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Isabelle Rousseau, director of public relations for Guerlain confirms that the defunct masculine scent Coriolan , a scent of juniper berry bitterness coupled with balsamic notes and an immortelle drydown, will be reissued in Les Parisiennes collection (125 ml "bee" bottles) starting from January 2008 under a new name. The bottles in Les Parisiennes normally cost 140 €. {see a list of them and reviews here}However this signals that the recently discontinued, yet wonderful Derby {click here and scroll for review} from the same line will remain discontinued as interest will be directed to this new fragrance.
The original Coriolan can still be found cheaply in certain stock-stores and online.
Supposedly the name wasn't that popular and was in part blamed for the commercial flop of the scent. Strange, as it was inspired by the noble warrior immortalized in drama by Shakespeare and in music by Beethoven, surely popular references by themselves. Coriolan was advertised as expressing "the character of the modern day hero" and perhaps there is lack of those... The tag line read "Un parfum comme on n'en fait plus" (=a perfume like those not made anymore). I always liked the above ad: very virile, very classical.
Let us see what happens under the new name!
Oh, goodness! That model certainly embodies heroic virility. I'm reminded of the song by Bonnie Tyler, "I'm Holding Out For A Hero."
ReplyDeleteGood one, Iris! It's been ages since I listened to that song; got to go and put it on now :-)
ReplyDeleteStrange, isn't it? the idea that A NAME could be blamed for a fragrance flopping... I wonder, I wonder. I find Coriole a clever name, easy to remember, a nice tag (...comme on n'en fait plus), maybe a little bit difficult to pronounce for non French.
ReplyDeleteAnd yet, dear Andy, according to my research it is a frequent phenomenon! In marketing "annales" there is the classic example of a car launched by the name Nova (which means "new" of course), but which had the unfortunate characteristic of also meaning "doesn't go on" in the Latin America countries it was distributed. Sales flopped as a result...
ReplyDeleteIn perfume marketing teams deciding on a name cross-reference the ideas on names in many languages, so as to ascertain that it won't have negative correlations or insult any specific group of consumers (based on ethnic, religious and other such reasons). It is very hard to come up with a good name! I believe you know that too well.
Hence sometimes they come up with something completely manufactured such as Amarige or Ysatis (BTW, the latter had a wonderful Greek campaign in which the tag line used a rhyming verb to the actual name ~it translated as "you seek Ysatis" but in rhyme; brilliant!)
I agree that Coriolan is a very good name. But something tells me that it didn't have quite the resonance with people who buy into a luxury brand yet do not have the cultural references to understand it?
I just puchased a bottle in Melbourne Australia for only $30!!!
ReplyDeleteShop: My Chemist Elizabeth, 126 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne, Australia Tel 61 3 9663 6704