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The hotly-anticipated first fragrance from Madonna, Truth or Dare, is officially revealed in New York City |
Earlier this evening, at Macy’s in New York City, Coty Prestige staged the official reveal of its Truth or Dare by Madonna fragrance. The superstar walked the red carpet outside the store, in front of an adoring audience of fans, before participating in an electrifying consumer Q&A. This was followed by interviews with a select group of international media. The launch concluded with an after-party at The Lambs Club.
Madonna’s mother, who passed away when the superstar was still a young child, was an important inspiration for the project. “My oldest memory of my mother is her perfume,” Madonna explained. “I carry it with me everywhere. She always smelled like gardenias and tuberose”¦I wanted to recreate this scent but with something fresh and new about it as well. Something honest and yet daring. Hence the name Truth or Dare.
“It seems like all the things I like are really expensive,” Madonna told The Moodie Report. “One of the hardest things to recreate is the rose – a real rose. An authentic rose smell is quite challenging. That’s something I’ve learned over the years, while trying to create a fragrance.”
She added: “Gardenias have always been a big part of my life. In my homes in Los Angeles and Miami, I’ve always had gardenia plants around the house. People associate gardenias with me and it was not so difficult to recreate that smell in a perfume, so I was happy about that.”
As previously reported, Madonna’s first fragrance is making its debut this month, exclusively at Macy’s in the US. “For travel retail, we are in the process of shipping now, so the fragrance should be on-counter in May,” Coty Prestige Marketing Director, Travel Retail and Export Worldwide Markus Stauss told The Moodie Report. “In travel retail, we don’t do exclusives; I don’t believe in them because I think travelling consumers should be able to buy a product wherever they go. Exclusive listings limit the business unnecessarily and you lose [sales] opportunities.”
Stauss confirmed that the roll-out would be worldwide, but with a keener focus on certain countries. “It’s an entertainment brand, and Madonna is a global superstar, but we recognise there is a certain type of consumer who will buy it,” he explained. “Also, it’s a powerful juice, which we know will appeal more to specific regions than others. Initially we believe the key markets will include North America, Anglo-Saxon countries, Europe, Mexico and also Latin America.”
To create the fragrance, Coty Prestige signed an agreement with MG Icon LLC, a joint venture between Madonna, Guy Oseary, and Iconix Brand Group. The agreement with Coty marks the first time Madonna, the top-selling female recording artist of all time, with more than 300 million records sold worldwide, has launched a fragrance.
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The TV ad campaign for the Truth or Dare by Madonna fragrance was showcased earlier this month on the Macy’s Herald Square Jumbotron. The commercial is set to a remixed track of Madonna’s new single Girl Gone Wild and was shot by Mert & Marcus at Pier 59 studios in New York City, with creative direction by Fabien Baron. Hair and make-up was by Garren and Stephane Marais, respectively. The stylist was Ludivine Poiblanc.
The scent – and the ad – aims to represent the dual forces that co-exist in all of us, according to Coty, and dares us to embrace the duality of our true nature.
“We can be tricked by what we see and what we hear, but not by what we smell,” declared Madonna. “There is something primal and mystical about the sense of smell. It connects us to memory, nostalgia and the ability to dream and fantasise.”
She added: “I have always been obsessed with fragrance and for years wanted to create something personal that was an expression of me, but that other people could relate to as well.”
The juice is described as a contemporary and sexy reinvention of a classic white floral, and features a blend of “narcotic” florals, balanced with “addictive” woods and vanilla. The result is timeless yet modern, simultaneously dark and light, according to Coty.
The addition of gourmand notes such as vanilla and caramelised amber make it stand out from traditional floral fragrances and gives it a contemporary edge, the brand maintains.
Composed by Givaudan’s Stephen Nilsen, Truth or Dare by Madonna opens on notes of gardenia, tuberose and neroli, atop a heart of jasmine, benzoin and white lily. The base blends vanilla absolute, caramelised amber and musk.
The bottle and carton, designed by Fabien Baron in collaboration with Madonna, feature a palette of gold and white. The packaging aims to reinforce the dichotomy of the fragrance, by balancing purity and provocation.
The white of the bottle and logo is said to represent truth and spirituality, while the unexpected beading detail aims to give the bottle a “raw edginess”. The outer carton is a matching gold with white border, emblazoned with the Truth or Dare logo.
Truth or Dare by Madonna will be available as a 75ml edp (US$68/€62), a 50ml edp (US$55/€46), a 30ml edp (US$39/€35), a 200ml body lotion (US$28/€22), and a 200ml shower gel (US$24/€21).
– Look out for the full interview with Madonna – and Coty’s Markus Stauss – to be published soon on The Moodie Report.com
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Madonna’s debut fragrance, as showcased earlier today at Macy’s department store in New York City |
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Consumers feverishly await the arrival of Madonna in the VIP tent outside Macy’s in New York |
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(Right) Coty’s Markus Stauss and The Moodie Report’s Rebecca Mann strike a pose at the launch event | |
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