Calvin Klein Cosmetics is banking on a large-scale marketing campaign for its new unisex perfume which it hopes will change the reputation of shared fragrances among consumers.
Few perfume manufacturers have released gender-free perfumes, and none of these have had a high-profile among consumers or made profits on a par with perfumes such as Obsession and Escape, Calvin Klein’s signature lines.
But Patrick Carroll, general manager of Calvin Klein Canada, says there is a trend towards women buying up-scale men’s fragrances for their own use.
Carroll says shared fragrances may be the cutting edge of the perfume industry – if a positive message gets to consumers.
‘We’re going into this launch in a really heavy way,’ he says.
‘The reason for this is that it’s a shared fragrance, and we really have to get this strategy out to the consumer. No one’s ever done it properly.’
The marketing campaign began last week with a press conference for beauty magazine editors in New York.
Come September, tv commercials, outdoor ads, print support, including fragrance strips, and large-scale in-store displays will herald the arrival of the shared fragrance known as cK one.
Calvin Klein is sparing no expense in launching the fragrance.
Although Canada-specific figures are not being released, the u.s. campaign is getting more than $19 million in marketing support over the next four months, and Carroll says the scale of investment is comparable north of the border.
‘We’re not going to leave anything to chance, let’s put it that way,’ he says.
Calvin Klein is spending more than 35% of estimated net sales of the product on advertising – from 5% to 10% more than it spent launching Obsession and Escape – in an attempt to change the faceless image of a shared fragrance.
Carroll says that to support the advertising, the perfume will be sold with a value-added offer.
‘We’re going to lower price points on this one,’ he says. ‘Not down-scale, but we’re giving them more perfume for their money.’
cK one will be the first of Calvin Klein’s line sold in a 200-millilitre bottle for $70, compared with the more typical price of $50 for 100mL.
The Canadian and u.s. marketing campaigns will be identical.
The creative, done in-house, will include lines such as, ‘If you think conformity is boring…if you’re a man or a woman…if you’ll try anything once.’
In the u.s., cK one will be distributed through Tower Records stores.
It is the first time a fragrance will be marketed through a music chain store.
According to Carroll, it is an experiment that will not take place in Canada.
‘It’s a West Coast phenomenon, and, quite frankly, we’re keeping the experiment there,’ he says.
