dragon coloring page - dragons4.jpg
I firmly believe that one may coloring pages these stars as "spokespersons" and have coloring tell why they like a certain fragrance and even have them "endorse a product", but to simply "slap another star's name" on a bottle hoping that it'll sell the product only sells the fragrance industry and the consumer "short."
The fragrance "power companies" here seem "enamored" with big names, for obvious reasons. The use of big named coloring page stars" or "sports figures" might have "drawing power", however, there is a "downside" to this. Many of today's new fragrances are "dead upon arrival", and yet the fragrance business persists in following a "failed paradigm". Do I sound arrogant? Hardly. I do not mean it unkindly though unkindly it may be taken. Last time I checked, celebrities had the same rights as me. They are free to enter the fragrance industry and compete. However, I believe there is a better place and use for celebrities in the fragrance business. I am a part of this fragrance industry...a minor part. I am a small "start up" company, and numerous small independent companies like mine are doing well! I have tried to avoid the pitfalls of the big cosmetic companies. I respect their past success, but I want to avoid their mistakes.
Do you remember as a child having a coloring book where you were shown a scene, perhaps many mountains with trees, a flowing stream as well as lake, a forest, etc. and below the picture the caption read:
We have heard quite a bit in the last few years, even prior to the downturn in the economy, about drooping cosmetic /perfume sales in the United States. We are told that annual sales are down one or more billion dollars. Now I do not claim to be an expert in economics, but I have made pages subtle if not interesting observations. My company, Lorenzo Siena Fragrances, is barely 3 years old. I am doing well; I am a relative new-comer to the fragrance business and perhaps that "in and of itself" qualifies me to make the forthcoming observations.
This is going on to the detriment of the business as a whole.
I believe the public is really tired of big names in Hollywood and sports trying to sell them fragrances. Sure, the name recognition is there and some sell well, but I believe the public wants their actors to act, their singers to sing and their sports stars to play sports. Years ago, it took Ford Motor Company only one Edsel to learn from their mistake. They didn't repeat their folly; they recognized it and adapted.
For every successful Hollywood fragrance launch, there are literally dozens of other big name "flops."
I may be "outside the box" looking in, but I believe I have a clearer picture. '' I may not fit the "paradigm," but that is fine with me. I am progressing quite nicely with my men's cologne and expect to have similar happens with my two new launches this year. I think I have a "beat" on the public's desires, and it does not take marketing polls to discover this.
The answer to me is simple--so simple that I think many are missing the "little boy, the cart and the donkey" in the picture, if not the entire forest. Produce a quality product at a reasonable price and do not try to "trick the public into thinking that "big name stars" are suddenly "fragrance coloring page and experts."
The fragrance market in the US today seems to be "locked into" the same old mold. The poet EE Cummings once wrote, "the cult of same is all the chic." He could well have been writing about the fragrance business here. The paradigm used is the same old thing "like the proverbial dog that chases its tail" and pages running in circles. My background is 36 years in the classroom as a high school teacher, and my journey "from classroom to fragrance" these last few years has been a fascinating one. It has been quite successful. Perhaps it is because I am "outside the box" or "paradigm" and have, I believe, a clearer view. I need no focus group to tell me what I see, and what I see is not just a "glut" of new fragrance releases (that is not the problem), but a marketing technique that is "tired and old."
I too am anticipating another very good year for my company.
If there is a lesson in all this, it may very well be:
In the fragrance market today, we do not even give the public a chance to digest "the new", never mind develop a loyalty to the old, but in a few exceptional cases, and those few fragrances have been well established for decades and for good reason.
"Hidden in this picture is a little boy in a cart being pulled by a donkey. Can you find them?"
No matter how hard you tried, you were unable to find them until you turned the page and the artist showed you how cleverly he had hidden them. They were there all the while, but you couldn't "see the whole picture".........Well, let's play a game..... Let's look if you able to find the "hidden picture" now...
Caveat Emptor! In flagrante delicate ... (Let the Buyer Beware ...while the act is in progress!)------ -----and the seller too!
Do We Need Another Celebrity Fragrance?
Internet sales are doing well and small "niche brands" are cutting into the larger market. They now account for an even higher percentage of sales... and all of this "without the use and associated cost of "celebrity name brands". Does this tell us anything?
Recently, a major orange juice company changed the "carton design only" of their famous orange juice. The "New York Times" reported a few weeks ago about the "public outcry" over this change. Interesting. The parent compan was flooded with emails, phone calls and complaints. Thus, Tropicana reverted to its old carton design. What does this tell us in regards to the fragrance business or any other industry for that matter? I believe the public is looking for "stability"...not constant change,... especially with a product they have come to "know and love." I realize "stability" may frighten some in the fashion /fragrance world because they may think of it as "stagnation" ---but that is precisely what the individuals at the ornage juice company thought. They felt a need to replace a perfectly successful design. They wanted "new"---again---and the public reaction was negative. (You can't pay to get that kind of consumer loyalty---but you CAN ruin it!)
Now with a great emerging market in Brazil and Russia, are we to repeat the errors of declining sales here in the US and bring them there? Will we have soccer players in Rio with their own fragrance brand?
Herman Melville, in discussing the "mystical properties of water", in his novel Moby Dick wrote, "If Niagara were a cataract of sand, would you travel a thousand miles to see it?" The same is true with perfume and cologne. If all of these "mystical fragrances" blend into one Hollywood marketing style, then the "mystical" is lost. Melville might then ask, "If fragrances mean another Hollywood counterfeit, would you travel even five miles to a fragrance counter to make a purchase ?" Could this be why the "niche" brands are doing so well? Have they managed to maintain the "mystical"?
A keen businessman and educator for 36 years, he entered the fragrance market in 2006 with the launch of "Palio by Lorenzo Siena" for men. The company will also be launching "Palio Gold' (for men) and "Lady Palio" later this year.
