Did you ever wonder how
many perfume and cologne brands are there on the market at this point in time?
Well due to my research based on the quantity brands available on one of the
popular online retailers specialized in fragrances there are 1272 different brands
currently available to purchase online at http://www.fragrancex.com/products/allbrands.html.
Tremendous amount
of trademarks including prominent names
like Chanel, Gucci, Hermes but also such items as 50 Cent, Jay-Z, Christina
Aguilera, New York Yankees Perfume ( I wonder what does that smell like?
Hotdogs?! :D), Harley Davidson and of course the famous Powerpuff Girls perfume.
Behind all of those scent brands are conglomerates, companies and big cash-cow businesses that enjoy producing, promoting, packaging and selling us the fragrances that we are supposed to instantly fall in love with. Interestingly enough the biggest worldwide companies that produce the essential ingredients apart from also producing the perfumes itself are not that well-known.
If you are interested
in fashion, brands and brands families, you probably heard about companies like
LVMH that own brands under their “umbrellas” in this case Dior, Givenchy,
Fendi, Kenzo and so on, L’Oreal ( Lancome, Giorgio Armani, Yves Saint Laurent,
Ralph Lauren Fragrances), Coty Inc. ( Calvin Klein Fragrances, Marc Jacobs
Fragrances, Chloe, as well as Adidas and Playboy Fragrances).
It’s exciting to see
companies who have licenses for so many brands to actively compete and apply
all their marketing tricks to be able to differentiate between this or that
perfume or cologne. Nevertheless, this article is not going to be about LVMH or
L’Oreal but instead I would like to introduce you to those companies who are
the real powers of the fragrance market, the hidden champions and big players
holding all the scents to put in your brands (word play I know…I know :D ).
Giuvadan, Firmenich, IFF- are the top 3 companies producing the essential
ingredients as well as providing services and cooperating with the perfume
houses an in the process of creating their famous branded aromas (Fun Fact: 2/3
have their biggest producing facilities and offices in Grasse, south of France, just about 16 km away from where I’m
sitting right now :D)
·
Well, if you have never
heard about this company is just about time you most likely should. As of 2008,
Givaudan ((pronounced: [ʒivodɑ̃]) is global leading producer of flavorings and
fragrances. (Leffingwell & Associates, 2014). Their market share in 2013 was estimated to be around
20.5% with sales figures of 4.9 billion U.S. Dollars. Even though the market
share have dropped during the last 3—5 years no more or less than by 5%,
Givaudan is still considered as the leader and an essential player in the world
fragrance market. With valuable and important heritage, this Swiss company had
created a lot of perfumes and colognes that are considered as classics. The
company has been around for more than a century and every year it manages to
produce new and breakthrough scents that are made into perfumes that charm and
attract the masses.
All the biggest
fragrance producing companies and Givaudan is not an exception work both with
fashion houses, beauty companies, fashion designers, lifestyle brands, as well
as with celebrities who what to transform their image into something more or
less tangible as the perfume or a cologne. The art of those companies is to mix
the art of a scent master with the innovative technology in order to produce a
unique item that has multiple roles to perform including associating a person with
a particular lifestyle, making him/her
feel better due to the better smell and so on and so forth. It’s a complicated
piece of work if you ask me but the bottom line figures of the industry proves it
is more than worth it.
Givaudan is the company
that brought us one of the world’s most popular scents. From Je Reviens of
Charles Worth and Shocking of Elsa Shiaparelli to L'Air du Temps, Fracas,
Opium, Poison and Obsession. Currently, Giuvudan fragrances are in included in
a lot of best-selling perfumes and colognes such as: Angel, Le Male, J’Adore,
Infusion d’Iris, Armani Code, One Million and Lola.
“A Passion to Smell and
Taste”- Firmenich tagline
(
(
Another ofiginally
Swiss grand company is Firmenich which is claimed to be largest privately-owned
business in the perfume and flavor business (Firmenich Company Website, 2014). Just like Givaudan,
Firmenich has been around for over 100 years and is known to be the company to
create a number of popular perfumes in the course of its existence.
Firmenich
worldwide known perfumers such as Annick Menardo, Illias Ermenidis, Jacques
Cavallier, Jean-Pierre Bethouart and others are responsible for creation of
several best sellers such as: Fuel for Life by Diesel, Gucci by Gucci,
Intimately Beckham Woman as well as several perfumes for Armani,
Marc Jacobs.
Based on figures
presented on the company’s website Firmenich is a stable growing company
producing great results year by year. At this point in time, Firmenich company
group holds onto 14% of the world fragrance market and enjoys 7% average growth
per year (since 1989 ).
As of June 2014, the group turnover is around 2.95 billion Swiss Francs.
A 125 year old company,
IFF formed as a merger of two Dutchman in a small town of Zutphen. Nowadays it
is a leading global creator of flavors and aromas that are used in many
consumer products around the world. There is no doubt that every one of us
reading this piece of writing have at least once experienced the fragrance or
flavors made by this company in this or that product or item. The core
competencies claimed by IFF include “consumer insight, research &
development, and creative expertise” and using those competencies, IFF is able
to assist their customers and partners in driving and creating value and equity
for their associated brands.
IFF is truly living up
to its first part of the name. Meaning it is truly international having in its
team more than 70 perfumers collaborating in New York, Paris, San Paulo,
Shanghai, Singapore, and Grasse. IFF argues and I would claim proves the fact
that they do indeed have “the talent, resources, and global reach to meet the
demands of any customer in the world.” (IFF Company Website, 2014)
IFF in its turn is the
company behind such fragrance legends as EsteeLauder’s Beautiful, Calvin Klein
Euphoria, Lancome’s Tresor, Ralph Lauren’s Polo Blue and other. Nevertheless,
IFF is also on the edge of producing new and breakthrough innovative fragrances
included in the newest scents and top selling perfumes such as Givenchy's Very Irresistible
L’Intense and Bulgari's Mon Jasmin Noir as well as Calvin Klein's Eternity
Summer.
Additionally, International
Flavors & Fragrance is the company that created a lot of innovative
products and formulas used in numerous consumer items. One of such inventions
is something called “Iso E Super” which is a perfume ingredient, providing a
sandalwood-like and cedarwood-like fragrance
(Wikipedia Article on Iso E Super).
Perfumes such as Kenzo Air, Hermes Terre, Fierce by Abercrombie & Fitch,
Dior’s Fahrenheit more or less all of these perfumes and colognes include this
chemically created fragrance.
There are numerous
companies available and competing on the fragrance markets. Every year we see
thousands of new scents coming out of their factories. Our job as customers and
young marketers is to be able to appreciate the work of those hidden champions
and take advantage of their innovative competencies and capabilities. On the
other hand we need to work harder in order to differentiate and figure out what
scents to include in our brands and how to point out and sell the uniqueness of
the particular fragrance that will supposedly embody our brand image.
Follow our blog to read
more interesting articles about brands & brand management in fragrance
industry.
Followthescent
References:
Fine Fragrances.
(2014). Fragrances. Retrieved October 26, 2014, from
http://www.givaudan.com/Fragrances
Fine Fragrances.
(2014). Fragrances. Retrieved October 26, 2014, from
http://www.givaudan.com/Fragrances
Firmenich Company Profile > Facts & figures. (2014). Firmenich >
Company > Profile > Facts & figures. Retrieved October 26, 2014,
from
http://www.firmenich.com/m/company/about-us/profile/facts-figures/index.lbl
Firmenich >
Fragrances > Overview. (2014). Firmenich > Fragrances > Overview.
Retrieved October 26, 2014, from
http://www.firmenich.com/m/fragrances/overview/index.lbl
Flavor &
Fragrance Industry - Top 10. (2014.). Flavor & Fragrance Industry - Top
10. Retrieved October 25, 2014, from http://www.leffingwell.com/top_10.htm
Givaudan. (2014,
October 25). Wikipedia. Retrieved October 26, 2014, from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Givaudan
IFF Fragrances
:: Fine Fragrances. (2014). International Flavors & Fragrances.
Retrieved October 26, 2014, from http://www.iff.com/fragrances/fine-fragrances.aspx
Iso E Super.
(2014, October 24). Wikipedia. Retrieved October 26, 2014, from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iso_E_Super
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