The Fragrance Foundation is planning a unified, multi-media ad campaign to encourage women who already use perfume occasionally to use it more often. The new effort to reverse years of faltering perfume sales will start in January, and will feature print ads, billboards, online advertising and a dedicated website, onemightydrop.com.
Ads feature the silhouette of a fragrance atomizer, which frames interchangeable visuals and impact words, such as: "One drop and you're fabulous," "One drop and you feel like a million," "One drop and you're in love," and "One drop and you're in the corner office."
“one drop and you will be retching all day”… not quite as catchy but a whole lot closer to the truth what with most of the current suger-sweet shampoo smells on the shelfs nowadays. Perhaps if the frangrance industry listened to us bloggers more, and paid more attention the juice than to yet another glitzy campaign that bears no relation to the actual fragrance things would not be so bad. Or am i just too discgruntled? if so, sorry….
Your opinion is not far off from mine, probably: the only way they’re going to reinvigorate the fragrance industry is to drastically cut the number of launches (which to my mind would of necessity mean far fewer clone fragrances).
I also think the industry as a whole is doing remarkably little to improve the actual shopping experience…I’ve droned on about that before, but I think as more & more people turn to shopping on the internet instead of malls, fragrance sales will continue to dwindle.
I agree, I would much rather get online what I know I like and for a cheaper price. I don’t know that the industry cares or knows, really, that they are in charge of oversaturating the market. Do you think the industry counts on the consumer having an “everything is disposable” mindset, thus they don’t really care?
It’s also frustrating to head out to the mall/store to discover sometimes SA’s don’t know about new fragrance releases, product availability, scent notes, etc..
It must be frustrating for the SAs too…how can they keep track of all these perfume releases? The old way of buying/selling perfume needs to change…and it is changing, whether the industry likes it or not.
Buying niche is more pleasant than buying mainstream, and I don’t think the industry really understands that yet. Why can’t you buy a sample at esteelauder.com, for instance? It’s a lost opportunity.
Well at least the EL website lets you choose your own free samples when you purchase something like Sephora. That’s better than some others. One small step in the right direction…but it would be great to be able to purchase samples for a reasonable price also!
True, they do…but again, that only targets a customer who is already buying something. Other women who might be interested in the perfume but who don’t want to drag themselves off to the mall…they’re out of luck!
Well, if a pushy EL SA who I encountered a week ago is to be believed (ha!) then it’s because “Estee Lauder don’t do samples of their fragrances, actually”. Great. She spent a good 10 minutes trying to sell me Private Collection TG perfume complete with body cream just on a whim like that but the moment I asked if they happened to have a sample she comes out with that gem.
So, yes, I agree with the comments about the shopping experience. When the SAs at Estee Lauder are more pushy and give you more attitude than those in Hermes, Chanel or Annick Goutal then it’s hardly surprising that people prefer shopping online especially when there are decent deals to be had.
The whole quantity (we’ll make more and encourage you to use more and buy more) over quality approach just seems all wrong to me, especially right now *shrugs*
That’s absurd, they do samples. SAs who tell so many whoppers are a big part of the problem, IMHO.
Precisely. There are official, carded samples of PC TG being sold on ebay so I instantly knew that she was either extremely ill informed or simply lying.
Now, if I like a scent then I ask for a sample especially if it’ not convenient for me to keep going back to the counter to keep trying it. If I get one then great, if they don’t have any then it’s no big deal. But it’s this sort of nonsense and being simultaneously pushed into spending money yet treated like an idiot that really makes a poor impression.
Oh, I completely agree with this. Not being able to buy anything new since last Spring made me re-visit perfumes I’ve had for quite a while, some of which I even bought in Europe. Even though some of them have probably already been taken off the market, I realized that a lot of the “oldies” are really “goodies”.
Wendy- I’m on board with you on this. I have not bought any perfume, cologne,etc.whether I’m at an upscale store or in a drugstore due to what I call the,”flash for cash” campaigns. It should come down to one thing- the quality of what’s inside the bottle.
Wendy- once again, I feel the pain. Stink is stink no matter who’s pushing it.
Not quite the same as turning off one of your lgihts to save the planet 😀
LOL…no, not quite.
lights, even
Funny thing. I like the idea. Anything that can help to mitigate the results of the anti-fragrance movement is fine by me. 😉
I second that!
I don’t think that’s their aim — they’re really only going after current fragrance users — but perhaps it will have some effect on that too, who knows.
My point exactly.
What??? I agree with Wendy05 “one drop” of crap is still “one drop” of crap….and Robin you are right the perfume shopping experience is not very satisfying and the SA’s usually know very little about the fragrance…
With all the launches, it is so overwhelming, why buy something when you can just wait for the next launch?? ….sometimes it seems like the magic is gone..
I too want the industry to be invigorated, but I am not sure “one drop” will bring the magic back….
Not sure it will either, but still, surprised it’s taken them this long to make the attempt.
While my financial statements alone make me doubt that fragrance sales are dwindling, lol, I do think if the industry actually made better smelling fragrances sales would go up. About all I’ve concerned myself with this past year is obtaining classic fragrances on the endangered species list.
And Robin you are right about the shopping experience as well – fragrance is not just a widget – it’s very personal and special. It’s like the khaki pants conondrum – recall how it used to be about 10 years ago in the mall when all the store fronts had the same exact pants for sale. There is no way to compete with that. Ask Starbucks how they outcompeted themselves after they bought Seattles Best Coffee and then put shops on every corner on every block…. Besides, most of the newer standard fragrances smell just about the same as our drugstore shampoos and dryer sheets. There is little impetus for people to splurge on things that are so “normal.” And most women like to actually get attached to a signature fragrance. What is the point when either you love something that is discontinued after one or two years, or is reformulated. Avoiding frustration is key here. Not being able to rely on obtaining something you love is actually a deterrent from caring in the first place.
It’s true…I also think the explosion of scented products in general (scented Tide, etc) also hurts the fine fragrance business. Everything is scented, and as you say, some of the “fine fragrances” don’t smell any more wonderful than the Tide.
What AnnS said. Yeah.
I too have been buying up bottles of vintage and classic stuff, particularly secondhand (mostly ebay) and online. I buy nothing at department stores – not on principle, you understand, but because there’s just nothing at my local Belk’s or Macy’s, nor at TJ Maxx, that I want. My buying patterns might change if I had access to a perfume shop that sold niche, but unless I figure out a way to pack up a cattle farm and move it to the big city, that doesn’t seem likely to change.
City cows?? nah, bad idea….they’d get all full of themselves start demanding designer grain buckets and such. It’d be way too much trouble.
You know what I need? A Personal Shopper….in, say, France….oh, oh! or in London ….since the very evil AnnS sent me a sample of Organza Harvest 2007 Jasmin and it’s not available ANY-FREAKIN-WHERE in the US……wahhhhh! 🙁
Daisy, that’s not the first time anyone’s called me evil. Ha. But I am in the same boat with you.
I’m going to refocus my efforts on frags that are actually attainable in this dimension! like….Havana Vanille……yeah, that’s the ticket.
Hey wait a minute……what about the men????? Won’t a “drop” get me a corner office too????
LOL…apparently not!
I think that the everything is scented thing is a big problem – first, no one wants to clash by wearing all sorts of scented stuff. Secondly, why spend $100 on a perfume when you can get just as many compliments from a $5 bottle of shampoo or $3 deodorant? Of course, my answer is to unscented body products so as not to clash with my SOTD.
But it’s true, it “cheapens” the whole idea of being fragranced when there’s a dishwashing liquid that smells like Byredo Pulp (Kevin told me that. I forget which one).
You know what else I noticed, the new B&BW White Citrus foaming soap smells like the opening to Cristalle Eau Verte. Argh… there’s $100 I could have saved (okay, not really, because the soap doesn’t last very long).
Exactly. They’re all using the same aromachemicals….and there are so many scents they’re all bound to start to smell the same.
I am LMAO as they say here on the internets that the best thing they could come up with to get women to use more perfume is to recommend “one drop.”
Really? ONE DROP? No one’s going to get through a bottle that way, dearies.
I mean, really. They could have at least recommended a single spray…
HA — that’s so funny, I didn’t even think of it that way.
yeah!! they need to push what Joe called the “10-spritz Full Body Spray Down” , he might have been joking, but it sounds good to me some days!
“One MIGHTY drop”, Sweetlife. Must be Poison they’re talking about.
But seriously, good points all. I’ve been ruined forever for mall shopping by the inanity of the typical SA and the blandness of the offerings. And the plethora of scented products actually turns me OFF scent; some of this stuff can make your head explode.
Can’t wait to see their website. This should be interesting…
It will be interesting to see what they do with it, agree.
“One drop and you’re pregnant.”
Funny, Katie! I don’t know why, but with that image, that’s one of the first things I thought of as well.
Also, the image reminds me of the ELdO “Don’t Get Me Wrong Baby” graphic. Must compare.
R: I’m not sure I understand your theory about online sales causing total sales to drop and that the bricks-and-mortar shopping experience needs to improve for sales to go up. Is that because being able to smell the scent in person is so important? (The “in person” experience was thought to be important for clothing as well at one point.) I’m just thinking that the huge availability of product on the internet means more access for more people to a wider range of fragrances than ever before, which in theory could/should increase gross sales?
I’m not sure what’s causing sales decreases other than perhaps the economy. I always view more product as just cannibalizing a fairly steady market share. You’d think the industry would see it that way too.
I also think fragrance is starting to be seen as something that you wear for a season or year then move on to something new, the latest launch by the celebrity or line du jour. Continuity or loyalty may not be a priority for a big segment of the market.
However, maybe there are other factors. Is there a significant trend of greater aversion to personal fragrance use? Are there more scented lotions and body sprays at lower price points that eat into the prestige fragrance market? It would be interesting to see more analysis and writing on this. Maybe I should start reading that Perfumer & Flavorist Journal more often. HA!
This campaign is an interesting — and I dare say “good” — idea though.
Fine fragrance sales started declining well before the economy tanked, so it isn’t just that.
Personally, I used to do most of my shopping at malls & department stores. Now, I do very little of my shopping at malls & department stores — the vast majority of what I used to buy at malls I now buy online. If it weren’t for this blog, I’d hardly enter a mall at all. Now surely I’m not alone in that. And meantime, fewer & fewer people are reading beauty magazines where they’re likely to come across scent strips. So how are all of those people to smell new fragrances? The simple answer is that they can’t & won’t unless they’re buying niche, in which case a) they’re already “interested parties”, and b) they can buy samples online.
Beyond that, the whole way in which fragrance samples are distributed is massively inefficient. The department store shopper most likely to receive a fragrance sample is the shopper who just bought a fragrance. The thinking behind that strikes me as terribly misguided.
Ooh… that last one just burns me up. I’ve generally had pretty good experiences at NM, but the last one wasn’t. I’d asked for samples of several things, offered to make my own when they said they didn’t have them, and was treated like I was just trying to get something for nothing.
One of the SAs even opined that they didn’t have any VCA samples because they’d “mailed them out to their customers” already – with the emphasis on *customer*. I looked at my friend and asked her what she thought I was since I’d purchased *two* FBs at NM in the last month. Boy, did their tune change then – even more so when I purchased yet another FB that day. I wouldn’t have, but I really wanted the Alien Liqueur – grrr….
They still didn’t have the VCA samples, but she did give me her card and tell me to call in a few weeks to see if they had any in. Granted, that was the first bad experience that I’d had at NM – I’m thinking that my mistake was not sticking with the same SA every time I go. I guess I’m used to the make-up counters where everyone only works at her own counter.
I just don’t see how they expect someone to shell out almost $200 on something and they don’t even want you to be able to try it on – it’s not like they don’t know that the fragrance changes in the drydown.
Robin, Is it morally wrong, to purchase a fragrance just for the free sample goodies, and the return the fragrance later, and keep all your sample?
I have personlly tested SA, I walked up, and respectfully ask if they have any perfume sample to give.
In the process, I’m observing their responses suchas;
body laugage and their tune of voice
Well, yes, I think it’s wrong, but then again I think it’s wrong for SAs to hoard samples for their own favorite customers.
I wish the whole SA experience wasn’t so random, either; I never know when I’m going to have a nice discussion with a SA, or be treated like the world’s worst moocher for asking for a sample. I’ve had some good experiences at Nordstrom’s, where the SA sent me home with six samples of Annick Goutals; I never even asked her for them, and I didn’t purchase anything that day. She even made one up for me, since they were out of mfr.’s samples. A month later at the same store, another SA gave me the line noted above, “EL doesn’t have samples”, and turned his back on me. Gee, wasn’t I wearing the tiara that day?
I think the “one drop” is not so much literally as WEAR THE DAMN STUFF! I am NOT my mother with her one bottle of Chanel #5 that she dabbed on for parties or dinner out with my dad. I swear to god that bottle lasted decades at that rate. Me? I wear perfume everyday (as most of you do too) and finish off and sometimes re-buy a bottle. I will agree with the idea of stopping the insanity of so many launches and maybe going back to grown up frags and not crap aimed at teenagers. A woman should smell like a woman, not a fruit roll-up.
“Wear the stuff!” is a motto I’ve only come to embrace over the last year. I too grew up with the “perfume is for social occasions” idea, and up until a few years ago only wore it if I was dressing up. I think a lot of people continue with the theory that one wears perfume solely to please, or to obtain, a significant other: a few years ago, my sister and I had planned to buy Mom a new bottle of Chanel No. 5 and asked our brother to chip in. His response? “Ew, you want me to buy MOM perfume?? That’s just creepy. I only buy my WIFE perfume!”
Now I spend most of my days perfumed, and I like that very much, but I did have to explain to my husband that wearing perfume did not (necessarily) mean that I was In The Mood…
Your brother’s reaction is interesting. I thought perfume (Evening in Paris, Charlie, dusting powder, etc.) has been a standard Mothers’ Day gift forever. It’s not like you were buying her a sexy negligee, geez!
Mals, I gotta admire your husband…what a guy!
Do we share a mother? Seriously, I bought my Mom some perfume a couple of months ago and just asked the other day how she liked it. She said she did enjoy it. Then I asked her how often she wore and she said that she doesn’t wear it often cause she likes to keep it “for special”. My Mom is the only person I know who uses the term “for special”. And the perfume we’re talking about is no Amouage, it’s MAC’s Naked Honey.
Hmmm, maybe we do, mom used “for special” too! You aren’t from the midwest are you? She had lots of special use only items, besides perfume I can count the fancy finger towels and guest soaps that we were NOT to touch. Then there was the rum chocolate sauce I gave her one year for ice cream that I finally had to open myself. On the other hand, my paternal Grandmother was glamour galore. She wore perfume everyday (she was 100% french so maybe that had a small influence), sexy lingerie, red lipstick and always carried a fabulous purse. When she passed away my cousin and I fought over a Hermes Kelly bag. I’m the oldest and my name is Kelly so guess who won the smack down? LOL. We split Hermes scarves and kid gloves. If I could have crammed my feet in her size 5 1/2 shoes I would have but I would have had to cut off my big toe. I got my love of perfume from her, and all of you have been enablers. Thank you.
I’m not from the Midwest but my Mom is. She moved to Western Canada in her early twenties. This is probably why she’s the only person I know who says that. It annoys me but it charms me at the same time, you know? I remember hearing my Grandma say “for special” too so maybe it is a Midwest thing.
Also, OMG! A Kelly bag? Your Grandma rocked!
I’m sorry she’s gone; she must have been a heck of a lady! And I bet you think of her every time you put on one of those Hermes scarves. 🙂
Also, I have to say that with the current WAN formulations of some scents, I need a helluva lot more than ONE DROP to get any effect whatsoever. Then again, that gets me to drain bottles more quickly, which helps the industry, dunnit?!
LOL…yes!
Keep making them happy!
I know for a fact that my retail purchases dwindled, then eventually stopped, when fragrance counters started hiding their testers, hired haughty sales reps with minimal understanding of the product, and treated you like pond scum when you asked for a sample so that you could take the fragrance home and live with it for a day or two.
The retail fragrance purchase has become such an unpleasant experience that I’ve turned almost exclusively to the internet. I do get lured in occasionally by gift-with-purchase offers, but as others have mentioned, that’s only for fragrances I already know and like.
I will literally run from spritzer girls while they stalk me down, fruity celebuscent in hand. Force fragrance on me when I don’t want it (spritzer girls) and refuse it to me when I do (samples). If that isn’t a formula for commercial failure, I don’t know what one is.
Yes! The ‘being treated like pond scum’ is my favorite part of the whole experience 😉
You want pond-scum treatment? Try being a man asking for samples of women’s fragrances. I don’t know what they think I’m going to do with them (wear them and maybe buy them, or give them to my mom, though why does it even matter?), but they DO NOT like giving them to me. Honestly, you’d think I was asking them to donate an ovary.
LOL! That’s interesting because I often have better luck at the men’s counter than I do at the women’s…I can say it’s for my husband. Otherwise they act like you might just use the tester and stop bothering them.
But… I’m already fabulous! Dx
It seems to me that an atomizer should put out sprays, not drops. Otherwise, it’s just sad.
Actually, I picked up a vintage Youth Dew (so vintage that even the atomizer is metal!) and the juice is reminiscent of molasses,. despite my attempts for a good spray, it requires dabbing.
Yes, there are definitely still a few fragrances out there that work best by the drop!
Oh dear! Are there no SAs in this community? We seem to have dumped a lot on SAs today – I’d like to hear something from their side of the counter. My experience has been 50/50 good/bad. Certainly some SAs seem poorly trained and unaware. Is there no time to train them? Do they not read the blogs and realise that many customers are extremely well informed and are very canny about getting the best value for their fragrance dollar? Young men selling TVs and computers seem much better informed, but maybe they are better at faking it?!
I spent an hour or so in the fragrance counters in two Sydney department stores recently and was overwhelmed by the amount of product, the gushing SAs, the frenzy. It was exhausting.
I don’t mean to dump on SAs at all…their job must be horrid, and I really don’t see how you can be adequately trained any more what with the avalanche of product. I don’t blame SAs, I blame the whole system of how perfume is sold: you could argue that it worked when there were a few hundred new releases a year, but it doesn’t work now. Brands need to find other ways to get their message across other than via a human in a department store.
Yes, I agree with everyone re: the SA thing. I was pleased to finally find a niche perfume stockist (not a huge range but a range nonetheless) here in Australia but have tried to no avail to get some samples sent to me. They apparently do offer the service but the lady has not called back and I’ve already called her four times (she keeps promising me to call back) and one week later, still no call. Too embarrased to call again, off I went to The Perfumed Court and ordered the samples I was after.
The two other niche stockists in Australia I’ve since located must have thought I was crazy asking if they sold samples – it seemed to be an extremely foreign idea to them. “Well, we sometimes get samples from our suppliers but we don’t SELL them.” Duh. Clearly, decanting their own samples has never occurred to them.
They’ll come around, probably, once the internet becomes the main vehicle of sales!
Well, I’m not sure if anyone will read this since the thread is off of page one – but since I recounted my bad NM experience the other day, I thought that I should come back and share the wonderfully surprising Saks experience today.
So, anyway – on the same day as my annoying NM experience, I had also gone to Saks on a sniffing expedition. I was specifically looking for samples of by Killian Back to Black and Pure Oud – the didn’t have any Back to Black and she explained that they didn’t have, wouldn’t get and weren’t allowed to make samples of the Pure Oud because it was a special limited edition. But she did offer to take down my name and address and said that she would send the sample of Back to Black when they came in – and I thought “yeah, right, sure you will”.
Well, I got a package in the mail today (which I was kind of surprised, because I wasn’t expecting anything) and it was from Saks! Not only did she send me a sample of the Back to Black, she sent me six samples! Yay! I don’t know if I’ll like any of them, but I can tell you one thing – if I buy anything at Saks, it will be from her.
So, there’s the other side of the SA experience – although the Bond No 9 SA was a little snippy with me when I was at Saks, too. She has apparently decided that I’m unlikely to actually buy anything from her and has gotten stingier with the samples. Of course, if I found something that I liked and she was still being generous with the samples, I would buy from her. I guess it’s easier to go after the quick impulse or prestige buyer than to spend some time cultivating customers. Which is pretty short-sighted on their part because I think that my 3rd quarter damage proves that I could be a much better customer than most – hell, besides the decants and splits – look at how many FBs I bought, including three from NM alone.
Oh, how very nice!!
But in general, this is why I wish they’d just sell samples, so it was a regular consumer transaction. Why not charge a few bucks for a Bond sample?
That would be nice – it would definitely cause me to only pick up stuff that I was truly interested in and I’d feel less guilty if I didn’t end up buying. Of course, I’d probably also be mad if I had paid for a sample of Little Italy – it was truly dreadful on me.
Also, but turning it into a simple transaction, it takes out the begging aspect of the whole thing which I would really like. I really appreciate perfumers like DelRae and Czech & Speake that only ask a shipping or other nominal fee and send generous samples.
LOL…yes, some would turn out to be not even worth a dollar or two. But to not have to beg would be wonderful.
As another aside, i just stumbled across this really funny thread on I smell therefore I am (of Monday, September 7, 2009). It is “An Open Letter to the Brilliant Men and Women in the Marketing Department ” and it just cracked me up (and NowSmellThis is mentioned, too!) Not sure if i can post a url but here it is: http://ismellthereforeiam.blogspot.com/2009/09/open-letter-to-brilliant-men-and-women.html
cheers!Wendy
Cute post, thanks for the link!