Russia: The role of marketing research in creating a new perfume line

 

By Dmitry Shimanov, General Director of MAR Consult Research Agency

The perfume market is oversaturated with trendy novelties from the world's top brands. It is difficult to attract consumer attention because all niches are occupied by experienced and famous manufacturers. Launching a new brand requires significant effort and resources. Accordingly, the most important resource for brand promotion is marketing information. It is the data provided by marketing research that will help develop a strategy to create a competitive brand.

Thus, the following information areas are crucial to create a new perfume line:

    •    Target audience features

    •    Competitive situation

    •    Brand image features

    •    Communication

 

Social-demographic and psychographic features of the target audience will allow market research companies to prepare a unique commercial proposal, based on potential consumer taste, preferences and values. Apart from that, market research firms will be able to determine key communication stages and convey the brand concept to end consumers. The choice of the target group largely depends on age and gender peculiarities. For instance, most women prefer light flowery or spicy fragrances, whereas men like strong citrus, tobacco or woody accents. At the same time, there are unisex perfume lines. The target audience of such brands depends on temperamental attributes. This is why a consumer psychographic portrait will be required.

Efficient market positioning is determined by competitive advantages. In order to define these advantages, competitive situation analysis and SWOT analysis of competitors are necessary. These allow a company to define key factors that are vital for conceptual positioning. The competitive advantages of a perfume line will make it possible to occupy a certain market niche. For example, the original fragrance of Armani men's perfume has enjoyed stable popularity throughout the world over many years thanks to a very distinctive fragrance. In a similar manner, women's fragrances (such as Armani Code) are well perceived because of competitive advantages provided by the Armani brand (halo effect).

Concerning the creation of a brand image, it is necessary to determine what features are vital for consumers and whether they are contained in the primary brand. Most consumers mention the importance of such characteristics as: fragrance, fragrance duration, prestige, exclusiveness, popularity and so on. All of these characteristics may be clearly defined through a comprehensive study of consumers' attitude to the brand, perception of the brand within competitive environment, brand attributes and degree of confidence to brand image.

A problem emerges at the stage of communication strategy development: the crucial perfume feature is smell, which is impossible to present visually. This is why the communicative message should contain certain key aspects able to bring about positive associations with the brand image. For instance, apples are displayed in advertising of the DKNY Be Delicious / Red Delicious line to present a fragrance through a bright visual image. In most cases brands are positioned through various abstract categories, connecting perfume with relevant values of the target audience.

Thus, preparatory stages based on marketing research results will help the brand to occupy a steady share of the market, minimize competition-related risks and ensure a stable consumer inflow. As soon as all of the necessary stages are covered, the emergence of a new powerful perfume brand may be observed in the market.

Ultimately, more marketing research will be necessary to study the communicative and economic efficiency of a perfume line. It is advisable to estimate overall brand perception, determine the associative array, investigate the motivational impact of all advertisements, estimate brand attractiveness, study consumer loyalty, analyze the dynamics of financial performance, reputation and perception of the brand before and after a strategy is devised.

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