Celeb scents hit the right notes
These days, getting close to your favourite celebrity is easy - just spritz on a scent made by him or her.
The trend for celebrity perfumes took off in the early 1990s when Elizabeth Taylor released her fragrance, White Diamonds. It remains a bestseller today, coming in at No. 1 on Forbes' 2011 list of top-selling celeb perfumes.
Hoards of celebrities - from Britney Spears to Beyonce and, yes, even Jersey Shore's Snooki - have since jumped on the bandwagon. Last year alone saw Katy Perry, Rihanna and Kim Kardashian joining in with their own scents.
In Singapore, and worldwide, one of the biggest sellers in the celeb category is Sean John's Unforgivable, first launched for men between the ages of 18 and 35 in 2005.
"There are millions of men taking my lead, and I have to take them to the promised land of sexy," the rapper, also known as P Diddy, told the New York Daily News then of his scent, which features notes of lemon, bergamot, sandalwood, and more.
His Unforgivable fragrance - now available for women, too - sold with taglines like "made US$18 million in sales in the United States in 2010, according to Forbes".
Celeb fragrances are often a way to reach out to the younger consumer, since they are typically not overly expensive, often coming in well under $100 per bottle.
Marketing tactics include the use of social media, said Ms Chillie Por, senior category manager at Nuance Watson at Changi Airport, which brings in a selection of celebrity scents.
When Rihanna launched her Re'l Fluer perfume in 2010, she put out a one-minute video that quickly made the rounds among her 4.5 million Twitter followers and 30 million Facebook fans, said a Forbes report.
"Celebrity fragrances are more like a cult, appealing to a certain group of followers," said Ms Geraldine Chua, 27, product manager at Luxasia, which brings in scents from Jennifer Lopez, Sarah Jessica Parker and pop singer Spears.
She noted that such fragrances are an easy sell, since Singaporeans themselves are tech-savvy celeb-watchers, finding news on celebs from various media channels.
"Though celebrity fragrances represent less than 1 per cent of our total fragrance sales, our annual (sales) projection for celebrity fragrances is around $1.2 million," said Ms Por.
"Arden has plans for Taylor Swift this month, and Coty has added a number of celebrities, such as upcoming iconics Lady Gaga and Madonna," she added.
Which means, get ready for more.
