forevermore79
03.03.08, 19:54
Z cosmeticnews.com:
"Faced with an inert fragrance category, brands are having to get
really savvy to incite consumers to spend. This spring, several are
banking on packaging design.
Yves Saint Laurent’s L’Homme Design by Jean Nouvel, with a bottle
created by the famous architect, Thierry Mugler’s A*Men and Alien
Eau Luminescante, with scent patches on their packaging, and Kenzo’s
Vintage Edition with a choice of four different psychedelic cartons,
all stand out as new ways of creating a buzz around fragrance.
“We are entrenched in the repetition of models, and this applies to
both architecture and fragrance,” Jean Nouvel said at a conference
to launch the newly designed bottle, shaped like an inverted test-
tube on a hexagonal base. “I try to make sure this is not the case
[with my creations].”
The novelty factor is certainly key—YSL has sold two million bottles
of L’Homme since its launch in 2006, according to the brand. By
creating a limited run of 100,000 bottles, YSL will not be hoping to
recruit new consumers, but to reward fans with a collectable item
offered at a similar price to the original.
But certain industry observers are cynical. “It gives PR people a
reason to talk about a brand,” Experts Consulting manager Lionel
Turci comments. “It is generally well received by the consumer but
there has to be a real benefit in the product, an interest in
addition to the design.”
Limited edition packaging is no novelty—brands like Nina Ricci, with
its flacons designed by Lalique, have been offering such objects for
decades. But in the past, these have usually been collector items,
with collector prices. For the latest launches, this is not the
case, which raises a key point: “Fragrance is about the
only ‘luxury’ product that you throw away,” French designer Thierry
de Baschmakoff, founder of the Aesthete agency, tells CosmeticNews.
He believes that there is in fact little or no innovation in
fragrance packaging design, because of the short production times
demanded by the brands. “I get briefs that say ‘make it look
innovative,’ but in reality there is no innovation,” he says. “We
will be able to innovate only when the brands and their marketing
departments have decided to work at several speeds, six months, 12
months, even 36 months... That is how it works in other industries.”
Experts’ Turci agrees: “Any modification in a design can require a
heavy investment for a brand.”
While innovative new packaging can create excitement around a brand,
can it truly pick up a floundering market? Industry expert Michael
Edwards identified 815 fragrance launches in 2007 in his Fragrances
of the World 2008 book, compared with 581 in 2006. These numbers
reiterate that while there is much talk in the industry about there
being too many launches, nobody is willing to really address the
problem. Perhaps it is finally time for the industry to put its
money where its mouth is."
