The Smell of Success: The Strategy Behind Building a Fragrance Brand

Bold moves | STRATEGY IN PERSPECTIVE

The Smell of Success: The Strategy Behind Building a Fragrance Brand

“A Woman’s perfume tells more about her than her handwriting.” So said couturier Christian Dior, at a time when fragrances were much less the backbone of a major design house as they are now.

Today, the “juice” business is critical to driving brand image, an invisible but immediately discernable status symbol and seductress, and a thirty billion dollar industry that can often generate as much revenue as the designer collections and accessories combined.

“Fragrance can be a tremendous platform to extend the reach of a brand,” says Kelly Kovack, co-founder of Purpose Built, a personal care and branding firm in New York. Her portfolio includes co-creating two Odin New York fragrances including one of the brand’s newest fragrances, 06 Amanu which won this year’s Indie FiFi Award.

The process for developing a brand’s “scent” requires equal parts strategy and instinct. “The first step is always to ask the client for pure inspiration which can be anything from actual fragrance benchmarks to completely esoteric references,” says Kovack. From there she and her team establish fragrance benchmarks and gradually narrow the scent down to its purest essence, and equally important, cost of production.

For many so-called prestige fragrances, the rare ingredients they use can be incredibly costly and, combined with bottle development and marketing, can make launching a new fragrance a major corporate investment in an already crowded playing field.

The world’s most iconic fragrances happen to be as famous for their name as for how they smell. Christian Dior’s Eau Sauvage. Chanel No. 5, and 2010’s top selling fragrance, Chanel’s Mademoiselle.

So perhaps it comes as little surprise that Louis Vuitton has decided to enter the fray and launch a fragrance. The last time the brand had a fragrance was in the 1920’s and 30’s.

Scent is extremely personal, so how does a brand decide on how it should smell?

“It seems that consumers relate to scents more in terms of a feeling or sensibility – such as ‘sexy’ or ‘feminine’ or ‘fresh’ rather than a specific item like flowers or spice,” says Karen Grant, vice president and senior global analyst for NPD Group.” So a brand like Burberry or Gucci or Chanel may make consumers think of feminine or sexy or expensive but what that means may differ greatly from younger consumers to older consumers.”

Exclusivity, of course, is a hallmark of top designer brands, with price points hovering in the $100 range — and upwards to several hundred. But in a quest to offer even more exclusivity several brands have created limited-edition fragrances, either available by invitation or only at its flagship boutiques. Hermès has Hermèssence, a collection of ten pure fragrances including Rose Ikebana and Paprika Brasil, while Dior offers it’s ultra exclusive (and even more expensive) La Collection Privée which features 10 fragrances that include such homages as New Look 1947 and Granville (Dior’s hometown.)

“The limited edition fragrances are perhaps a better articulation of the brand,” says Kovack. “They make a statement, are usually very complex, and challenge the senses.”

Case in point my personal favorite from Dior’s collection, Bois d’ Argent, which at first smelled of what can only be described as amber-soaked metal shavings, warms to become an intoxicatingly sexy and musky smell that quickly blends with one’s own, er, odors. I instantly decided that this was my Fragrance for Life.

In May 2012, Dior will relaunch its famous Eau Sauvage, which was created in 1966 by Edmond Roudnitska. “To describe Eau Sauvage, I would simply use Monsieur Dior’s definition of elegance,” says Dior’s in-house perfume creator, François Demachy. “A balance of simplicity, attention, natural style, and distinction.”

I’m not entirely sure what any of that means but when I smell Eau Sauvage, I just think of Alain Delon on a motorcycle speeding along the Corniche on his way to dinner, a cigarette dangling from his lips and a bottle of champagne wrapped in wet newspaper on the back.

Dior generated a lot of buzz and increased sales with J’Adore, their top women’s scent, with a TV ad that featured Christian Dior fashion legends,” says Grant. “Perhaps they are looking to leverage the heritage of Eau Sauvage for the men’s category.”

Ultimately, a well-branded fragrance baptizes the aspirational consumer and anoints the disciple with a sense that the fragrance is truly theirs. “By connecting with a consumer through the senses [a scent], a brand has the opportunity to trigger memory and emotion,” says Kovack, “fortifying the brand’s connection in the consumer’s mind.”

Learn more about Purpose Built at www.purpose-builtnyc.com. Keep up on retail news and research with NPD at www.npd.com.

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