Avon's Maxx men's scent debuting in time for holiday season.

AVON LAUNCHING MAXX MEN's SCENT FOR HOLIDAY SEASON through the company's representatives and toll free number. The aromatic fougere fragrance will be featured in Avon's November Campaign 26 catalog. Avon is positioning Maxx to appeal to men and women who buy fragrances for men. The scent is targeted to the "playful, sexy man" who has just "a little bit of mischief."

Maxx opens with top notes of mandarin, bergamot and lemon, leading to a white floral middle comprising lily, rose, muguet and "a touch of sage." The fragrance dries down to woody accords combined with musk. Available in a cologne spray and aftershave, Maxx will retail for $14.95 for a 3.4 oz. spray and $11.95 for a 3.4 oz. aftershave.

Packaging for the line reflects the company's mischievous positioning. The clear spray-pump bottle is topped with a red cap on a black ridged base. The house of the spray pump is colored teal. The Maxx logo appears on the bottle in red lettering. Maxx's outer carton is a glossy red with a teal Maxx logo.

Avon's introduction of Maxx ("The Rose Sheet" April 8, p. 6) will follow the September debut of Millennia, the direct-sales company's fourth "and largest" global women's fragrance launch. The floral oriental is launching concurrently in 15 countries, including the U.S. Millennia will rollout to another 14 countries in 1997.

Positioned as a "sensual" and "spiritual" fragrance for a younger, "more cosmopolitan" woman, Millennia represents "the spirit of a new age," Avon said. The scent will be advertised in publications including Ladies' Home Journal, People, Essence and Glamour starting in September. TV spots will also run in select markets, the company said.

The scent-strip print ads feature a "mysterious" blue background with clouds and a couple embracing. A Millennia product shot is in the top right hand quarter. Both the print and TV spots will carry the tagline: "Millennia -- Somewhere between Heaven and Earth." A "unique" sales incentive program for Avon representatives also will be instituted to support the fragrance.

Millennia's "timeless scent" incorporates "ancient, mystical spices and woods" that have endured through the ages, Avon noted. The fragrance opens with living magnolia blended with clemantine, bergamot and Brazilian Amazon lily. Millennia's heart of tiger orchid, nutmeg, cardamom, black lily and living lotus flower leads to base notes of temple incense, Indian sandalwood, Madagascar vanilla and white musk.

Packaging for Millennia also reflects the new age positioning with a clear, spherical bottle that "echos forms of nature that recur in art throughout time," the company said. Topped with a silver cap, the bottle reveals the blue juice of Millennia, which, according to Avon, represents the gemstone turquoise, an ancient stone "prized for its magical powers of luck and protection."

Available in a .5 oz. parfum for $45 and a 1.7 oz. eau de parfum spray for $18.50, Millennia is priced identical to two of Avon's other global fragrances -- Far Away, which debuted in September 1994 and Rare Gold, which bowed a year later. Natori, introduced in the U.S. in March 1995, is available at slightly higher price points: a .5 oz. parfum costs $60 and a 1.7 oz. edp is $29.50.