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For somebody who has everything

Posted by Robin on 6 September 2017 31 Comments

“You know, one day I said, ‘Oh my god, this is fckng fbls.' And I thought, ‘Why don’t we just call it that?’”

Ford, unsurprisingly, is fully cognisant of the potency of such a marketing message. (In fact, he uses the word “potent” several times over the course of our conversation to describe everything from a handbag to an advertising campaign.) “Even if the fragrance was not good, our customer is looking for a gift at Christmas for somebody who has everything... it worked in a lot of ways,” he says. “And it is a good fragrance. It is fckng fbls.”

— Tom Ford on the name of his latest fragrance. Read more at Tom Ford: What's Next at Business of Fashion. Hat tip to David!

Filed Under: perfume in the news
Tagged With: tom ford

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31 Comments

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  1. m3000 says:
    6 September 2017 at 9:33 am

    Or rather *from* somebody who gets away with everything. Since TF is not in a situation where he needs to get more attention by provocation, why does he choose such a screaming name? Because he can. And that’s what he wants to show us.

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    • rickbr says:
      6 September 2017 at 12:05 pm

      Nothing new in the world of fashion and fragrances. If you think well, YSL did the same by launching a fragrance with a name and an image inspired on a drug – opium. What is worse: using a expletive or alluding to drug and addiction (which btw Dior has also made with its Addict).
      Fragrance business has always been somewhay or other driven by some kind of provocation. With people being so sensitive with just a single word is quite revealing of our times to be honest.

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    • nathanthomas50 says:
      6 September 2017 at 3:12 pm

      This fragrance (like ombre leather 16 last year) is produced as a limited edition to tie in with his fashion show today – in the article he does say that this years show will be a bit wilder and that he would like his brand to tap into a younger demographic so I’m guessing this buys into that push towards a younger customer who is maybe more comfortable with the language !

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  2. Coin-op says:
    6 September 2017 at 9:48 am

    I imagined him explaining how he came up with the name EXACTLY as it is written above, so funny, I should have written that in the first post, ha

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  3. Kathryn says:
    6 September 2017 at 10:07 am

    I’m less put off by the vulgarity of the name than TF’s crassness in stating “Even if the fragrance was not good, our customer is looking for a gift at Christmas for somebody who has everything…” I suppose that given his past marketing I should not be surprised at the lack of respect this conveys for his customers, but I’m am taken aback by seeing it stated in such an open and matter of fact way.

    It’s just another confirmation of the Lily Tomlin maxim “No matter how cynical you become it’s never enough to keep up.”

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    • Jemi says:
      6 September 2017 at 11:45 am

      This, exactly.

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    • rickbr says:
      6 September 2017 at 12:07 pm

      Curiously that people are putt of by a vulgarity of a name but not by the quite common sexual innuendos that runs through perfume business as a whole, from names of fragrances to marketing concepts to whole publicities where you see usually woman being preys for men.

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    • Koyel says:
      6 September 2017 at 1:08 pm

      Actually, I love that he said it so bluntly. Let’s not kid ourselves; most marketers probably feel similarly, and have as little respect for the people towards whom they are marketing. They are just too…polite? circumspect? to say it. I love that TF leaves us with no illusions as to his intentions.

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      • Tara says:
        6 September 2017 at 2:39 pm

        I agree.

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    • Kanuka says:
      6 September 2017 at 1:32 pm

      Yes, so true. I wish there was a Lily Tomlin perfume…did you see the film, Grandma? A Lily Tomlin perfume would deserve the name F****** Fabulous.

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      • Kathryn says:
        6 September 2017 at 2:16 pm

        Yes! That’s a celebrity perfume I’d buy in a minute.

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    • nathanthomas50 says:
      6 September 2017 at 3:27 pm

      It’s not his fault if he has customers who are so (blindly) loyal that they would buy the fragrance even if it was bad – that’s down to his customer base not to him. But he does then say that in his opinion the fragrance is anything but bad – it’s f***ing fabulous . Not sure how that shows crassness or disrespect to customers.

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    • niche says:
      6 September 2017 at 10:29 pm

      There’s two sides to this coin. Tom Ford customers will buy anything he makes because he has extremely picky taste and consistently delivers high quality products (clothes and beauty). They trust his point of view and at all price points. Conversely, as an extremely successful and sharp businessman, TF knows he can literally sell anything and he does point out that it is a good fragrance.

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  4. flopper says:
    6 September 2017 at 12:01 pm

    I’m not the target of such a gift – putting the f-bomb on a bottle of perfume doesn’t do it for me. Not even if the bottle was covered in sparkles.

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    • nathanthomas50 says:
      6 September 2017 at 3:29 pm

      See, Sparkles would be a definite no go for me – there’s something out there for everyone!

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      • flopper says:
        6 September 2017 at 3:43 pm

        Ha! ???? I just watched a YouTube review of FF, and the bottle looks really nice – matte black and the reviewer said the bottle was very heavy. He also said there was a lot of tonka and sage, so if it somehow ends up at a decanting site, I’ll try it. I do like a lot of TF fragrances.

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  5. rickbr says:
    6 September 2017 at 12:10 pm

    You North Americans are so curious, a cursing/expletive on a name generate all this but hundreds of sexual/sensual references on fragrances not. Go figure. Also, why is ELdO considered vanguardist by doing fragrances like Secretions Magnifiques, Putain des Palaces, Fat Electrician and Don’t Get Me Wrong Baby I don’t swallow and Tom Ford is almost crucified for using a F***** word in a name of a fragrance?

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    • Kanuka says:
      6 September 2017 at 1:29 pm

      I am more taken aback by the use of the word ‘fabulous’ in relation to a TF perfume

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      • jen says:
        6 September 2017 at 1:47 pm

        OK, you officially just made my day! Floods, fascists and dmbfkry all around, & im laughing! [ed note: profanity disemvoweled.]

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    • Scentalicious says:
      6 September 2017 at 1:51 pm

      Several reasons, for me personally:

      A lot of us ARE tired of all the sexual innuendo that runs throughout perfume ads, and have been very vocal about that here. But at least it IS innuendo. Using an F bomb on a product is just vulgar. Also think the word is considered more taboo here in the US than in Europe and the UK, at least among us geezers.

      ELdO is very tongue-in-cheek, in my opinion; it is more fun. Even when they cross a line, I am more inclined to giggle or roll my eyes. This is merely TF’s usual lack of class. I can see it appealing to people who like to do anything that upsets people, and that’s fine, too. It’s a free country and this is exclusive to his website, I believe? So it’s not like one would see it on a trip to the perfume counter with grandma and the kids in tow.

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      • nathanthomas50 says:
        6 September 2017 at 3:47 pm

        Exactly – if you want it, you’ll have to seek it out – no one is going to stumble upon this one accidentally on a visit to the mall . It’s his fragrance, being sold in his own stores only – so he can do whatever he wants to do – but what a way to get millions of pounds worth of free advertising !

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        • Scentalicious says:
          6 September 2017 at 11:07 pm

          One man’s free advertising is another man’s dishonor.

          Perspective is everything.

          It would be a boring world if everyone had the same opinions.

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      • rickbr says:
        7 September 2017 at 7:01 pm

        [Ed note: Comment removed. Making general observations is just fine, as is disagreeing with other readers. Being unkind to other readers is not.]

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  6. Robin says:
    6 September 2017 at 12:15 pm

    I talked myself out on this subject already but David sent the link and thought some people might find it interesting…

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  7. Celestia says:
    6 September 2017 at 12:21 pm

    Remember when Estee Lauder named her fragrance “Beautiful”?

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    • jen says:
      6 September 2017 at 1:49 pm

      but that one IS beautiful. not challenging, but beautiful.

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      • Celestia says:
        6 September 2017 at 4:17 pm

        It’s beautiful if one likes big white florals. The point was that she said the scent smelled “beautiful”, so why not name it that? Tom’s doing the same thing naming his juice the way he feels about it. He’s getting a lot of press because all publicity is good publicity but the opinions seem divided as to the appropriateness of using an expletive.

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  8. Scentalicious says:
    6 September 2017 at 1:38 pm

    Potent tonka bean, how cutting edge.

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    • nathanthomas50 says:
      6 September 2017 at 3:43 pm

      Is anything in perfumery cutting edge any more?

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      • Scentalicious says:
        6 September 2017 at 11:02 pm

        Yes, I believe so. I don’t always care for it, but some of the Indie perfumers, who work without focus groups, are doing unusual things.

        The trick for them is to keep it beautiful, and not just weird.

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  9. CobraRose says:
    6 September 2017 at 6:34 pm

    Eye. Roll.

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