Still, a designer fragrance remains a quintessential holiday gift because it’s seen as a way to bestow an affordable whiff of luxury from top-tier brands. Introduced this fall, Bleu de Chanel was not only a top Christmas seller for Bloomingdale’s, but the chain’s biggest men’s fragrance premiere ever, said Howard Kreitzman, its vice president for cosmetics and fragrances.
— From Smells like 2010 at the New York Times.
Looking to attracting the attention of the massive holiday shopping crowds in New York City, The Fragrance Foundation unveiled a new "street-wise" element to its One Drop Changes Everything campaign. It will utilize eye-catching telephone kiosk placements strategically located across midtown Manhattan starting Nov. 19.
— From One Drop Changes Everything... at Happi. Has anyone actually seen any One Drop advertising in the wild? (and if you have no idea what that is, see here)
In an industry famed for its creativity, the olfactory vision of the fragrance market has been somewhat clouded of late. Manufacturers have tended to take a belt and braces attitude to riding out the recession, limiting launch activity and meeting the cautious consumer approach to the downturn with a play it safe attitude.
— From Fragrance – safety in numbers at Cosmetics Business. Topics include flankers, celebrity fragrance, fragrance collections and bottle sizes.
Bloom says that for the past 10 years, seven out of the 10 top-selling luxury fragrances in the U.S. have remained the same. For example, Donna Karan's flowery Cashmere Mist, which first launched in 1994, and the truly timeless Chanel No. 5, which has adorned women since 1921.
— That's Rochelle Bloom of the Fragrance Foundation, quoted in Smelling Out Sales In Perfume at Forbes.
In 2009, the industry launched fewer scents than it did in 2008, breaking a long streak of exponential growth. To Khoury’s thinking, this is a positive result of the financial crisis of the last 18 months. “The consumer has been overwhelmed with the number of launches, the amount of choice, and in some cases the lack of differentiation,” she says. This excess of new scents has coincided with a decline in the number of consumers buying fragrance. Khoury hopes a smaller pool of launches will feature more discerning character and “help us reconnect with the consumer.”
— That's Karen Khoury, a senior Vice President at Estee Lauder. And I hope so too. Read the rest at Fine Fragrance’s New Reality at GCI.
Another corpse flower has bloomed at Western Illinois U, & they're expecting 2 more... http://t.co/oRnROz6j (& they've got live video)