Mandalay Bay & PakLab – Bay Soleil

“Bay Soleil is more than just a skincare line – it’s really an expansion of the quality Mandalay Bay experience,” AALMG co-founding Partner Michael Gottsegen explains.

The Bay Soleil line is the latest addition to the resort’s MBLifestyle program, which has been developed through AALMG and numerous partners to create lifestyle products that can be found at special MB Lifestyle stores at the resort as well as select retailers. AALMG Partner Reed Nettles has been the project manager overseeing the company’s work with Mandalay Bay, and he believes the partnership of the resort and PakLab has been a winning combination. “We were in favor of PakLab because of the great quality and execution that we’ve seen from them in the past,” Nettles says. 

“From our perspective, we specialize in being very innovative in how we create products, and with a partnership with a global brand like Mandalay Bay, we’re confident that this is a lifestyle brand that will resonate with people around the world,” PakLab CEO Andrew “Bo” Young III says. 

The Spa Experience

The sun care market already is crowded with numerous brands, and developing a line of products that would capture the essence of what the Mandalay Bay resort is all about was no small task. However, PakLab had the experience and expertise necessary to create products that encapsulated the Mandalay Bay experience with packaging that would make them stand out from all the rest. 

“The reason why this is such a beautiful partnership is because PakLab has been in the business for 30 years developing and manufacturing some of the biggest brands domestically and internationally,” says Eve Belinsky, PakLab managing director of sales, adding that the company’s extensive knowledge of ingredients and formulations made it the ideal partner for Mandalay Bay. 

“We took this experience with our lab and our scientists to collaborate with our marketing team, knowing where the gaps in the market would be and how to put together the absolute best formulas for this demographic.”

PakLab Senior Vice President of Commercialization Alex Cripchuck says the company’s goal for the Bay Soleil line was two-fold. It wanted to create a product that would be disruptive in the sun care marketplace and stand apart from the competition, and it wanted the products to capture the atmosphere of the resort. 

Cripchuck says that during its research, PakLab noticed that the typical Mandalay Bay guest is extremely active, experiencing everything the resort has to offer almost around the clock. That usually means soaking up the sun on the resort’s beach followed by taking in the resort’s nighttime entertainment and dining options in the evening. Cripchuck says PakLab wanted to develop a product line that could provide users with full protection from the sun during the day but also help them look and feel good at night. 

What PakLab created was an outdoor line of skincare products that would be equally at home in a spa environment. Products like Love My Tan can be used the day before going to the beach to soothe and moisturize skin the way a spa-quality body lotion does, but it also provides protection from the sun by kickstarting the body’s production of melanin. “The most significant statement you can make is that Bay Soleil created a new market niche,” Cripchuck says. “Each one of these products offers a solution either through preventing or reversing sun damage.”

The Right Look

PakLab’s expertise in creating distinctive packaging was another key reason why the company was such a good fit for the Bay Soleil line, according to Nettles. Belinsky says the line’s packaging helps establish it as a higher-end product, with muted colors and clean, simple text to help customers identify it right away when compared to the typically garish graphics and colors of other sun care brands. “It’s a much more subtle, elegant theme for the packaging and the graphics,” she says. 

Nettles explains that the “gorgeous” packaging developed by PakLab helps make Bay Soleil a great fit at the Mandalay Bay resort, where it can be found in its spa, at its pools and in its MBLifestyle stores. But the packaging also is expected to make the line stand out as it is rolled out to retailers outside of the resort. 

“Our whole concept is that Mandalay Bay has roughly 3,000 people who stay at the resort for 3.2 days at a time, and if we can get them to use our sun care products, that will resonate when they see it outside of the property on a retailers’ store shelf,” Nettles says. 

Cripchuck says Mandalay Bay has been enthusiastic about supporting the Bay Soleil line, collaborating with retail boutiques and spas to help promote the brand. Gottsegen says the resort also plans to promote the line with VIP incentives and giveaways including trips to the resort. 

Positive Experience

Gottsegen stresses that Mandalay Bay expects Bay Soleil to be one of the top sun care brands in the next few years, and says PakLab has been an excellent partner for the resort. “This company used science to create a line for Mandalay Bay as opposed to taking a SPF and slapping a label on it,” he says. 

“This was not a private-label repackage; this line was custom-made and formulated specifically for the property,” Cripchuck says, adding that the work AALMG did in matching PakLab with Mandalay Bay was crucial to the project. “This group has the entire support group to set you on the right track to go to retail,” he explains. “This was definitely something really positive for both PakLab and Mandalay Bay.”