Fashion Notebook

Research Desk: Prestige Beauty Sales Grew 2% in 2007, Sez NPD

The prestige beauty industry—that's the expensive,
marquee stuff y'all—gussied itself up in 2007, according to a report from NPD Group, Port Washington, N.Y.

The category grew 2% overall to $8.9 billion in sales for 2007. Leading that charge were the makeup and skincare categories, where sales rose 4% to $3.4 billion and $2.5 billion, respectively. Makeup still leads in market share, now at 38% of the total beauty biz, just ahead of fragrance, which controls 33% of sales, and skincare, which gets 28% of the cut at $1.2 billion in sales.

And growth in a prestige market despite The Recession! Though, we can't say we're surprised, because, after all, even in the worst of times we'll plunk down the cash to prevent the world from seeing our wrinkly, blemished, pale faces, or smelling our "natural" scent. And hey, if it's got a designer name on the box, all the better! If we're not paying more than $100 for the goods, we usually chalk it up to a normal indulgence, especially when it lasts for a year (Happy Valentine's Day to our very dresser-top fave Prada Amber Pour Homme!).

Seems NPD's senior beauty analyst, Karen Grant, agrees.

"During challenging economic times in 2007, the prestige beauty industry managed to rise above the negatives," said Grant in the report. "Women and men are still willing to spend money on products that make them look and feel better."

However what did surprise us were the rankings of the top fragrances, for both male and female shoppers (keep in mind that females actually buy a greater percentage of men's fragrance than men do):

1. Acqua Di Gio (Giorgio Armani)
2. Beautiful (Estée Lauder)
3. Coco Mademoiselle (Chanel)
4. Chanel No. 5 (Chanel)
5. Cashmere Mist (Donna Karan)

OK, ok, Beautiful isn't a surprise, nor is Chanel No. 5, those fragrances are so classic they're a lock for the top spots. Coco Mademoiselle is an interesting one, since we were sure that everyone was like sooo over their current ad girl, Keira Knightley, but it's obvs just us who thinks she just a poor-man's version of Penelope Cruz with a perma-pout. And Cashmere Mist? We have to think some of those sales were a case of mistaken identity. We've never touched the stuff but the bottle looks like an exotic sex toy.

But the real shocker was No. 1: Acqua di Gio. Seriously!? Acqua di Gio!? We thought that fragrance was hot like, four years ago when we were having our Año Español and all the boys (including us) were awash in that sweet, citrus-y smell. But that was four years ago!

"It's just an easy fragrance, a good juice that easy and likable and that no one is going to hate you for gifting," Grant told us, admitting even she had been surprised that the fragrance had stayed on top for the past several years. "Men can wear it to work and to the club, and women like it, which you know is the number one factor for the guys. It isn't overpowering and its versatile. They've hit on a formula that is working on both the mass and prestige levels."

Grant also told us that a new ad campaign, by parent L'Oréal's agency Publicis, that offered new imagery for the popular fragrance, was well timed to continue the momentum of the brand last year, swapping out male model Larry Scott with Lars Burmeister (pictured above, with product), and bowing a new TV campaign, which you can view, to your water-dripping-on-abs delight, below.

Aveda Proves "Beauty is as Beauty Does" in 2008 Campaign

When consumer fears about global environmental issues are reaching their zenith and everyone’s desperate to get on the green wagon, what about those who’ve been on it for years?

Well if you’re Aveda, the Estée Lauder-owned holistic, prestige beauty brand, then it’s about time you did some green-message shouting.

After years of product-focused marketing, the brand’s 2008 campaign replaces make-up with an activist message that will drive home the brand's rep as an authentic green company. The first such iteration appears at right (click to enlarge).

“Consumers values are rapidly changing and its not just that core [environmentalist] group that is into green issues,” Suzanne Dawson, vp of global marketing, told me at Aveda HQ here in New York. “That’s why we’re re-prioritizing and bringing our brand messaging to the forefront. We’ve always talked about our environmental work to the trade, but now it’s time to start shouting it to a larger audience.”

Per Suzanne, 8 out of 10 Americans now believe that it is important to purchase products from green companies, which is a huge deal for green players like Aveda.

The new campaign, dubbed “Beauty is as Beauty Does,” features creative that tackles a different green issue every six to eight weeks, with both print advertising and in-store displays across the company’s 8,000 owned and partner salons worldwide. For a preview of the upcoming work, keep reading.

First up is wind energy and the company will be playing up its rep at the first beauty company to manufacture products using 100% wind energy. The print creative, which hits in January issues, shows your typical fashion model shot—windswept hair cascading off a statuesque model—except for the fact she’s shot against the backdrop of the windmills Aveda uses to power its Blaine, Minn. Factory.

The spot reads: “First beauty company manufacturing with 100% wind power,” and carries the tag: “Smooth hair. Protect clean air. Beauty is as beauty does.” In stores, that same image will dominate window displays, while a different iteration promote the launch of the brand’s new humidity defense styling product, tying the new goods to the wind power message.

On the design front, the campaign will use blockier fonts (it's "Knock Out," fyi) that global creative director Antoinette Beenders (who still does heads in the London salons, btw), said was geared at giving the creative a more "activist" message.

“We wanted it to make a strong statement that would have people stop when they were walking by the store, or when they were flipping through a magazine,” she said. “We wanted to make it much more impactful [than before], to be more in your face for consumers, to say ‘These are the facts. This is what Aveda is about.”

But that's not the only place where they're shaking it up. The print ads will run in a selection of books that use post-consumer recycled (PCR) materials in  their publishing practices. Some of those including Shape, Natural Health, and Ecologist. The brand is also looking into targeted, green-themed issues of wider distrib-ed pubs like Elle.

Understandably, that presents some challenges for a brand in an industry where the usual battery of glossies is a make or break requirement. But Suzanne felt that the authenticity of advertising, and tacitly, supporting those pubs would ultimately make the stronger statement for the company.

“We’re trying to establish that point of difference for Aveda," she said. "We want to make our environmental message clear.”

In late February, the messaging will shift to a discussion of packaging waste, promoting Aveda’s use of up to 100% post-consumer recycled (PCR) materials in packaging its multitude collections. Print creative carries the tag: “What a beautiful waste,” and references the brand’s waste reduction efforts. The in-store product campaign, which supports the relaunch of the lipstick line, will read “More lip, less packaging.”

Can P&G's Snack Guy Handle Estée Lauder?

Now here's a weird one.

Estée Lauder has named Fabrizio Freda the beauty company's new chief operating officer, per a report from today's WWD. While European surnames and beauty products do seem to have a natural affinity, the surprise comes from Freda's bio. He was previously president of Procter & Gamble’s Global Snacks division. Huh?

The move marks a pretty big change for Lauder, seeing as how the firm hasn't looked outside its interior world of prestige beauty before. But, per CEO William Lauder's statements in WWD today (subscription required), the appointment is expected to freshen up the beauty marks' approach. 

According to the story, Lauder said that Freda’s background at P&G has given him the benefit of a more disciplined, brand-building approach that should mesh well with Lauder's more emotion-driven branding strategy. Freda's first steps will be overseeing operational functions, research & development, and well as packaging design.

The appointment is an interesting proposition, but I just have to wonder how selling beauty products, particularly the upscale ones churned out by Estée, is like selling snack foods. There are things I want in eyeliner that I don't care about when you're pitching me chips. I'm just sayin'.

It also seems like these weird pairings are happening more and more these days. Remember when Gap announced back in July that it hired Glenn Murphy, formerly the CEO of Shoppers Drug Mart, as its chairman and CEO?

In other news, a second WWD report just came out stating that Leonard Lauder, William’s father, will be stepping down as chairman of the company, after serving in that capacity for 12 years. He'll be "chairman emeritus," whatever that means. I'm going with: "gone but not forgotten."