It is no secret that selling to young women is far more difficult than any other segment. It is even more difficult to sell them things like apparel, shoes, makeup, and fragrances, simply because it is like selling snow to Eskimos. So how did Curious Britney Spears (a fragrance for women by Britney spears) become a huge success (the largest fragrance launch ever) in Australia?
Case study of launch of Curious Britney Spears by Elizabeth Arden
Case study of launch of Curious Britney Spears by Elizabeth Arden
- Create a buzz. The company organized focus groups to better understand the demographic trends even before anyone had any idea what the fragrance would be. In other words, it is possible to prepare for a launch even before you have a product. It allows you to develop a better understanding of your target market (e.g. what media channel works best, what price range is acceptable, etc.) while the R&D folks work on the product.
- Guerilla marketing. Elizabeth Arden, in collaboration with Channel V (equivalent to MTV), organized a dance party for 1,000 women and called it "The Ultimate Girl's Night Out." Women of all ages were welcome but you couldn't buy the tickets. You had to sign up for a competition to win the tickets. This is an excellent strategy since it engages your customers and attracts not just the ultra-rich to these parties. By the way, it is good to have some ultra-rich show up at these events but the real guerilla marketing is done by the masses. When these lucky 1,000 women went back from the party and wrote about it on their blogs or mentioned it to their friends, the marketing was incredible.
- Online marketing. What could be accomplished these days without leveraging the Internet? Nothing much really. The company had a website where women could register for updates so that when the sample were available, they were shipped to over 25,000 women.
What does it mean for you?
- Traditional advertising is effective but not always cost-effective. If you can narrow down your target market, guerilla marketing can be extremely cost effective.
- In consumer products, creating the right kind of buzz can make all the difference. The Japanese do it extremely well by using Japanese schoolgirls.
- You can sell snow to the Eskimos provided you can create a perception of differentiation.
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