foods—it had never before developed a line of soaps, shampoos, or other personal care items.
Our initial assignment was to create a broad range of concepts featuring several popular Disney properties in distinctive packaging designs. These designs were intended for consumer research to gauge interest and determine whether the Disney brand had “permission” to enter this new category. Additionally, the product team sought to understand which Disney properties resonated most with consumers and why.
Initial Concepts
The Damen Jackson team approached this exciting challenge with enthusiasm, developing unique and playful structural concepts tailored to the specific characteristics of each Disney property. Careful attention was given to selecting colors, fonts, and label shapes to complement the structural designs. This variety provided the research team with an extensive range of options, enabling them to gather detailed consumer feedback.
After thorough research, the results were clear: Disney was viewed as a highly trusted and credible brand, capable of seamlessly entering the personal care market—particularly for children. Among all the properties tested, one stood out above the rest: Tinker Bell.
The Disney product team decided to move forward with a branded Tinker Bell product line. This decision required the creation of a unique product name and label design that would appeal to tween girls (ages 8 to 11) and their mothers.
Damen Jackson developed a series of potential names, with the winning choice being Tink Spirit™. The name
captured Tinker Bell’s sassiness and independence while also reflecting her sweet and endearing nature—qualities that resonate strongly with 8 to 11-year-old girls.
An additional round of consumer testing validated the concept, and the product moved into production. To align with budgetary constraints, stock packaging structures were used, but custom colors were created for the caps and containers. Damen Jackson also supervised quality control to ensure color accuracy during packaging and label printing.
Tink Spirit™ launched successfully at Walmart, earning a prominent placement on endcaps in the personal care aisle and achieving notable success.
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