We are adding a women’s fragrance to our stable of licensed product lines with ELLE L’Edition Eau de Parfum, launched in October 2018 and created in a worldwide licensing agreement with Fragrance Group London.
A scent of differentiation
Fragrance Group London specializes in partnering with brands to build up their perfume lines, offering a turnkey service that covers every aspect from concept development, through production and marketing, to distribution.
Looking to expand and offer the increasingly savvy consumer something different, the ELLE brand was “an obvious choice” for Fragrance Group London, according to CEO Anna Ferguson. “In a fragrance market crowded with costly designer perfumes at the top and celebrity-licensed scents at the lower end, ELLE L’Edition taps into a segment that lies between the two. Its positioning mirrors the ELLE brand, projecting the same chic Parisian lifestyle to appeal to dynamic, free-spirited 18–35 year-old urban women with an interest in fashion and women’s magazines.”. What’s more, as Anna goes on to explain, the brand’s strong global presence and licensing expertise offer so many opportunities.
Facilitating synergy
LAE and Fragrance Group London signed their brand licensing agreement in July 2017 and 15 months later, the fragrance was ready to hit the market. LAE’s considerable brand extension expertise and rigorous guidelines made for an easy collaboration, with a pronounced synergy between what LAE was looking for, and what Fragrance Group London wanted to create. Furthermore, it’s an appreciable advantage having access to L.A.E. local teams in major hubs to help plan the launch of ELLE L’Edition Eau de Parfum in each country.
The “perfectly imperfect” mantra of the ELLE brand
The ELLE L’Edition fragrance reflects the charmingly feminine “Perfectly Imperfect” mantra of the ELLE brand. This is an affordable eau de parfum, easy to wear on any occasion, but with a very strong identity – translating the effortless style of a fashionable young Parisienne into a playful, accessible scent that would appeal to an international market.
A fresh, delicately fruity floral, it’s sold in three sizes of atomizer (starting at £35/€39/$48 for 30 ml), with ancillary products like body lotion, a purse spray, and hair mist to supplement the line. The bottle design – an unusual cube shape with a circular cap, featuring a motif of paint stripes – was developed in tandem with the fragrance. Its silhouette and feminine color scheme channels a free-spirited, millennial style that perfectly captures the essence of the brand.
100% made in Europe: ELLE L’Edition is entirely manufactured in Europe. This was a deliberate choice on the part of Fragrance Group London, who opted for reliability and consistency over shorter lead times. Although the quality of goods manufactured in China can be exceptional, the geographical distance brings its challenges. That said, European suppliers take significantly longer, so getting the product to market within 14 or 15 months of the design being finalized was no small feat.
A staggered global launch, that begins in Europe
ELLE L’Edition was first unveiled on October 8, 2018, in the UK – Fragrance Group London’s home market – where it will initially be available online and in stores exclusively through The Perfume Shop, Britain’s no. 1 stand-alone fragrance retailer. In February 2019, the distribution has been extended in the UK to the Superdrug stores.
Next country was Germany: ELLE L’Edition was launched on QVC. The home shopping channel was chosen for its huge marketing outreach and interactive format, which Fragrance Group London sees as a great way to get the fragrance to market before launching it in retail.
Fragrance Group London achieved it, however, and deserves to be congratulated. Their contribution to the arrival of ELLE L’Edition is a genuine success story, extending the brand universe of effortless Parisian elegance to a whole new dimension of consumers’ lives.
