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Russia: Luxury Perfumes: Effective Advertising
By Dmitry Shimanov, General Director of MAR Consult Research Agency
The fragrance industry worldwide rolls to the beat of its own drum in terms of marketing and consumer purchases. Trendy fragrances are a key lifestyle demand for entire generations. Once at a perfume shop, consumers seek to satisfy their esthetic needs, without obtaining any material benefits that other goods may deliver. Choosing perfumes is associated with positive, esthetic experience, and those fragrances that cater to these needs become succeed. It is the World's largest Luxury perfume brands largely determine development trends for the general perfume market.
The key problem with advertising perfume is that it is impossible to guide consumers to experience much less smell a fragrance through traditional communication channels, though it is the actual scent that consumer preferences are largely based on. Another problem with promoting a perfume brand is that the price is proportional to the fame of the brand (regardless of scent), so a person actually pays for something intangible -- aromatized air. This problem is vital in the Luxury Goods sector, where the competitive struggle decides the importance of branded fragrances in the high price category and the significance of preferences.
Perfume advertising is generally based on images related with bringing pleasure to people. So, what elements does this image comprise and how can a company make the most effective use of it?
First, the way consumers estimate the value of perfume is individual, intuitional and subconscious. This is why all attributes are important for promotion of a Luxury brand: from packaging design to mentality of the target audience. Unlike Casual brands, which rely upon principles of mass consumption, advertising of Luxury perfumes is based on a definite visual image, delivering a certain idea, which allows the target audience to identify themselves. This image, however, does not convey a fragrance, in other words, it does not deliver any information on the product (what it is composed of or how it works). Thus, the key function of this visual image is to make potential customers interested to know what is the scent and product experience offered in the advertised perfume.
Now that the Luxury sector is oversaturated with trendy brands, advertising images have transformed. Present-day images display people in variou