Coty Healing Garden Ad Spend Quadrupling To Support "Treatment" Scent

Coty will increase advertising support for its Healing Garden aromatherapy specialty bath line four fold within the next 12 months to boost the "impact" of the brand, U.S. President Eric Thoreux said.

The increased marketing budget will accompany the launch of Healing Garden Waters, a new "treatment" fragrance collection debuting in August, which Coty unveiled at the National Association of Chain Drug Stores tradeshow in Las Vegas June 28-July 2.

Coty spent approximately $1.8 mil. on advertising for Healing Garden in 2000, according to measured media spending tracked by New York City-based Competitive Media Resources.

The Waters launch will represent Coty's first initiative in treatment fragrance and will be the Healing Garden's first fine fragrance. "We are coming with a new revolution," Thoreux said of the introduction. "We are about growing the total fragrance category. We want to bring prestige shoppers into food, drug and mass" outlets.

Waters will consist of two fragrance collections, Pure Joy and Perfect Calm, which will be enriched with ingredients such as vitamins C and E to extend the aromatherapeutic positioning of the Healing Garden brand.

Developed by International Flavors & Fragrances, Pure Joy and Perfect Calm were formulated using flowers grown in water rather than soil. The hydroponics technology is not currently used even in prestige fragrance brands, according to Thoreux.

Hydroponics results in fragrances that are cleaner and fresher, two qualities among the top expectations for targeted consumers, Thoreux said. The Healing Garden product line currently consists of cologne sprays, body lotions, shower gels, aroma oil and body mists in scent groups such as Mintheraphy, Lavendertheraphy and Jasminetheraphy.

Promotions for the fragrances will include Coty's largest print campaign ever to help explain the treatment concept to consumers, Thoreux said. The company will support the launch with double- and single-page print ads featuring the tagline, "Renew your senses, replenish your skin."

The campaign will include 35 mil. scented strips and an additional "several million" sample cards. Samples will feature a "liquid touch" technology that provides a moisturizing effect for consumers when testing the fragrance, Thoreux said. The Healing Garden Web site also will be re-launched as a "major well-being center."

Under the direction of newly appointed CEO Bernd Beetz, Coty is implementing a "living media" marketing strategy to make brands more tangible to consumers (¹ (Also see "Coty Lifestyle Brand Development To Fuel Double-Digit Growth - CEO Beetz" - HBW Insight, 2 Jul, 2001.)).

Coty also will boost its ad spend for Calgon, and is expanding the line with new scents. Spending on the brand in 2000 totaled $626,000, according to CMR data. Two new fragrance families, Fresh Sorbet and Sun Shower, are shipping now.

Ad spending behind Coty's traditional fragrances is increasing 40% over the next 12 months to "really drive the business," the exec explained.

"Everybody is talking about a slowdown" in the market, but "what we can say is that we are going to be very aggressive," Thoreux continued. Coty spent $33.9 mil. promoting its traditional fragrance and cosmetics brands in the U.S. in 2000, CMR data show.

"I think we have a unique opportunity because the viability" of Coty's approach to prestige positioning "is bigger than ever now in food, drug and mass," he maintained. "I think it gives [us] the opportunity to gain market share from" department store brands.

Next year, Coty will conduct an ad campaign for a new Adidas antiperspirant that will center around the World Cup soccer playoffs, the firm said. The company also is working on a deodorant/antiperspirant line that would be sold in the antiperspirant section at mass retailers rather than with fragrances, Thoreux said.

Adidas is a brand that attracts young consumers - especially those ages 15-30 - who tend to buy antiperspirants and deodorants from prestige brands such as Estee Lauder's Tommy Hilfiger, Thoreux noted. Coty entered the category last year with one "small" deodorant as part of the Adidas toiletries launch (² (Also see "Coty" - HBW Insight, 27 Nov, 2000.)).

In other plans, Coty's American Original women's fragrance will be supported with its first TV ad campaign during the holiday season. The scent launched in March under the Stetson brand (³ (Also see "Coty" - HBW Insight, 18 Dec, 2000.)).

In addition to increasing ad spend, Coty plans to make fewer but "more focused launches" in the future, Thoreux said. In the traditional fragrance category, the company will introduce two "big" launches a year, one per half, he explained.