PARIS — Yves Saint Laurent Parfums is targeting young men with its new fragrance, L’Homme Yves Saint Laurent, to be launched in September.
The addition is meant to buoy the men’s portfolio at Yves Saint Laurent by luring a new demographic to the brand run by PPR’s YSL Beauté division. It also harks back to the roots of the house, company executives said.
“[It is] YSL’s comeback to the men’s market,” claimed Jean-Denis Voin, brand director of Yves Saint Laurent Parfums, adding that the name L’Homme Yves Saint Laurent was chosen to emphasize the brand. “We want to reestablish dynamism, especially in the male market [for Yves Saint Laurent].”
The brand’s men’s fragrances ring up 25 percent of its overall scent business, which has been posting flat growth. Yves Saint Laurent’s best-selling men’s scent is Kouros, which was introduced in 1981. Other fragrances in the stable are Opium Pour Homme, Jazz and Rive Gauche Pour Homme.
To bolster L’Homme Yves Saint Laurent’s attraction to an international young set, company executives said they chose French actor Olivier Martinez to front the scent’s advertising campaign. “We picked a male character who is well-known in key markets in Europe, the U.S. and, of course, Australia,” explained Voin, referring to the actor’s relationship with Australian songstress Kylie Minogue.
Voin said the scent is “a mainstream classic” for “the urban, modern, international man. This is for the younger man, between 25 and 30; not teenagers, but men.”
So is the advertising campaign. Instead of the shocking ads that featured full-frontal nudity for M7, the men’s scent created by Tom Ford in 2002, the images for L’Homme Yves Saint Laurent are more classical.
Martinez, the star of “Horseman on a Roof” and “Taking Lives,” is featured in 10- and 20-second TV spots. The ads’ camera shot follows Martinez up a spiral stairway into the apartment and circles around him in a white-walled room before Martinez looks straight at the camera.
“The ad is meant to convey sensuality, charisma, magnetism and elegance,” said Voin.
The print campaign, including single and double pages, shows Martinez with arms folded and a fixed, seductive stare. Both the print and TV campaigns, which will break in October, were shot by English photographer Sam Taylor-Wood.
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L’Homme Yves Saint Laurent’s floral oriental juice is a play of contrasts, according to perfumer Pierre Wargnye, who blended the scent with Anne Flipo and Dominique Ropion, all of International Flavors and Fragrances. “[It’s] a contrast between some typical masculine notes and then an almost floating mystery of flowers,” Wargnye said. “When you bring a touch of femininity to a very masculine scent, you increase its sensuality.”
The juice comprises notes of cedar wood, tonka bean, violet leaves, basil flowers, white pepper, ginger and vetiver. The yellow-tinted fragrance comes in a heavy glass, rounded bottle topped with a steel cap shaped like a hexagonal metal bolt, to reinforce the theme of contrasts evoked by the juice.
“It is inspired by Bauhaus, modern art from the Thirties,” said Voin. “The shape is a mixture of when art and industry meet. There is a sober, rounded, simple bottle and then a metallic hexagonal, very masculine, cap.”
L’Homme Yves Saint Laurent’s outer carton features a mix of circular and horizontal lines that create a hologram-like effect. The company will use hexagon-shape stands in store.
Company executives declined to comment on sales forecasts for the fragrance, but industry sources estimated it would generate 50 million euros, or $64 million at current exchange rates, in its first year at retail. At 72 euros, or $93, for a 100-ml. eau de toilette spray and 51 euros, or $66, for 60-ml. version in France, L’Homme Yves Saint Laurent is priced 10 percent higher than its men’s scents already on the market.
In the U.S., the scent will start at $65 for the larger eau de toilette spray and $49 for the smaller. The new scent’s higher price is intended to reflect the high quality of materials selected for the scent, said company executives.
L’Homme Yves Saint Laurent’s ancillary line comprises a 100-ml. aftershave lotion for 45 euros, or $58; a 200-ml. shower gel for 25 euros, or $32, and a 75-g. deodorant stick for 21 euros, or $27.
In the U.S., the aftershave lotion is $44, the shower gel is $24 and the deodorant stick is $18.50.
The new fragrance will make its debut in Europe, the Middle East and Latin America in mid-September. Bloomingdale’s will be the first U.S. retailer to carry the scent Stateside, noted Maggie Ciafardini, chief executive officer and managing director of YSL Beauté in the U.S. The fragrance will hit the counter at all 30 Bloomingdale’s stores on Sept. 15, and will be exclusive this fall in the retailer’s doors, said Ciafardini. She plans a substantial U.S. direct-mail campaign and sampling effort, and print ads in Men’s Vogue and The New York Times in September. “It’s an incredible fragrance — we are looking for a top-five ranking,” Ciafardini said. At full rollout in February in the U.S., the scent will be available in about 800 department and specialty store doors.