Ann Gottlieb, founder of Ann Gottlieb Associates, concurred. Addressing issues in the U.S. market, she said, “We’re not offering fragrance that inspires and is beautiful and as magnificent as it used to be.” Consumers understand this reality, she said, and take their money elsewhere. Gottlieb added that, “We have abandoned the majority of the market in favor of targeting a 25-and-under consumer. Older consumers feel somewhat neglected.” Meanwhile, she explained, “Younger consumers are not particularly loyal.”
— From CEW Fragrance Rainmakers: Creating Scent Success in a Crisis at GCI Magazine.
Mayeb I am going to meet her next year!
She is responsible for the AXE stuff… which is very successfull but also a major stink bomb imho.
She is responsible for many fragrances
To which, Ms. Gottlieb, I reply: “Duh”.
Exactly, double duh….
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Yup.
Luckily, I speak a smattering Business Exec. and am able to translate this…. “Screw you all, we just want the money”
All bow down and praise the perfume deities for creating niche….
They all keep saying the same things, nothing changes.
I’m an older customer who’s not feeling neglected, I just take my money elsewhere, thankyouverymuch. Plenty of niche, and older gems, to go around.
But I think that’s their point…older customers have left mainstream…
“Walsh concluded that quality is the foundation of fragrance success, noting that Coty is deemphasizing promotional add-ons, instead focusing instead on value.” (from the final para of this article)
Isn’t that nice to hear? Wonder if it will make any difference. Probably not.
Given that the scent she’s talking about just before that is the new strawberry-focused SJP, well, you know…
Pah! I *am* the 25-and-under consumer being targeted, and *I* feel neglected.
‘Scuse me if I pass on the infantilizing pink ribbons, “cute” bows, “sexifying” junk that promises to snatch me a man, not to mention the lowbrow juice contained in the former. Come talk to me when you manage to level with your customer base.
Hear! Hear! Zeezee! You are the future!
Didn’t Ann Gottlieb found the Fragrance Foundation as well?
I think you’re thinking of Annette Green.
Ah, yes, thanks R! At least I got the initials, right!
High five, Zeezee. I’ve edged out of the 25 and under demo, but there isn’t much at the counters to grab me, either. Well said! Off to go dab on some No. 5.
I’ll stick to my MPG Or des Indes (can’t stand no. 5), but I love the spirit of quiet rebellion!
I think we’re already seeing the beginning of mainstream perfume fatigue – numbers are down, trends are changing and companies are scrambling to reach sales goals. P&G had a scary shake up and lost one of its beloved and best. L’Oreal works directly with discounters. Bvlgari has its own set of problems. I had an interesting talk about this today after Thanksgiving dinner with an industry insider.
But I think the industry will continue to dumb down their offerings before they wisen up.
So far, the industry bemoans the state of the industry regularly, but nothing changes.
Some of the first part of this article — including Gottlieb’s quote above — sounded encouraging. But by the time I got to the end, that woman Walsh from Coty seemed to be defending the same old thing while trying to make it sound like there’s an effort to make quality product. To me it just sounded like they’re content now that mass market is finding success in China. The thing aboit business is this: I don’t see how ANY industry thinks it’s realistic to set 5%-10% annual sales target increases forever. There’s just no way. And fragrance just seems like it’s trying to drive increased sales by just churning out more and more product launches. Talk about an unsustainable cycle.
They just go where the money go, and lets face the majority of people they still use mass-produced main-stream product. 10-12 % is not such a massive loss considering overall economic decline, besides what they are selling is not the juice anyway, as they said, it is the image you want to associate with, e.g Carry Sex in the City, I believe that even Carry can do better than strawberries, but if the adverts will be good so will be the sales. People just buy the “neutralized” smell, something that we got used to, something that does not as such smell of anything after a couple of minutes, something expected. Sweet fruity florals are the curse of this age, hence bad education.
Same with food, Kseni!
try to offer somebody organic stuff – they will say it does not tatse or it is not salty enough or wahtever. Same with cosmetics: Though it has now been proved more then once that parabens and perfume is not good applied on your skin, people still reach for products because “they smell good”. How many cesmtic induced acne-scars are out there! How many people cannot indulge food unless it is full of artificial flavour.
I feel the same for food, cosmetics and perfume. Industrial stuff makes me sick.
It’s unsustainable, and they know it’s unsustainable, but they lack the will to do anything about it.
Right, because it means losing their positions and salary.
Ehm, I’m only a few years older than 25 and I certainly don’t appreciate the mainstream fragrances, even when I was younger. I remember being so frustrated going to a department store sniffing one uninspired scent to another.
I remember spritzing my mom and aunt’s YSLs and Bvlgaris in high school when my friends were spraying horrendous fruity concoctions all over.
Hey, but YSL & Bvlgari are mainstream! So at some point, you must have liked mainstream offerings
Robin, I read those descriptions and turned as green as the bottle! I need an Alka Seltzer.
LOL!