Disruptive, Defined
During my time at Coty, the global beauty company, I worked on the launch of ck2 by Calvin Klein, a modern sequel to ck one. According to every Coty marketing exec, it was supposed to be the most “disruptive” fragrance launch in years. Don’t remember it?
Launched in 2016 and, billed as a gender-free fragrance for Millenials, it had a lot going for it: a great scent, an expensive marketing campaign, an unusual bottle designed by the legendary Cédric Ragot. However, these don’t automatically qualify as disruptive, and because ck2 missed the mark, I’m highlighting 4 launches that, in my opinion, actually changed the way people think about fragrance.
Side note about the bottle design: the original ck one bottle was based on a water flask, an object that “gives life.” For the same reason, ck2 was made to look like an oxygen tank.
ck one, Calvin Klein
the OG disrupter
Launched in 1994, ck one was the first fragrance created and marketed for Generation X. Its advertising campaign is still the most iconic representation of the 90s — mad props to Fabian Baron — and embodies many “firsts”:
first fragrance marketed as unisex, in both olfactive intent and campaign
first fragrance campaign to celebrate openly queer models
first fragrance to be sold in record stores, not the conventional department or drug store
first fragrance packaging designed and marketed to be recycled, both bottle and carton
Looking at their packaging today, it is still significantly more eco-friendly than most new “green” fragrances entering the market, and in terms of packaging design, it is considered one of the 2 most recognizable fragrance bottles in perfume history. The other one is Chanel No. 5.
Glossier You
my favorite disruption in recent history
Glossier You launched in 2017, the same year Chanel launched Gabrielle. Chanel had every tool for success: the brand name, a famous face for the campaign, the Chanel level of excellence in scent and packaging, and Chanel marketing money. Glossier didn’t do any of that, and it overshadowed every other launch that year. Here’s how Glossier was effective:
Brand loyalty. At the time Glossier was online-only, a tricky environment to sell a product most people want to smell in person. However, their customers are fanatics for their products, because they are known for unique formulas that work brilliantly. Glossier You is both original and authentic to the brand.
A polarizing scent. Most groundbreaking scents are memorable because they are distinctively different. This one uses musk, and a very heavy dose of it. Some people are anosmic to musk (they can’t detect the smell), and few people love it. Many brands shy away from musk, but Glossier celebrated it by making it the dominant note.
A fragrance description that celebrates the wearer instead of the product: “Please be advised that the formula comes incomplete: You are the first ingredient.” Glossier taught the industry how to describe musk.
Brand-right packaging. Visually, it fits their design aesthetic. The small dent in the bottle is intended to fit your thumb, completing the packaging in the same way your personal chemistry completes the scent. A smart concept represented clearly.
Santal 33, Le Labo
disruption in praise of hipsters
Santal 33, the scent of Williamsburg, the L train, and spending $280 to feel like you are part of it. Much like ck one became the scent of Gen X, Santal 33 has become the scent of today’s hipster generation, or at least a segment of that population with a large disposable income. To do so, Le Labo solved the design problem that every client keeps coming back to: how do you make a fragrance more personal?
Shopping at Le Labo is like having a barista prepare your coffee at the most high-end coffee shop, and it isn’t until after you make your selection that your new fragrance is hand-blended on-site, filled, and finished with your personalized label. Even though everyone is wearing the same scent, your batch was made exclusively for you.
The packaging: it represents the niche, vintage apothecary vibe, its natural environment a hipster haven full of card-catalogs-as-furniture, reclaimed wood beams, and a bell jar on every shelf.
As for the scent: it makes me feel the way ck one did in the 90s: distinctive in a crowded train. It smells naturally clean, powdery yet comforting, woody and light. Just like ck one, it’s exceptionally calming, even when the user has over-sprayed oneself.
Lost Cherry, Tom Ford
raising their own disruptive bar
For a brand that is known for provocation and disruption, it’s hard to pick out just one launch. They’ve created several scents with olfactive shock value – just try Googling “Tuscan Leather + Cocaine” or “Tom Ford fragrance intended to smell like a man’s crotch.”
While several of Tom Ford’s 100+ launches had greater impacts on the industry, I’m writing about Lost Cherry because it lived up to the high expectations set before it. Here’s where it succeeded:
The name. Lost Cherry launched shortly after Fucking Fabulous, which was both the greatest name and biggest olfactive disappointment. After Fucking Fabulous, how do you follow up with a name that’s equally provocative and witty? Lost Cherry.
An unpopular fragrance note. When you think of cherries in fragrance, does your mind also go to lip smackers lip gloss or maraschino cherries? Cherries rarely appear in fine fragrance, especially as the leading note. This one will change your perception. Think: brandy-soaked cherries in a decadent cocktail.
Bottle as an outlier. The advantage of having a large collection with consistent design codes is being able to strategically break them. The Private Reserve collection walked so Lost Cherry could run.
ck2 wasn’t the only launch I worked on that was mislabeled as “disruptive,” and that doesn’t take away from the design. But “disruptive” is a powerful adjective that deserves ingenuity, an ability to think about fragrance differently from everything else happening in the market.
