“What surprised me was that creating a perfume is almost like creating an album… There are so many things that have to come together, so much trial and error before the project is right. I just found it all really interesting.” |
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The face of True Star Men – the multi-platinum megastar Enrique Iglesias |
SPAIN. How do you follow Beyoncé Knowles? With Enrique Iglesias, of course.
As previously reported (The Moodie Report.com, 28 February) Tommy Hilfiger Toiletries, a division of The Estée Lauder Companies, and Tommy Hilfiger USA – a wholly owned subsidiary of Tommy Hilfiger Corp – have teamed up with global music icon Enrique Iglesias in a multi-year deal.
The agreement establishes the singer as the spokesperson for the designer’s True Star Men fragrance. The True Star feminine fragrance, which was introduced last September, is fronted by pop diva Beyoncé Knowles.
The international unveiling of True Star Men took place in Iglesias’ home town of Madrid last week. The Moodie Report attended the formal launch event – a star-studded affair at the city’s Nuevo Teatro Alcala – following a private interview with both Hilfiger and Iglesias at the exclusive Westin Palace.
So what prompted this collaboration in the first place? What made Hilfiger choose Iglesias for this particular project?
“The standard answer to that question is “˜because he’s a global superstar’, but I’m also going to give you a different answer,” Hilfiger tells The Moodie Report.
“For True Star Woman, we have Beyoncé, who is probably the number one female superstar in the world right now. And that’s a hard act to follow. So my question to myself was, what do I do for True Star Men?
“I’d met Enrique socially a few years ago [at a party on Mustique], and I knew and liked his music. And I thought, wow – Enrique would be amazing, because he is the right age, he has the right look, and he’s got cool, casual attitude both in his own style and in his personality.”
Hilfiger continues: “I knew [the face of True Star Men] couldn’t be lesser than Beyoncé. I had to get someone equally strong and popular, and I believe Enrique is that, and more. I say more, because in addition to his global fans, he appeals to an enormous Latino market that no other male superstar appeals to. It’s an enormous fashion-motivated market, which loves fragrance too. So as a choice he is perfect. And I’m honoured to have him as our True Star.”
“As great as the advertising is, as great as the bottle is, as big as the superstar we have is, if you don’t have the juice, you don’t have anything. This has been fine-tuned every single day for months and months and months, in order to get this right.” |
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Tommy Hilfiger with The Moodie Report’s Associate Editor Rebecca Mann |
“It’s an honour for me too,” comments Iglesias, who combines superstar looks and voice with a warm, affable attitude.
“As Tommy said, we originally met socially, but I love everything he does. And I mean that, because Tommy’s a big fan of music, and you can tell that in the way he combines everything with it.
“[With True Star Woman] I watched what he did with Beyoncé, and how well he did it. It was classy, elegant, and it combined what she did and the perfume so well. I was surprised to be asked, but not at all apprehensive, because I was already a big fan before Tommy invited me to come onboard.”
Both Hilfiger and Iglesias claim to have been involved in the creative process right from the start of the project, but say they each enjoyed different elements.
“What surprised me was that creating a perfume is almost like creating an album,” explains Iglesias. “Ray [Matts, Vice President of Corporate Fragrance Development Worldwide for Aramis and Designer Fragrances] is really an artist. He is so into it, and so dedicated. There are so many things that have to come together, so much trial and error before the project is right. I just found it all really interesting.”
He continues: “I just enjoyed being involved. Usually when you’re [advertising] a project, such as with Pepsi, for instance, you don’t get as involved. This felt like I was helping to create something right from the beginning, and that level of involvement means I feel so much more attached to the product.”
Not that Iglesias is pushing himself forward to take all the credit. “I just gave my honest opinion in terms of what I liked to wear, and what I think smells nice,” he says modestly. “It could be good, it could be bad – I just told the truth about my personal preferences.”
Hilfiger, with a whole collection of fragrances under his belt, was more eager to see the end result.
“I like the finished product; I’m very impatient,” he laughs. “When they’re going through all the trials and tribulations of mixing it, I just keep thinking about when the finished product is packaged, in the bottle, on the shelves and in the stores – that’s the exciting part for me.
“I love the fact that it’s breakthrough,” Hilfiger enthuses. “It’s nothing like what is out there already”¦It’s nothing like fragrances of the past, which are big, and loud.” |
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The international unveiling of True Star Men took place in Iglesias’ home town of Madrid last week. The Moodie Report attended the formal launch event – a star-studded affair at the city’s Nuevo Teatro Alcala – after an exclusive interview with both Hilfiger and Iglesias |
“And with True Star Men, as a result of having worked with Ray and the Estée Lauder group for many years, I know that after all the tweaks and the adjustments, it will be a phenomenal fragrance. Because they believe that without the juice, you have nothing.”
Hilfiger continues: “As great as the advertising is, as great as the bottle is, as big as the superstar we have is, if you don’t have the juice, you don’t have anything. This has been fine-tuned every single day for months and months and months, in order to get this right, while I’m just sitting back waiting. But I can tell you I am very happy with the finished product.
“I love the fact that it’s breakthrough,” he enthuses. “It’s nothing like what is out there already”¦It’s nothing like fragrances of the past, which are big, and loud. I think it’s offensive to smell someone in conversation, in an elevator, on the street, wherever you are, especially if you don’t like the smell of the fragrance. Everybody’s skin and body temperature takes fragrance in a different way, and then sends it back another way. So even if you like Chanel No 5, for instance, you don’t like it on everybody.
“What’s really interesting is that this is fresh, clean and crisp. And quiet. Only you and your loved ones will know what it smells like. I think that’s an important breakthrough.”
Iglesias agrees. “I’m very particular when it comes to perfume,” he explains. “I can easily get a headache with any smell that’s too strong. True Star Men is fresh, clean and subtle. And that for me was the most crucial thing.
“It’s also a perfume that you can wear during the day, or at night, for serious events or normal everyday things. It is really versatile.”
That goes not only for the nature of the juice, but the target demographic too. “It’s a very broad audience,” confirms Hilfiger. “Who do I think will buy it? Youthful-thinking people,” he smiles.
“One year ago, with the launch of True Star [Woman], we took the first step in building a new territory within the Tommy Hilfiger brand,” says Aramis and Designer Fragrances President Fabrice Weber. “That was the first step of a broader and bigger undertaking – which reaches a new level tonight.” |
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Rebecca Mann (right) with Annette Alvarenga-Johnson, Communications and Administration Manager for Estee Lauder Travel Retailing, and Aramis and Designer Fragrances President Fabrice Weber |
Iglesias said he first got into fragrance in his early teens. “The first scent I wore was either Cartier or Obsession,” he recalls. “I would have been perhaps 14 or 15 years old.”
After a long allegiance to tommy, Hilfiger has converted to True Star Men. “Up until now, tommy was my favourite fragrance,” he reveals, “because I really chose every single note.
“It was my first fragrance, and so it has a special emotional place in my heart. But as a result of smelling True Star, I’m starting to wear that now, because I like the subtlety. And also, change is good,” he declares firmly. “I like change.”
So, to the product specifics. The True Star Men juice is described as modern and sensual, inspired by Iglesias’ sexy yet easy-going style.
The fragrance flacon is a translucent charcoal grey, with a metallic finish, and is reminiscent of a stage microphone.
The carton features blue and silver foil, with red accents. There is an outer, slip-off sleeve with a head-shot of Iglesias on the front and back, and the flacon on both sides.
The True Star Men product line-up features a 50ml and 100ml edt, a 100ml after shave, a 100ml after shave balm and a 75ml deo stick.
The launch will be supported by a print campaign shot by Mario Testino, and a TV spot directed by David LaChapelle. The track that accompanies the ad will feature on Iglesias’ eighth album, due to be launched this autumn, at the same time as True Star Men.
 | “When a woman smells a fragrance on a man, I want her to want to get closer to it, not think, “˜please go wash that off'” |
The Lauder group is clearly anticipating a blockbuster success with its new launch. “One year ago, with the launch of True Star [Woman], we took the first step in building a new territory within the Tommy Hilfiger brand,” declared Aramis and Designer Fragrances President Fabrice Weber at the formal launch event.
“It was the first step of a broader and bigger undertaking, which reaches a new level tonight.”
MORE STORIES ON TOMMY HILFIGER/TRUE STAR
The Estée Lauder group signs up Enrique Iglesias – 28/02/05
