What Sells? A Case Study

An astounding number 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!

The Perfumatic: Coin-Operated Perfume Dispenser

According to Susan Berberet, Assistant Curator of Collections at the Oklahooma History Center, the prevalent in the 50s and 60s coin-operated perfume spraying machine (the Perfumatic) found in ladies' rooms of posh hotels and restaurants was emitting such classics as Chanel No.5 and My Sin by Lanvin (Can you hear my jaw hitting the floor in amazement at the mention of the latter?).
Or as the recollection of those who have actually used some of them goes, perhaps copies of those two popular scents. It doesn't really matter for our purposes here. The machine used a thin dime coin and for just that price sprayed you with a healthy dose of perfume, in order to freshen up or just in case you neglected that height of grooming before going out. Sounds like a great idea, didn't it?
Older generations fondly remember the ritual in the States while these pastel machines, alongside others with actual vials attached existed for scenting your handkerchief; useful when those were the cotton & linen variety and not the disposable kind.

The even more impressive info is that actually this goes far, far back; much further than imagined: "The first group to demand such on the spot purchases were the Greeks. The first mention of a coin-operated dispenser was in 215 B.C., by a mathematician and engineer named Heron (or Hero) of Alexandria [The one who also invented ύδραυλις/hydraulis, the precursor of the Organ]. His machine would accept a coin and then dispense a set amount of “holy water” in the Egyptian temples!" But Susan Berbet goes on to explain that it would only resurface in the Industrial Revolution age, when the technology to make this cheap and functional finally emerged.

But the idea isn't only an antiquated one. There are modern, aluminum-shiny examples with "perfume" and "cologne" in them to be sold still!
Perfumaniac, a New Orleans-based blogger blogging at Yesterday’s Perfume first published a photo of a perfume vending machine which sold perfume "nips" (small plastic "packets" like samples for perfume applying), in which she mentioned how such 20s popularities as Soir de Paris (Evening in Paris) by Bourjois or Arpege by Lanvin (again) were sold at the literal drop of a coin. Then Dr.Avery Gilbert took it over on his own blog, where he discussed about the idea of an olfactory museum. Can I just say I think there's good money to be made if this idea is ever materialised.

And to revert to the initial point of interest which made an impression on me, it does make you wonder which would fragrances would be chosen for today's market to be put in the ladies' room, if such a thing existed still. What do you think?

Read Berberet's article on this link ("Found in Collections" blog, Oklahoma History Center)

Thanks to Sillage for bringing this to my attention

Li Edelkoort, "Priestess of Trends", Predicts

Reading the credentials of Dutch-born, Parisian-living Li Edelkoort, sounds like an astounding pile of worthy accomplishements: Internationally acclaimed for pioneering the trend-setting concept, named by Time Magazine as one of the world's 25 most influential people in fashion and an unparalleled lifestyle expert, Li is president of Edelkoort Inc. but also of Trend Union Paris, Trend Union Japan, Studio Edelkoort and Edelkoort Editions. In short, if anyone is thinking of gauging what the market will bear, they only have to set their eyes on this meek-looking yet truly hypnotising and persuading woman with the piercing blue eyes code-named in the industry as "the oracle". As anyone who has met her knows well, she is able of persuading cows to buy milk!
So investigating about her views on upcoming beauty and lifestyles trends naturally interested me a lot and here are some thoughts worth sharing with you.

The whole notion of lifestyle is defined by Li Edelkoort as "an ensemble of ideas, attitudes, designs and aesthetics geared to celebrating life", the focus being enjoyment, deriving pleasure out of the process. But what made her become involved in it? Does she make the trends or does she read the trends? In her opinion trend-shaping happens by the public itself and by the environment. "Trends reside in the collective subconscious and in the unknown and can be detected by individuals who trust their intuition and are trained to detect signals at an early stage".

Reverting to the beauty and fragrance industry, reflecting upon the focus on wellness in the past decade, one is wondering what the evolution will be: Will there be a completely new concept or simply a recalibrating of the wellness ideal? According to Li, well-being will not cease to be important, verging not only to health and beauty but also to spirituality: "A more domestic way to look at household chores will ground us and make us appreciate life with simplicity. Sound, dance and music will be part of the well-being continuum".

For 2011 specifically the continuation of the "green" movement in the beauty industry and beyond and the reversion to the earth is looking like the main direction, especially in the realm of an economic crisis. In that regards she proposed grey as the transitionary colour. She hopes that a stronger bond between humans and animals will be generated, while the research for sustainable products as well as interesting new looks and moving fragrances will continue.

The opening of the new decade on the whole presents new challenges as the world is changing and after 30 years in the business, it comes as no surprise that Li is not only vaguely referencing a trend but putting a very specific context on it: Birds! I admit I was sceptical too, but hear her out please: "We believe that we will be moving in the next decade towards more community-oriented behavior. Our attitude will be one of respect for our environment and our species; this is the reason why we entitled our latest lifestyle & design forecast "we are family". Also, we were intrigued by birds and their social behavior for our new Trend Union autumn / winter 2011-12 fashion season, which we called "Taking Flight". Birds are a model of social connectivity and communal efficiency, as well as an incredible source of inspiration to develop rich color cards, fantasy fashion shapes, and nest-like weaves. Birds can also be a source for ideas in creative make-up, hair color, and hair styling".

Also worth reading, an article into the beginnings and confessions of Li Edelkoort on Wall Street Journal Magazine by Cecilie Rohwedder.

Li Edelkoort photo taken by Marie Taillefer

M. Micallef discontinuation?

It's rather with a heavy heart that I bring myself to report news of discontinuations, especially of popular fragrances. But even though a dirty job, someone has to do it...and give a spin to them, when needed to nuance news.
The latest contender is the very popular and fairly recently introduced (2007) Note Vanillée by M.Micallef, which is no longer carried on Luckyscent. Note Vanillée includes top notes of tangerine and hesperides, seguing to middle notes of jasmine and honey and finishing on a blend of sandalwood, amber, bourbon vanilla, cognac and rum. It strikes a no man's land between boozy, citrusy and floral.
On the other hand the official site of M.Micallef still lists Note Vanillée as usual. It is therefore with some itrigue that I am revealing that a new enterprise of M.Micallef USA is going to be slowly unveiled very soon as per my sources, which means they're withdrawing from distribution so as to rebrand themselves.

The winner of the draw...

...for the Annete Neuffer parfum sample is Mystic Knot. Congratulations and please mail me using the email on the Profile page with your address so I can have this out to you soon.
Thanks everyone for the enthusiastic participation and till the next one!