Chapter $5$ Case study $($Re$-)$Positioning a Perfume

A well$-$known, extremely successful perfume manufacturer was watching sales and looking at demographic profiles of buyers. Sales were fairly constant with past years' performance, so that was good. However, the brand team could see that the perfume appealed mostly to older women.

The team was concerned that, in the spirit of customer lifetime value, it would be smart to replenish the aging customer constituency with younger adopters $($who could be customers for a longer future with the brand$).$ In addition, the brand team didn't seem too excited to be working on a brand that wasn't seen as "very cool."

In a product category such as this, the marketing distinctions are primarily about image, which would explain the team's lack of excitement. The concern that their market is shrinking is usually the rationale used for trying to switch from older, often loyal, customers and invigorate interest among younger potential customers.

Perfume is an easy product to work on because it's all about marketing and positioning. Fundamentally, a perfume is water and crushed flowers and chemicals. Furthermore, even worse than wines, most consumers cannot discern one scent from another $($e$.$g$.,$ in blind sniff tests$).$ Hence consumers see ads for perfumes that are all about image: "Here's the lifestyle you can achieve by wearing our perfumel" 'You'll be sexier, happier, more successful, more youthful $(!),$ closer to perfect, as a result of dousing yourself with this fragrance! A marketer's dream.