Gender Marketing encounters, interview n°5

Interview with Xavier Vey, General Manager at L’Oréal Luxury Division France

11th January 2012

Agence L / Womenology
What share of the perfume market does the female market represent?

Xavier Vey
To give you an overall picture, the French fragrance market is the second biggest in the world, the first being the United States. But bear in mind that the size of these two markets is very similar despite the population of the United States being six times bigger than the population of France!
In France, the fragrance market represents 60% of the total consumption of skincare-cosmetics-fragrance products. And female perfume represents more than 40% of all these products in selective channels. Our target market is 80% female. And with a 20% share of fragrances for men, France is one of the most important markets, globally, for male fragrance.

Agence L / Womenology
Has this female/male division changed in your market?

Xavier Vey
The male share was very low twenty years ago. It’s our grandparents’ generation, very few men used a fragrance, except perhaps for an aftershave or eau de cologne. Nowadays, penetration into society is much greater, with big successes like Diesel who sought a younger target and a very large social spectrum. There’s simultaneously a societal shift and the work of the fragrance manufacturers in developing the market. A fragrance like Diesel which is nonconformist and not at all in keeping with the classic codes of fragrances attracts, by definition, a new market that hasn’t bought fragrance before and that is uninhibited about buying it.
The market for fragrances has therefore become bigger, but for skincare it’s different. Skincare products, in selective networks, represent a small part of the total market and they remain for the most part reserved for women, with very slow development. With Biotherm, we have created the skincare market for men.

Agence L / Womenology
In advertising, when you put a message out about a fragrance that’s 100% masculine, do you target men only?

Xavier Vey
No. Taking as an example the current success of the Saint-Laurent trilogy (“L’homme”, “ La nuit de l’homme”, “L’homme libre”), we have a lot of studies that show that Vincent Cassel speaks to men, but a great deal to women as well; he has an extremely strong appeal to both markets. A product for men is communicated to men but the message must also appeal to women.

Agence L / Womenology
Do you pre-test your adverts?

Xavier Vey
Yes, we pre-test and post-test them differently on men and women. This is how we know that the image of Vincent Cassel appeals to women. And in cases like this, it allows us to direct our media buying to reach women more.

Agence L / Womenology
Have you identified other campaigns that have had an impact like that?

Xavier Vey
Amongst the recent campaigns which have been highly successful there’s also « Loverdose » from Diesel. With this fragrance, we went all out, so much so that we were completely out of stock. At the launch, a lot of people were a bit shocked by the name, but it’s one of the fundamental keys of its success.
I can also think of the campaign for « Visionnaire » from Lancôme which is the number one serum on the market since its launch. In this case, the message is simply expressing the product which is exceptional. What’s new is that we speak differently to women than in the past. Up until as recently as two years ago, the only messages sent out to women about skincare products centred on anti-wrinkle and anti-ageing properties, ways to overcome the signs of ageing… The major innovation, which began with “Génifique” but came into its own with “Visionnaire”, is to simply say: “for perfect skin”. And we also emphasise the very strong claims that emerge from the tests, namely that one in two women who had tested the product had decided to delay a cosmetic procedure.

Agence L / Womenology
Which product characteristics affect women more than men and vice versa?

Xavier Vey
To take an example of skincare and “anti-age” products, women like to work with the texture of the product, to have what we call “play time” while applying it… whereas for men, application should be fast, immediate and easy.
The difference also lies in the way in which we speak to each of these markets: when we address women we enter into the details, we explain the technology behind the product. Men, however, don’t try to understand or know the differences between products as much. As a result, Biotherm’s new communication platform is simply called “Live like a man”, and answers the types of questions that a man might ask.
Concerning fragrances and their perfume bottles, there are different physical characteristics: women’s perfume bottles are slenderer with feminine colour schemes, whereas men’s fragrance bottles are more black, brown… more masculine codes. But these codes tend to evolve and the different types get closer to one another so we have fragrances that are less typical. Today, a lot of women say that they use a fragrance for men. For example, a product like “Aqua di Gio” by Giorgio Armani is used massively by women. However, the opposite is rare.

Agence L / Womenology
Which market is most responsive to the design of perfume bottles, men or women?

Xavier Vey
Both markets are very responsive to packaging, it’s a fundamental element of a product/perfume combination.

Agence L / Womenology
To finish off with purchase behaviour, do you know if men buy more via online shopping than via classic distribution channels?

Xavier Vey
I’ve no specific figures on the subject but I think that that is certainly the case because one of the difficulties in perfumeries is that the environment isn’t very masculine. And that’s normal since 80% of what’s sold there is for women!

Agence L / Womenology
THANK YOU
Contact Agence L : Marie-Estelle Wittersheim / mewittersheim@agencel.fr
Contact aufeminin.com / Womenology: Benjamin Smadja / benjamin.smadja@aufeminin.com
Site web de l’agence : Agence L

Lire aussi :

1. Gender Marketing encounters, interview n°2
2. Gender Marketing encounters, interview n°3
3. Gender Marketing encounters, interview n°4
4. Gender Marketing encounters
5. “Gender, Design and Marketing”, a book justifying marketing to women with biological arguments

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