Money In A Bottle: The Celebrity Scent Business
If you walk down the cosmetics aisle of any big store, you might mistake the perfume collection for the guest list to a Hollywood party.
Nowadays, there are more new fragrances released in a year than there were in the 1970s and 1980s combined. The numbers are staggering — at least 500 — each year. So perfuming is a competitive game.
Still, customers bought more than 3 million bottles of celebrity fragrances from department stores last year.
And this week, there's a formidable new player on the scent scene — rapper 50 Cent.
"I really feel like it's the smell of success," 50 Cent says of his new fragrance, Power by 50.
Success is literally wafting in the air at Macy's in Midtown Manhattan. Fans stream out the door and around the block. If they buy a bottle of his new cologne, they get to take a picture with 50 Cent.
Laquana Booker from New Jersey waited in line for four hours for the opportunity. Why? "I love 50," she says. "You know, he's a great businessman of our time and he's young and he's a great inspiration for me."
A Scent Critic
Perfume is such a big industry that The New York Times even has a scent critic to cover the smells. His name is Chandler Burr and he sprays this reporter with Britney Spears' Midnight Fantasy.
"Smell that," Burr says. "It's a very sweet perfume — it's a luscious perfume. It is a wink at itself. And it's sort of funny because if you took Britney Spears and you added 5 pounds of quality, this is what you would get."
Burr says fragrances like Midnight Fantasy are the best way to capitalize on celebrity. They're better than clothes, music and even movies. That's because the cost of creating a perfume can be relatively low. The perfume house doesn't have to pay for the "juice" — that's industry slang for the stuff inside the bottle. A different company — a fragrance manufacturer — develops it free, then the two firms share the profits.
"It is the single best tool for monetizing celebrity that's ever been created in the history of the world," Burr says of perfume. "It is a kind of financial alchemy the likes of which we've never seen."
Still, not all celebrity scents are necessarily best-sellers. They account for just about 10 percent of fragrance sales, per market research firm NPD. But where their value comes in is publicity.
"The beauty of a celebrity, unlike a designer brand, is there is consumer knowledge of this brand or product from the moment you hit the counter," says Carlos Timiraos, vice president of global marketing for celebrity brands at Coty Prestige, a perfume house based in New York.
Message On A Bottle
Coty develops perfumes for Jennifer Lopez, Gwen Stefani and Sarah Jessica Parker. Timiraos says having one of those names on a bottle saves millions of dollars in advertising.
Even so, Timiraos thinks the celebrity scent craze may not live for much longer. He still gets about 20 new pitches a year. But there are only so many celebrities — and not all of them possess enough olfactory gravitas.
At Macy's, however, the smell of celebrity doesn't seem to be fading any time soon.
Booker, the woman from New Jersey who waited hours for one bottle of 50 Cent's fragrance, comes back to buy a second bottle. She's grinning like a young girl in a candy shop.
"I think that whatever he touches is gonna turn into gold," she says. "It's him; it's not the perfume. I can't explain it, it's like an energy you carry. And people love that."
She says she'll buy any product associated with 50 Cent.
9(MDAyNzUwMDI2MDEyNTA3MTU5NzcyNTQyNA004))
MICHELE NORRIS, host:
If you stroll down a cosmetics aisle, you might mistake the perfume collection for the guest list at a high-falutin Hollywood party. Customers bought more than three million bottles of celebrity fragrances from department stores last year. And we wondered, whats the appeal?
NPRs Brian Reed sniffs around among the celebrity scents.
BRIAN REED: Nowadays there are more new fragrances released in a year than there were in the 1970s and 80s combined more than 500 of them. So, perfuming is a competitive game. And as of this week, it has a formidable new player: rapper 50 Cent.
(Soundbite of cheering)
Mr. 50 CENT (Rapper): Folks, Id like to thank everybody for coming out. I really enjoyed the process of creating the fragrance, Power by 50. I really feel like its the smell of success.
REED: Success is wafting through the air at Macys in Midtown Manhattan. Fans stream out the door and around the block. If they buy a bottle of his new cologne, they get to take a picture with 50.
(Soundbite of store)
Ms. LAQUANA BOOKER: Laquana Booker, Im from New Jersey. Ive been waiting here since Friday, like, one oclock.
REED: Its now five oclock.
(Soundbite of store)
REED: Why?
Ms. BOOKER: Because I love 50. You know, hes a great businessman of our time and hes young and hes a great inspiration for me.
Mr. CHANDLER BURR (Scent Critic, The New York Times): Heres the thing about perfume. It is the single best tool for monetizing celebrity thats ever been created in the history of the world.
REED: Chandler Burr is the scent critic for The New York Times. Yes, The New York Times has a scent critic, and hes spraying perfume on me.
Mr. BURR: You want to put some on?
REED: Sure.
Mr. BURR: Okay.
REED: Were sniffing, and Im wearing a Britney Spears scent: Midnight Fantasy.
Mr. BURR: Smell that. Its a very sweet perfume. Its a luscious perfume. It is a wink at itself. And its sort of funny because if you took Britney Spears and you added about five pounds of quality, this is what you would get.
REED: Burr says fragrances like Midnight Fantasy are the best way to capitalize on celebrity. Better than clothes, music, even movies. Thats because the cost of creating a perfume can be relatively low. The perfume house doesnt have to pay for the juice thats industry slang for the stuff inside the bottle. A different company a fragrance manufacturer develops it for free. Then the two firms share the profits. Now, celebrity scents arent necessarily bestsellers. They account for just about 10 percent of fragrance sales. Their value, though, is in publicity. Carlos Timiraos is vice president of celebrity brands at Coty Prestige, a perfume house based in New York.
Coty develops perfumes for Jennifer Lopez, Gwen Stefani and Sarah Jessica Parker. And Timiraos says having one of those names on a bottle saves millions of dollars in advertising.
Mr. CARLOS TIMIRAOS (Vice President, Coty Prestige): The beauty of a celebrity, unlike a designer brand, is there is consumer knowledge of this brand or product from the moment you hit the counter.
REED: Even so, Timiraos thinks the celeb scent craze may not live for much longer. He still gets about 20 new pitches a year. But there are only so many celebrities. And not all of them possess enough olfactory gravitas.
Mr. TIMIRAOS: I mean, I love Tony Curtis. He is a great movie star certainly. Some Like It Hot was one of my favorite movies. We turned that project down.
REED: Back at Macys, however, the smell of celebrity doesnt seem to be fading any time soon. Remember Laquana Booker, the 50 Cent fan?
(Soundbite of store)
REED: I saw you come here through once already. What are you doing?
Ms. BOOKER: I bought another bottle.
REED: And youre coming back?
Ms. BOOKER: Of course.
REED: Shes grinning like a young girl in a candy shop.
(Soundbite of store)
REED: So, this is a pretty good business idea for him, then, right? People like you are buying two bottles in a day.
Ms. BOOKER: I think that whatever he touches is going to turn into gold. Its him, its not the perfume. I cant explain it. Its like an energy you carry. And people love that.
REED: Booker says any product 50 Cent comes out with, she will buy it.
Brian Reed, NPR News, New York. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.
