Suzanne and Bob Grayson Grayson Associates Suzanne and Bob Grayson are respected, professional marketers, having spent their careers with the leading companies in the beauty industry before staring their successful consulting business in the early 1970s. Their consulting clients have included Avon, Bristol-Myers, Estée Lauder, Procter & Gamble, Revlon and Cover Girl, among others. They reside in San Juan Capistrano, CA and maintain an office in New York City. For more information, they can be reached at bob@graysonassociates.com or suzanne@graysonassociates.com

Is there room for yet another celebrity or designer fragrance? Judging by the 2005 fourth quarter onslaught, the battle has just begun. And, if a marketer isn’t interested in using “B” and “C” list celebs, (“A” list is rapidly diminishing), it can just do flankers for the names already in its stable.  

It seems that once some marketers hand over the big bucks to the celebrity or designer, they believe that they can just sit back and let the “face” do the job.         

A digression. Every product must have a position to either target a consumer and/or to present a benefit to satisfy needs, real or imagined. If you do not give it to the consumer, she’ll perceive it...or lack of it...on her own.  Some years back, we established psychological segmentations for the fragrance category and assigned appropriate fragrances to them. These segmentations were based upon the advertising image, (Note: See Fragrance: Psychological Positioning Chart I. Only a few examples of the original and current fragrances are shown due to space considerations).  

Getting back to the main point, yesterday and today those fragrances which have had dual or triple appeals have the most impact, especially if those appeals are emotional. Companies that rely upon only the designer or the celebrity have nothing extra going for the fragrance to motivate the consumer. When you use celebrities or designers, they too, need to be differentiated, just like products.  Obviously, you can’t say that one “name” is better/more desirable than another. Rarely can just the name and the bottle establish the raison d’etre for the brand. Therefore, what you can/must do is provide a psychological positioning to create the emotion/relevance to the individual consumer. What’s in it for her?

More copy wanted. Both Live (top) and Euphoria (bottom) could use a few words to express the position of the scent and connect with the consumer.

There is also a major difference between using a celebrity as a recognizable face (a model alternative); i.e., Gwyneth Paltrow for Estée Lauder and Liv Tyler for Givenchy. In these cases, the brand is forever and supersedes the face, which may change over time, yet you still have the “recognition factor” going for you to create awareness and memorability. Ergo, the brand is bigger than the celebrity. In the case where the brand is the celebrity, it is subject to the vicissitudes of the continuing popularity,  morals, lifestyle, and so on. But, you may say, if you make enough at the outset, who cares, there’s always another celebrity—besides the life cycles of fragrances get shorter and shorter on their own. True enough, but you have to be very good at it, keeping a watchful eye on the financials. If you look at Chart II showing the enormous list of celebrity/designer fragrances launched in 2005, you will note how many of them merely rest upon the designer’s name, and the model and/or the bottle to create desire on the part of the consumer.  Most use the ubiquitous words, “a new fragrance from...” with no emotional positioning to move the consumer, both literally and figuratively. What a waste! Note Burberry Brit Red, Lauren Style.

Those which have no verbal positioning may still create some emotion with the graphic. Note Live and Euphoria, Here’s where a few words to express the position (i.e., target the reader) would linger and create greater resonance with the consumer.

What’s Burberry Brit’s raison d’etre?

Many did use the scent strip ad (note [*] on Chart II), which provides a sample of the juice, making a product statement of sorts, but few can afford to maintain that high-cost presentation. And, a couple (Lopez and Santana) offered strong GWPs on the back side of the ad.  Surely, a competitive edge, especially when so many of the ads appear in the same issue of the same books. If you would like to view the ads noted in the chart, just click on the name, and the ad will open in a new window. Here’s the wrap. The use of a celebrity or designer is just one important component of success.  The desire created by virtue of the positioning execution, the rest of the marketing mix, (i.e., $ and how creatively they are spent), and most especially the juice itself, are the keys to success. What a pity that many do not push to the max for every element at their disposal. Note: Taking just the ads themselves, the positioning and the graphic, we have assigned our impact rating on the chart. Of course, in the celebrity category, impact is largely due to the photographic use of the icon.  When the designer is the “face” (Kimora Lee Simmons) you have a “daily double.” Please feel free to disagree.

P. S.—The celebrity craze offers one real benefit to marketers: no need to struggle with positioning, consumer benefits, USP, et al. Just press “celebrity” and pass “go.”

WANTED: JUDGES FOR IPDA

The Committee of 100 is that group of marketers, packaging executives and designers who select the finalists for the INTERNATIONAL PACKAGE DESIGN AWARDS, part of the awards ceremony of HBA Global Expo. They are responsible for exercising their good judgment in selecting the best of the entries submitted. As a member of the Committee of 100, you will have electronic access to the entries to make your selection. It’s easy and fun—and makes an important contribution to the development of more exciting packaging.

Please e-mail your name to bobgrayson@hbapcitx.com.

Chart I: Fragrance Psychological Positioning
Categories	Segments	Early Examples	New Examples*
Authority	Status/Europe	Chanel No. 5	Allure Sensuelle
	Designer/Fashion	Chanel No. 5,	Allure Sensuelle,
		Oscar de la Renta	Euphoria
	Celebrity	Elizabeth Taylor White Diamonds	SJP Parker Lovely
			Jennifer Lopez Live,
			Shania Twain
	Lifestyle/Values	Charlie, cK One	Shania Twain
Womanhood	Egosense/Fulfillment	NaVy, Vanderbilt	Jennifer Lopez Live
	Feminity	Samsara, Red	SJParker Lovely
Romantic Concepts	Romance	Shalimar, Windsong	Britney Spears Fantasy
	Sensual to Sexy	Emeraude, Aviance	Allure Sensuelle,
			Kenneth Cole Black
	Fantasy Escape	Opium, Escape	Britney Spears Fantasy
Mood		Tresor, Sunflowers	Euphoria
Product		Coty Vanilla Fields, White Musk	Pleasures Exotic
Sports/Outdoors		Aliage/Aspen	Shania Twain
Youth		Heaven Scent, !ex’cla.ma’tion	none
*Only a few examples are given. Note: Some fragrances have more than one positioning; i.e., going beyond the celebrity/designer to create an emotional, psychological connection with the consumer.

Chart II: 2005 Reference Group Fragrances1
Prestige
Fragrance Name	Celebrity	Company	Positioning	Impact2
Begin	Nikki Taylor	Victory Int.	Begin...to let go	7
Carlos Santana	Carlos Santana*	Victory Int.	Arouse your senses	9
Fantasy	Britney Spears*	Elizabeth Arden	Everybody has one	10
Lovely	Sarah Jessica Parker*	Coty Prestige	Lovely on the Inside	9
Live	Jennifer Lopez*	Coty Prestige	Nonverbal, emotion through graphic	10
True Star Gold	Beyoncé	Tommy Hilfiger	None beyond celebrity/designer	9
		Estée Lauder
Very Irrésistible	Liv Tyler	Givenchy*/LVMH	Very elégante, very fun, very you	8
Mass
Belong	Celine Dion*	Coty	Belong to the moment	8
Shania	Shania Twain	Stetson/Coty	The Will of a Woman	9
Wonderful	American Beauty	Estée Lauder	...romantic fragrance...makes you feel wonderful	9
Spirit	Antonio Banderas*	Puig	Looks are nothing without spirit	8
Prestige
Fragrance Name	Designer	Company	Positioning	Impact2
Allure Sensuelle	Chanel*	Chanel	A new fragrance from Chanel	9
Amber Nude Youth Dew	Tom Ford	Estée Lauder	A new fragrance for women	10
Baby Phat Goddess	Kimora Lee Simmons	Coty Prestige	The new fragrance	9
Black	Kenneth Cole*	Coty Prestige	It’s better in the dark	9
Blush	Marc Jacobs*	Coty Prestige	The new fragrance from Marc Jacobs	7
Burberry Brit Red	Burberry	Inter Parfums	A special edition fragrance for women	6
Cinema	Yves Saint Laurent*	Gucci	The new fragrance for women	9
Gucci Envy Me	Gucci*	Gucci	The new fragrance for women	8
Escada	Escada*	P&G	The fabulous new fragrance for a woman	7
Euphoria	Calvin Klein*	Calvin Klein	A new fragrance	10
Island	Michael Kors	Estée Lauder	The ultimate getaway	9
Lauren Style	Ralph Lauren	L’Oréal	The new women’s fragrance by Ralph Lauren	4
Max Mara	Max Mara*	USA Int.	La Parfum	7
Obsession Night	Calvin Klein*	Coty Prestige	Introducing a new fragrance for women	9
Pure Turquoise	Ralph Lauren*	L’Oréal	The Beauty. The Mystery. The Magic	10
Valentino	Valentino	P&G	The fragrance	10
Versace Crystal Noir	Versace	Gianni Versace	A new fragrance for women	9
Other Prestige
Par Amours/Toujours	Clarins	Clarins	Love saying it. Love feeling it. Love sharing it.	9
Pleasures Exotic	Estée Lauder	Estée Lauder	The luscious new feeling in fragrance	9
Note: (*) Indicates ads with fragrance strips or on-page samples.
1 Reference Group is a category of psychological positioning, targeting the consumer who wishes to identify with the referent.
2 Columnists’ scale of 1-10 with 10 creating the most emotion in the reader.

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