Shiseido overhauls focus and image, Revlon's first new fragrance in a decade, athleisure trend to push Nike sales to US$50 billion, and Time Inc to launch bespoke US edition of Wallpaper magazine.
Shiseido overhauls focus and image
Japanese brands have been feeling the heat from South Korea's booming beauty industry and are staging a fightback. Kose has hired Kate Moss as the face of its prestige Decorte skincare line, debuting in Saks Fith Avenue stores in the US and Canada in the northern hemisphere Spring. Kao is launching a store on Chinese e-commerce giant Tmall in November. While is undertaking a significant re-branding strategy under the legend - Beauty vs The World.
In its bid to reach one trillion yen in annual revenues over the next five years, Shiseido is overhauling its image across the board from products through advertising and in-store counters. Three multi-racial models will feature in the visuals - Eniko Mihalik from Hungary, Imaan Hammam, the Dutch model of Moroccan/Egyptian heritage, and Asia Chow, daughter of Anglo-Chinese restaurateur Michael and Korean-American fashion designer, Eva Chun.
The multinational's product range will also be neatly categorised into four major sectors - Defend, Regenerate, Reveal and Express. Spearheadingthe global push is recently installed Creative Director, Ruba Abu-Nimah, and the first major product launch will be a new foundation from the best-selling Ultimune range - premiering in March. With Tokyo as the host city of the 2020 Summer Olympics, the new tagline is underscored by the words - Ginza Tokyo.
Travel retail is a major focus because of the well-known Chinese love of Japanese skincare and cosmetics. Airport counters have been designed to express the Japanese concept of - Ichigo Ichie - treasure each meeting as if it will never recur.
Revlon's first new fragrance in a decade
Two generations have grown up oblivious of Revlon's enormous fragrance heritage. Charlie was the definitive 1970s fragrance and the heritage brand is gunning for a big slice of the scent action again. This week, Revlon's first fragrance in a decade will launch at the Tax Free World Association (TFWA) show in Cannes before hitting the shelves in Australia in November. Called Love Is On and housed in a bottle shaped like voluptuous red lips, the new fragrance hitches a ride on Revlon's successful global makeup campaign of the same name.
A mix of Italian lemon and berries, the come-on line is - Loved By Women. Irresistible To Men. The main aim is to propel sales in travel retail and the global market overall. According to Forbes magazine, Revlon is rumoured to be on the hunt for more acquisitions such as UK-based CBBeauty to leverage its perfume equity. The colour cosmetics stalwart has a 0.5 per cent share of the global US$70 billion antiperspirant, deodorant and lifestyle fragrance market. The brand only needs to double sales to gain a 1 per cent positioning to increase its market valuation by 10 per cent.
With Olivia Wilde and Emma Stone working hard in its current ads, Revlon is also reaching out to the Latina market. On Thursday, the company unveiled Alejandra Espinoza as its latest face. The 28 year old Mexican-American is the host of La Banda, Simon Cowell's reality show searching for a Latino boy band to repeat the success of One Direction in the Spanish-speaking world.
Athleisure trend to push Nike sales to US$50 billion
Nike has been on a roll since the end of the GFC. The share price of the world's largest sporting goods company has tripled as the athleisure trend has soared worldwide. The multinational's women's business is expected to double over the next few years, accelerating revenues to US$50 billion by 2020.
Online revenue is another bullet performer fuelling Nike's double digit annual growth of 10.3 per cent. E-commerce sales have climbed to US$1 billion this year and are expected to rise to US$7 billion over the next five years. But the big kahuna is womenswear, currently racking up global sales of US$5.7 billion. The company expects to achieve revenues of US$11 billion clothing the female form by 2020.
Phil Knight, who co-founded Nike in 1964 at the age of 26, will retire from the company's board next year. CEO Mike Parker, a company lifer, will replace him as Chairman. He sold off English sportswear brand Umbro and Cole Haan, the US shoe and accessories brand, to invest more in the core brand. "Nike is a growth company, and we've never been more confident in that pace of success" he notes.
Time Inc to launch bespoke US edition of Wallpaper Magazine
Wallpaper, the so-stylish design and luxury magazine, celebrates its 20th birthday next year. The brainchild of man-about-the-world, Tyler Brule, Time Inc acquired the title in 1997 and the global edition has a circulation of 100,000 - 20 per cent in US newsstand sales.
Two years ago, the publisher bought the print arm of American Express, including prestige titles such as Travel & Leisure and Food & Wine. An invaluable database of high net worth individuals. The time has come again, it seems, to send free copies of a magazine to targeted consumers. Time Inc will mail a bespoke edition of Wallpaper to 250,000 wealthy Americans - an edit of the global edition - starting in November and appearing quarterly next year. With a focus on high-end editorial, 30 luxury marketers have already signed on, including Hermes, Prada, Max Mara and Cadillac.
According to Evelyn Webster, Executive VP at Time Inc: "We're really building our luxury market footprint at Time Inc. It made perfect sense for us to expand Wallpaper, as opposed to launching a brand new thing. And our clients love the fact that it's an international brand, and that Wallpaper readers travel frequently. There's always a demand for more affluent consumers". Michael Reynolds, a Wallpaper veteran of 18 years, will be the US editor and Tony Chambers remains editor-in-chief of the global edition.
Snippets from the wires
- Bioderma enjoys a 12 to 14 per cent market share in most of the countries where it operates. At present, the French skincare company holds only 1 per cent of the Indian market. Over the next five years, it will introduce more than double the amount of SKUs in a bid to capture a 15 per cent share. The Indian skincare market has an annual growth rate of 30 per cent.
- AmorePacific recently signed a deal with Dior to produce cushion foundation products. The K Beauty kingpin is deepening its French ties and has appointed Thierry Maman, former Global president of Parfums Givenchy, to run its European operations. His portfolio will include French brands owned by AmorePacific such as Annick Goutal, Lolita Lempicka and Comite Vendome. Maman's CV also includes a stint as Commercial Managing Director at upscale department store, Le Bon Marche, and he will oversee the introduction of AmorePacific's important skincare franchises in Europe, notably Laneige.
- It's curtain time for America's Next Top Model. Host and creator, Tyra Banks, has announced that the show will end on December 4th after 12 years on air.
- According to Details, the leading men's lifestyle mag, the US menswear market is expected to pass US$450 million in sales by the end of the year. The main demographic driving the boom are "affluennials", savvy males aged 18 to 34 with household incomes in excess of US$75,000.
- Mrs frequently wore jewellery designed by her friend David Webb in the 1960s and 70s. The brand has launched a four piece collection of two rings and two bracelets housing Modern Muse fragrance as a solid perfume. A great Christmas gift for the well-heeled, the quartet will be sold in select Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman and Saks Fifth Avenue stores with prices ranging from US$18,500 to US$39,000.
- Conde Nast has bought Pitchfork.com, a popular indie music site, for an undisclosed sum. The 20 year old site attracts 3 million unique visitors a month. There's no word on how it will be integrated into the publisher's stable but the US version of GQ added a music component to its website earlier this year.
- The global dermo-cosmetics market is currently worth US$16 billion a year. L'Oréal has announced it will roll out its DermaCenter concept across more airports in Asia, the Americas and Europe. Vichy and La Roche-Posay are the two powerhouse brands.
- Like Glossier, the spin-off makeup brand of the Into The Gloss blog, US beauty subscription box service Birchbox has launched its own colour cosmetic line. Called LOC (Love of Color), the lineup includes lipsticks and shadow sticks designed to be used for one season only. A collaboration with blogger Tati of GlamLifeGuru, prices range from US$8 to US10.
