Object 9 Reinvents Leisure Time as the Premium Home Spa Product It Already Was

(image of grey bottles w/ colored caps LEISURE) (caption)

Object 9 completely reinvented the Leisure Time brand for a luxury market while staying within many manufacturing and production limitations—proving that you can think and act big without necessarily being “big.”

Specialty boutique stores are a sign of the times, and “spa” specialty stores are popping up everywhere, selling hot tubs and products to maximize the spa experience. On these retailers’ shelves are where the premium Leisure Time products lived for many years without distinction.

That being said, hot tub owners generally found Leisure Time products to be superior, and they were often willing to pay a premium price. At first glance, though, the old Leisure Time bottles resembled industrial floor cleaning products more than they resembled a luxury product for a luxury consumer.

As much as Leisure Time’s owners, Advantis Technologies, wanted a dramatic change, they did not want to invest time or money in new manufacturing partners, filling equipment, or production costs—and they felt no need to change the name. They did, however, see the potential of hiring a package design firm, Object 9, that could take them where they wanted to go.

Even with the production limitations, Advantis’s Michael Moore, vice president of marketing, and product manager Christina Cates had high expectations. “We were going to go two steps ahead of the industry,” Cates recalls of the early mission. The previous dated, conservative, and inconsistent bottles did not match the increased sophistication and spending habits of today’s hot tub owners.

“Advantis tapped Object 9 with the Leisure Time project to help us overcome growing threats that this brand was receiving from competitors and to strengthen our market leadership,” says Moore, who was content with Object 9’s efforts right from the start. “They had done their homework,” Moore remembers, “They had identified where we were in the marketplace.”

It’s about expectation

Jon Cato, one of four partners of Object 9, led the Leisure Time packaging and promotional design project for Advantis. Object 9 set out to completely rework every detail within the production constraints, and they quickly recommended that Advantis develop a proprietary bottle. The end result, according to Cato, is that everything about the Leisure Time brand now communicates luxury, quality, and sophistication.

Object 9’s extensive research revealed, among many other things, that the primary buyer of hot tub products is female, and that these female shoppers are accustomed to buying personal care and salon products in attractive shapes and colors. The Leisure Time bottle size and shape, already a stock shampoo line shape, Object 9 decided, should aspire totally to that “salon” category.

In the end, they figured, it’s about expectation. It’s about how a premium product should look and be presented— and now Leisure Time hits those expectations with premium cues. “It’s a product that you want to touch and feel,” Cato says.

For instance, the delicate drop and wave themes are carried throughout the bottle, from the molded waves in the bottle, to the waves through the “drop,” and even to the little wave in the “E” of “Leisure.” On the shoulder of the bottle, a subtle bubbly texture reinforces the hot tub environment where the product is used.

Cato was satisfied that the entire brand presentation conveys calmness, serenity, and purity directly to the new and repeat consumers. “My job is not to make the world a beautiful place,” Cato reminds himself. “My job is to sell more product.”