Sweet smell of success: scents that sell

Last year more than 530 scents were launched on to the Australian market. With such fierce competition how does a fragrance lure our attention and finally grab our cash? Erin Whitty investigates.

Every week there’s a new one gleaming from a department store counter, coaxing consumers to buy into the slick packaging, beautiful faces, and promise of instant glamour. For the last ten years thousands of fragrances have flooded the market, while big brands have turned themselves inside out for recognition, hoping to secure a spot on the fragrance map. So how do the big, and the not so big, scents get themselves plucked from the pack?

A different approach
Elizabeth Arden’s first Britney Spear’s fragrance, Curious, made a huge impact on the market. It was one of the most successful perfume launches in the last five years, selling more than 100,000 bottles in its first year alone. Of course, Britney’s ready-made fan base helped the coup, but it was the company’s non-traditional marketing route that really caused the sensation.

Elizabeth Arden’s goal was to bring the star closer to her audience. Because the perfume’s elusive target market - 16 to 25 year old young women - typically watch less than two hours of television a day, it made a limited print/TV campaign unlikely to maximise results. With a nod to the technology-savvy generation it was targeting, Elizabeth Arden instead chose to kick off the campaign with an online angle, intended to generate awareness pre-launch. It was the brand’s American advertising agency Goodby, Silverstein & Partners who first set out to “exploit the power of the web, Britney herself, and teens’ love affair with mobile phones to create an engaging media experience,” says associate media director Joshua Spanier.

In October 2004 Elizabeth Arden launched an interactive website for Curious (curiousBritneySpears.com.au), and followed up with a companion site for the second scent in line, Fantasy (fantasyBritneySpears.com.au), in 2005. Both sites lead the browser into Britney’s magical dream world. The story of Fantasy unfolds along with the pages of a virtual book. The site offers ring tones, screensaver downloads, love games and free samples to order. Arden also set up Club Curious, opening its doors to 600 girls for The Ultimate Girls Night Out, where Ricki-Lee Coulter of Australian Idol fame rocked about onstage while Channel V hosts covered the event live.

With Myer heavily supporting the brand in store, Curious sales went off. Realising the potential of the Britney-obsessed market, Myer repeated its heavy point of sale strategy with the launch of Fantasy. Australia was the most successful Britney fragrance launch worldwide on a per capita basis.

New beginnings
Of course the hype surrounding a fragrance alone isn’t enough to propel its success. The quality of the jus or perfume, bottle design and packaging all play an important role.

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