Gen Z and Fragrance in 2020- Research File

Darnel Bailey Fashion Communication and Promotion FASH10106

CONTENTS

1-4 Gen Z Z Gen

9-10 Art of of Storytelling Storytelling Art

15-18 Questionaire

23-24

5-8 Targeting Targeting Gen Gen Z Z

11-14 Market Market Innovation Innovation

19-22 Ideas

CONTENTS

The The Current Current Market Market

THE GLOBAL FRAGRANCE MARKET IS WORTH

£45.2

CU 1

BILLION IN 2020 ALONE

T

he fragrance industry is one of the wealthiest markets in the beauty industry next to makeup and clothing.

By 2025 the global worth of the market is said to be £52.4 BILLION. Research suggests that Europe has a strong lead on the market, as they buy over 50% of the shares , this is likely due to most of the worlds fashion capitals being situated in Europe (London, Milan, Paris)

The modern fragrance market is largely impacted by the internet, which is relativley new in the context of advertising.

The world of instagram influencers and celebrities we , as consumers tend to follow the two step flow of communication model

by Lazarsfeld and Katz, in which most people form their opinions based on ‘opinion leaders’ and public figures, who in turn are influenced by mass media. Celebrity endorsed products are popular with the generations who grew up with the internet - 1 in 5 young adults use a fragrance endorsed by a celebrity.

Depending on the demographic, different aspects of a product appeal differently, for example when aiming products at an older audience price matters less than gen z as they have a more disposable income.

Gen Z is one of the biggest consumer groups in the health and beauty sector.

URRENT 2

the curre MARK

1234567 The most popular fragrances brands of last year in descending order was Calvin Klein, Paco Rabanne, BOSS, Gucci, Marc Jacobs, Ysl, Lacoste, Carolina Herrera, Armani, Jean Paul Gaultier. Above, are the brands pictured with their most popular scents. The current market is still dominated by the heritage brands, who have a dedicated pre-audience. These brands tend to have a signature scent, and lead the market with that.

But with the rise of Gen Z and their growing dispoable incomes, their attraction niche, brands that reflect their views are becoming more popular, views such as inclusivity and being environmentally concious.

gen z target market nee 31

ent KET

679 810 According to a business report, the top trends in the fragrance market are (a) the race for prestige (looking and being high end), immersive experiences, communicating the facts (brand transparency), low waste luxury and finally a gender fluid feature. This is the clear influence of the growing Gen Z market. I think it is important to capitalise on this information. Especially with opinion leaders becoming businesses themselves, people tend to sell themselves and the product doesn’t matter as much, take Kylie Jenner for instance.

eds something different 4

GEN Z VISUAL Attention goes towards visually interesting media- they are very visually focused.

TECH FIRST Very adept with technology and have a partial say in what they see online- they build their media.

ALL ARE IMPORTANT TO CONSI

5

BORN

1995-2014

CREATIVES With all the tools at their fingetips, it’s a lot easier to creativley express themselves.

MULTITASK Technilogical advancments have helped make multitasking an easy part of everyday life.

IDER IN DESIGN

6

GEN Z

I asked a group of people belonging to the Gen Z age range to send me a photo of their favoruite fragrance.

Without given the prompt to, the Gen Z participants created mini photoshoots for the perfumes. Showing the bottles do matter more nowadays than ever, the instinct to take a ‘instagrammable’ shows bottle design truly matters, especially to the age group.

7

Following this- I decided to ask them what sort of design appeals to them. I asked “What is some art or advertisment that genuinley interests you?:

The themes are provocative, referencial and strange art.

Graphics or pro photgraphy

GEN Z 8

GEN Z Ap

COLLUSION

x

I identified a brand that connects very well with Gen Z. Below is a SWOT analysis of the clothing brand COLLUSION.

Strengths • Unisex clothing options • Part of an already large parent company- dedicated pre- audience • Gives innovative/different clothing options • Sustainable • Multitude of styles • Affordable

Weaknesses • Only aimed at a younger demographic • Limited options • Part of the fast fashion crisis • New on the online market • Online only • Low quality production

Oppurtunities

Threats

• Online business • Part of a larger brand- security • Growing market • Can expand to foreign market • The more the brand associates itself with Gen Z, the more they will flock toward the brand.

• Online business • Part of a larger brand- security • Growing market • Can expand to foreign market • The more the brand associates itself with Gen Z, the more they will flock toward the brand.

Seeing how COLLUSION is succesful in its business has helped me understand how to translate the methods into a broader sense outside of clothing. I think that both being in the beauty and lifestyle industry helps them to relate and assist eachother.

9

A brand that has some similar attribrutes (on a much larger scale) to COLLUSION is Comme De Garcon. Unlike COLLUSION, they have a line of fragrances.

Comme des Garçons • Comme Des Garcon has a line of unisex scents, priced at around £70+ • • Gen Z has less disposable income to spend on £70+ fragrances.

• • Fragrance ads aren’t typical boring storylines.

• • CDG is a timeless brand loved by all ages.

• Comme des Garcon is mainly classless, before you look at the price (of course) CDG provides comforting clothes that aren’t all made to project the look of a luxury bourgeois lifestyle with impractical restrictive clothing.

•

• FUN lighthearted products aimed at a more upmarket audience but available and accesable to everyone.

10

STORYT in fragrances Before you can even smell a fragrance, the advertisment and storyline it presents is very important. It is the first thing the majority of the audience will see, especially in the digital age we live in. They need to sell an experience and tone.

A lot of high end brands use a generic approach and do cinematic, uninspired advertisments that the public have got bored of (as the evidence suggests).

TROPES

Vanity= Power

Sex Sells

"America's best dressed women wear Coro jewelry." Upmarketing — Advertisement for Coro jewelry

11

TELLING “

“

“ Gen Z has really shifted the beauty industry into an emotional industry. And that, to us, is a very important fact. Said Charlotte Delobelle, European brand ambassador at New York-headquartered trend bureau Fashion Snoops

SUBVERSIONS

Dadaism Dadaism is an art movment popularised by such figures as Max Ernst and Salvador Dali, it is characterised by artistic freedom, humour, irrationalism, emotional reactions and general whimsy. This is a useful took for advertising, it allows for a deep meaning and metaphor to be used. I believe that this is the way forward to get through to Gen Z given the examples of art they are interested in. The Kenzo World ad is a great example of an add using a form of Dadaism.

Brand Transparency For Gen Z (and the world in general) sustainability and kindness is a hot topic. If your brand is all about that: transparency adn factual information is refreshing and easy. People tend to go for something that they can trust. Le Labo’s minimalist and medical aesthetic is a good example of how transparency can be benefical .

I will incorporate the subversions and stray away from the tired tropes of yesterday, today and the future.

12

e

TRENDIN I asked 100 people as part of a survey, “What are your concerns with the trends in the fragrance industry?” Here are some of the most popular answers. The participants are all aged 16-24

SELLING THE STEREOTYPE “They’re selling gender stereotypes, men have to be manly, powerful and appealing to women. Thats all they have to do.”

“The advertisments are always based on a man getting a woman or a women getting a man, there are no LGBT+ stories” “The women in the adverts are all the same type of soft voiced virginal supermodel running on rooftops in a flowy dress, its boring”

SAME OLD SAME OLD “I feel like as soon as something gets popular everyone just copies eachother, I want something I won’t go and see on 10 other people” All of the Marc Jaocbs fragrances confuse me, almost the same bottle for different scents, I need the bottle to stand out” “I don’t connect with fragance brands like I do with beauty and clothing brands, they’re so serious.”

Perfume is either stupidly expensive or suspiciously cheap.”

13

NG

storytelling

f the top o e (on m e the o r c . a e e c gran lers) thes nds this a r F g to ce retai . Bra r n i a d e r y Acco t fragran s of last to this: are s n s e e e d larg d ton fer or ad , wom lean n g a n i l s t f tel d to y n r e scen hould di o t t s s of s en’s can r t r a a e p m y also and . s are re floral d smoke t n e o Sc od an lly m o a c w i p d ty owar t e r mo Top Notes

The lightest notes, most notable upon application but fade first.

Heart Notes

Make an appearance once the top notes have evaporated. They last longer than the top notes and have a strong influence on the base notes to come.

Base Notes

Infusing with the heart notes they create the full body of the fragrance. The job of the base notes is to provide a lasting impression.

“

Most Popular Female Notes: Peppercorn (Top) Jasmin (Heart) Sandlewood (Base)

Most Popular Male Notes: Mandarin orange (Top) Carmadon (Heart) Sandlewood Musk (Base)

“ 14

INNOV /ˈɪnəvətɪv/ adjective

(of a product, idea, etc.) featuring new methods; advanced and original. “innovative designs” (of a person) introducing new ideas; original and creative in thinking. “writers who are now viewed as innovative”

Wode Paint- Boudicca

OLED PACKAGING

Boudicca came out with a scent in 2008 with 2 versions , the scent only and the ‘paint’ version. The paint version sprayed out a blue liquid that dissapeared over time.

This creates an interactive experience everytim e the user interacted with it. I think that if used in conjunction with a good brand story, could be very effective in the market, even though it is very gimicky.

In the modern world of instagram- products aesthetics are very important.

15

VATION KKW Perfume

While having a body shaped perfume bottle is FAR from innovative, the Kardashian marketing technique is innovative and fitting for the digital age and generation they (and we) belong to. The Kardashian brand is more based on selling the personality and lifestyle of the family, so adding a personal connection to the bottle (Kim’s body), the consumer has a more direct relation to the product.

The effect is different to a Jean Paul Gaultier bottle becuase the effect on the consumer is different.

While not exclusive to one brand, YSL and Glossier have popularised innovative menthods of applying fragrance. Pens and solid blocks of perfume are a creative and precise and travel friendly way to use scents- this is quite a niche solution and removed the luxury though.

Perfume Pens and Solids

16

INNOV VR and AI Technology

“

Philyra uses machine learning to discover whitespaces in the global fragrance market and create new formulas.

Symrise’s perfumers add the final touch by finetuning the creations, for example, by emphasizing a certain note or improving the long-lastingness of the fragrance

“

Technology like this allows us to create new and interesting fragrances at a quicker pace than ever beforea machine can work - computers can run 4 times quicker than the human brain and store 10 times a much data

17

VATION BARB Perfume

A good design tells you all you need to know about a product in a simple visual summary. In this case we can see that the product is derived fromnatrual materials, and communicates brand philosphy without the need for labels.

I think that there are lots of interesting things to be done within the fragrance market in terms of innovation. Its hard to get lost in gimmicks when trying to find something new. I think I need to consider what my target audience would find interesting and new instead of tired and needlessly strange.

18

QUE

I decided that I wanted to focus on Gen Z as I feel that they are incredibly easy to market towards as they are so digitally focused. While they are easy to market to, fragrance companies are not taking advantage of this and are instead trying to sell a luxury middle aged fantasy AGAIN and AGAIN. I asked 100 members of the public who are mainly 16-24 but I have asked opinions of a few older people to gain more insights. The participants are located around the country, mainly in the East Midlands.

What gender are you?

>18

18-24 Do you have an all time favourite scent?

Is a good packaging + bottle important to you?

19

Male

ESTIONS Female How old are you?

25-35 35+ NO

YES

Do you care about the sustainability and ethical sourcing of the product?

NO

YES

YES

NO

Do you find modern fragrance ads predicable and boring?

YES NO

20

Do you think you would wear a unisex scent?

YES

The campaign

the smell

if its good for the environment

the advertisment

the bottle

Do you prefer an artistic or romantic storylines?

QUESTIO 21

NO Are you more inclined to buy something endorsed by a celebrity you like?

YES YES

NO NO

What is important to you when buying a frgrance?

the price

the ingredients

the celebrity selling it

the sort of people who buy it If the packaging looks nice

ONS

From the results of the survey you can see that bottle and package design plays a very important role in whether people consider a fragrance- this is something I will focus on. Its clear that people want something different on the market. Sustainability is a clear issue that most of the participants expressed care in and the demand for a unisex scent is rising.

8

22

Ideas.

Through the knowledge gained through primary and secondary research I have come up with 2 possible ideas that could lead to a final project.

“A provocative and striking campaign for a unisex scent, to differenciate from the market and appeal to a younger audience who want something different and FOR them.

A personal connection with the consumer outside of the product to maintain consumer interest through social media and similar interaction the audience would have with eachother in order to stay relevant�.

1

“An honest and formal design and scent with an informal and friendly approach in terms consumer interaction and advertising. A straightforward and transparent branding with an emphasis on individuality and being ecconomically conscious�.

2

references

[1]Unknown (2020) Size of the global fragrance market from 2013 to 2025, Available at: [1]https://www.statista.com/statistics/259221/global-fragrance-market-size/ (Accessed: 10/04/20).

[2] Be Inspired, Available at: https://www.fragrancedirect.co.uk/be-inspired/top-bestselling-perfumes-of-2019-uk/ (Accessed: 12/04/2020).

[3] ( Iberchem Fragrances) 2020 fragrance trends, Available at: ] https://iberchem.com/15417/ (Accessed: 12/04/2020).

[4] ( Iberchem Fragrances) Revealed, Available at: https://www.cosmeticsbusiness.com/news/article_page/Cosmetics_Business_reveals_ the_5_biggest_fragrance_trends_in_new_report/155392 (Accessed: 15/04/2020) [5] Computers Vs Brains, Available at: https://www.scientificamerican. com/article/computers-vs-brains/ (Accessed: 15/4/20) [6] Comme Des Garcon is a Feminist Symbol, Available at: http:// the-rosenrot.com/2014/01/feminism-comme-des-garcons.html (Accessed: 16/4/20) [7] (Unknown) Perfume Ad Tropes, Available at: https://tvtropes.org/ pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PerfumeCommercial (Accessed: 16/4/20) [8] How AI is shaping fragrance , Available at: https://www.cew.org/ beauty_news/how-ai-is-shaping-fragrance (Accessed: 17/4/20) [9] (Unknown) Cosmetic Design Europe, Available at: https://www. cosmeticsdesign-europe.com/Article/2020/02/13/Generation-Z-beauty-trends-require-fun-play-and-sustainability-say-trend-experts (Accessed: 17/4/20) [10] Available at: https://blognews.am/arm/news/98696/amenaskandalayin-govazdayin-arshavnery-18-.html (Accessed: 18/4/20).

[11] Kim Kardashian, Available at: https://hypebae.com/2018/7/ kim-kardashian-new-unisex-fragrance (Accessed: 19/4/20).

[12] kenzo World, Available at: http://lafayetteprod.com/test/ (Accessed: 19/4/20 [13] Versace Eros, Available at: https://megaricos.com/2014/11/28/ nueva-fragancia-eros-pour-femme-de-versace-campana-publicitaria-por-mert-marcus/versaces-new-eros-pour-femme-fragrance-2/ (Accessed: 19/4/20).

[16] Business Inside, Available at: https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/gifts-under-100-1028890738 (Accessed: 20/4/20).

[17] Scent, Available at: https://iscent.nl/portfolio_page/dior-joy/ (Accessed: 20/4/20) [18] Yes, Available at: https://galeriedebeaute.gr/ (Accessed: 20/4/20) [ 19] Art Show, Available at: https://observer.com/2016/01/occult-art-show-features-the-work-of-aleistercrowley-kenneth-anger/ (Accessed: 20/4/20)