An astoundingnumber of articles tackles the latest, apparently unexpected ~from what I deduce, since it makes such an impression~ phenomenon: Namely that a "celeboscent" really made it. (This term is short for "celebrity scent"; those fragrances eponymously launched by stars, supposedly inspired by their personalities and lifestyle, but in fact churned out by perfume producing companies with minimal involvement by the stars themselves). Trusted reportage says that this particular frag is selling like crazy! What is it? It's Heat by Beyoncé Knowles!
"At the recent Retail & Luxury Goods Conference at Harvard Business School, Macy’s CEO Terry Lundgren revealed that its already made more than $3 million in worldwide sales since its launch" [NB We're talking 3 months here] while he said that in an meet-and-greet with the singer herself "72,000 bottles of her perfume were sold that in that hour". To convert this in monetary values, Women's Wear Daily reported that first day Macy's sales made $60,000. (Talk about WOW!!) All to the point that "trying to pick up a bottle of “Heat” at Macy’s.com estimates over a month before it ships" now. "This morning I woke up and they told me the fragrance is the number one fragrance in America,” Beyoncé told Access. “I had absolutely no idea.” We're clearly talking about a huge commercial blockbuster. That made me think...
So the question arises: I am wondering whether the success has to do with the bootilicious sexy appeal of the singer herself (surely overall a positive role-model in today's celebrity world which is filled with human trash) or with the fragrance style and its perfect top-to-bottom design (corresponding so well to the celebrity herself, I mean, as celebrity brand expansion). Certainly it's not a "bootichouli" fragrance like we had suggested and hoped for on a previous occasion, at least going by the description, in which "Heat blends a floral mix of magnolias, neroli, and red vanilla orchids with the scent of almond macaroon, honeysuckle, nectar, and crème de musk" composed by perfumers Claude Dir and Olivier Gillotin. March on Perfume Posse observes that "Heat smells like a thin veneer of canned peaches in syrup over the most powerful, intensely animalic stank of unwashed ladyparts that I have ever smelled in a perfume, and I don’t mean that in a good way." Robin at NST on the other hand pegs it a warm fruity musk adding "I don’t find it even slightly sexy, and it isn’t what I’d call memorable, but it doesn’t much matter: it’s by Beyoncé and it isn’t a complete mess". Others report that real human testers (in Miami) perceive it as a cotton candy and amaretto fragrance. Take your pick!
Whatever it is, it's definitely a case-study for the heads at Coty (the perpetrator), Parlux et al. and for marketers everywhere. Expect more of the same very, very soon! And if fashion designers are "only worth as much as [their] latest collection's success", then celebrities will soon be worth the amount of their celebrity scent sales. Mark my words!
Beyonce is directed into emulating Cindy Crawford (and a crop of other top models who appeared in George Michael's Freedom along with the heat and fire visuals) in this commercial for her first celebrity fragrance, Heat by Beyonce. Compare with the original video-clip below (especially around 2:58 and onwards) and...go have a lie down.
The celebrity scent phenomenon seems to be the defining moment of pop culture of the 00s alongside the free (pirate) download of clips of intimate and not-so-intimate moments of the stars. Just when we thought the trend was ebbing, here is proof that everyone, simply everyone who has their name known by more people than their spouses, their mother and their pets (no offence to them), is having their own 15 minutes of consumer-sneeze-inducing, thanks to Coty, Parlux and other plutocratic powers that be (enter sarcasm). And who could beat the morbid idea of aping dead celebrities via their (ficticious) scent? You see my point...
Eva Longoria Parker of Desperate Housewives' fame is the latest with her Eva by Eva Longoria. According to Women's Wear Daily, the Latina beauty Eva has “always been somewhat allergic to all perfumes” and therefore the actress and L’Oreal spokesmodel is creating her own scent. How original...And please note the "somewhat allergic" line which really elevates vagueness (and inaccuracy) to a whole new dimension! Interestingly, my own sources wanted her to be a white-flowers girl, opting for Kai and Fleurs d'Oranger, a choice that could have suited her wedding admirably too, as hypothesized on these pages in the past. “I really wanted to create something that every woman could wear,”Eva said. “So I decided to create my own fragrance that is light, fresh and unique.” "The perfume features citrus, violet, freesia and sandalwood notes and is housed in a curvy bottle meant to mimic the contours of a woman’s bottle". [source] Additional notes according to the Frisky include begamot tea and jasmine. Fresh allright, as to unique, well... The bottle was designed by Wilhelm Liden de Paul Meyers & Friends and was produced by Bormioli Luigi. Eva by Eva Longoria is set to launch in the United States next spring and has been developed by the Falic Fashion Group, while the fragrance was composed by Takasago. I find the wordplay at the very least intriguing and hope the humour is not lost on the advertisers. On second thought, at the 45$ to 58$ price range it seems fit to cater to the audience that helped make Desperate Housewives, a series that had spawned its very own collective celebrity scent named Forbidden Fruit created by Coty, a household name. Not exactly a cutting-edge audience appreciative of sarcasm, perhaps? At any rate, Eva is probably exploiting all possibilities of her famous face and who can blame her? Certainly not us.
But Women's Wear Daily also has news on another celebrity scent: Race-car driver Danica Patrick will launch a new fragrance in March called Danica Patrick for Her. The scent will retail for $29.50 to $54.50 and will be promoted at NASCAR and the Indy Racing League. No word yet on what it will smell like according to the nymag.com, although the commentator is confident it will be better than the upcoming scent of Sarah Jessica Parker based on popularizing body odour, on which we had reported recently.
Last but not least, Beyoncé,Knowles, the very definition of a "bootychouli"-contestant fragrance spokesperson, is launching Beyoncé Heat. The R&B superstar, who has fronted promotional campaigns for fragrances by Tommy Hilfiger and Armani in the past, landed a multi-million dollar deal with fragrance house Coty in September and now she's ready to launch her debut scent". The fragrance was developed at Givaudan by perfumers Claude Dir and Olivier Gillotin. Top notes of Heat include red vanilla-orchid, magnolia, neroli and peach. Heart notes contain honeysuckle, almond and musky cream, while the base smooths out with sequoia wood, tonka and amber. Something tells me it will be more alongside the "fresh yet sensual" concept than the fiery, spicy one, but anyway; it doesn't sound bad at all. Coty announced the collaboration with much fanfare: "The new collaboration between Coty and Beyonce will capitalize on her unique mega-watt aura and talent to create her very own first signature fragrance" Furthermore the diva herself says: "I'm so happy with it. I've been working on it for a while now. Everything, from the bottle design to the name and the ideas for the commercials, that's me. When I commit to something, I do it 100 per cent, and I've never had (creative control over a fragrance) until this project. I was on tour for a year, and I have meet-and-greets with fans. I've never in my life gotten so many compliments. Coty has their own testing, but that was my testing! The fans loved it. They were like, 'I love that, I'm getting that, why isn't it out right now? I need it!'" The name and colour palette was chosen for a reason: "A lot of my performances have had fire involved, so we thought 'Heat'. Also, red is one of my favorite colors, as is gold. So then we thought of making the bottle look like its on fire." Beyoncé Heat is set to launch in the United States in February, 2010. [source] The commercial is exploiting all the bootiliciousness of the star while the "Catch the fever" catchphrase nicely recalls the immortal Fever tune by Peggy Lee. Cool :-)
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"At the recent Retail & Luxury Goods Conference at Harvard Business School, Macy’s CEO Terry Lundgren revealed that its already made more than $3 million in worldwide sales since its launch" [NB We're talking 3 months here] while he said that in an meet-and-greet with the singer herself "72,000 bottles of her perfume were sold that in that hour". To convert this in monetary values, Women's Wear Daily reported that first day Macy's sales made $60,000. (Talk about WOW!!) All to the point that "trying to pick up a bottle of “Heat” at Macy’s.com estimates over a month before it ships" now. "This morning I woke up and they told me the fragrance is the number one fragrance in America,” Beyoncé told Access. “I had absolutely no idea.” We're clearly talking about a huge commercial blockbuster. That made me think...
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