Celebrity Fragrances: Say It Isn’t Glow, J. Lo!
Matching a celebrity’s name and fame to a designer perfume has always been a quick route to establishing a brand name since the 1930’s. Of course that didn’t have to always include the star’s permission then, or 
even royalties, not to mention paying and having that star actually hawk the brand. Oh, say this perfume is quite absolutely so, Joe DiMaggio! For five to ten percent of the take or even more, of course. Many celebrity-endorsed perfumes have fizzled out quickly, like that ill-fated scent endorsed by Donald Trump for Estee Lauder, which, after flaring up for a short time, was as fleeting if not more so than “celebrity fame.” One could have renamed those scents as “Fickle,” and if a major perfumer wasn’t careful, all that endorsement money could head straight for the clearance bins. The high fashion designer houses still dominated high fashion perfume branding, with names like Giorgio Armani and the House of Chanel, rising in the 80’s through the 90’s, taking over from most celebrity names.
Liz Taylor’s White Diamonds, which debuted in 1991, four years after her first endorsed perfume, “Passion,” came out, was an exception. She has continued to endorse this separate, specialized collection from maker Elizabeth Arden to adoring fans of La Taylor throughout the years, and in what is nowadays a global $1 billion a year celebrity fragrance market, it has sold well over a $1 billion of all that since it came out. Even through the rise of massive mass-marketing and brand name clone fragrances, her brand still ranks consistently among the top sellers in womens perfumes. And of course it still ranks very very well among department store sales.
White Diamonds
Glow by J. Lo
Brittany, Hillary and Beyonce
Nowadays, Elizabeth Arden has Britney Spears‘ line, and Estee Lauder through the Tommy Hilfiger line has Beyonce Knowles’ True Star and True Star Gold among other celebrities, but Coty has top-to-bottom celebrity branding, from the Olsen twins for tweenies to Celine Dion for mid-30’s women, to Shania Twain for the country music market. On the one hand, using celebrities can be dangerous, of course, wuth reputations and spin so vulnerable to anything that celebrities, their family, friends, lovers & associates might do or be involved in. As in Kate Moss’ infamous cocaine-snorting expose in the tabloids, although the nearly Fortune 500-size Coty has declared it will continue to do business with the supermodel, despite obvious misgivings by the likes of its more family-oriented mass-marketers like Walgreens and Walmart. Perhaps due to a conviction that any publicity can actually be great publicity, good or bad. A scandalous reality show all rolled up into the brand, with bad boys and bad girls providing the needed counterpoint to a dull everyday routine. As they say, with no conflict, there is hardly any plot or no plot at all, and with no plot, ratings are tough to come by.
Celine Dion
Coty continues with branding Stetson through actor Matthew McConaughey and Healing Garden through superstar singer Jewel. There doesn’t seem to be any letup this new decade, as Estee Lauder also looks for its next super celebrity branding with superstar netsters Andre and Steffi Agassi, while Elizabeth Arden keeps working with Hillary Duff, then Mariah Carey and even the famous romance writer, Danielle Steel. Could J. K. Rowlings’ face and themes be next in line, with a Harry Potter’s Magique perfume collection?
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