FRANCE. Hands up if you’ve heard of Maison Martin Margiela. The smart money says the majority of readers have not. This is not a brand that actively seeks out the limelight. There are no high-profile advertising campaigns, no lucrative celebrity endorsements, and no blanket consumer press coverage. Maison Martin Margiela whispers, not shouts – and tends to be heard only by an exclusive, discerning group of connoisseur consumers.
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The high-profile, multi-site launch staging of Maison Martin Margiela’s debut fragrance, Untitled, at London Heathrow T5 |
The house was started in 1998 by the enigmatic Margiela, a Flemish graduate of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. Unusually for a designer, Margiela chose to be as anonymous as possible, declining personal interviews and refusing to pose for photographs, in a bid to focus attention on the work of the house.
He pioneered the “no logo” approach – the only label on the clothes is a plain white cotton label, held in place by four white stitches that can easily be undone. He chose white for the strong visual identity of the brand (as opposed to the then-ambient black). And he decided to represent each product category with a number, not a name: three denotes fragrance, for example, while 10 and 14 are clothing for men.
Today the house is structured around 37 Maison Martin Margiela shops and over 450 multi-brand stockists across five continents. There are 19 flagship stores (including the e-boutique) and 18 shops-in-shops.
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Anne Valentin: “The aim of Untitled is, among other things, to touch a chord with a group of customers looking for a quality product without compromise.” |
L’Oréal inked a fragrance licence with the brand back in 2008; the first fragrance, Untitled, made its domestic debut in selected European doors last year. “The decision to join forces with Maison Martin Margiela, a highly innovative and unconventional house, is a L’Oréal response to an [important] trend – a keen demand for different luxury brands that break the mould,” explains L’Oréal Luxury Products Division General Manager Travel Retail Europe and Middle East Anne Valentin.
“Maison Martin Margiela naturally finds its place in a portfolio of highly complementary brands. We are convinced that creativity, with quality, is what delivers the essential added value in luxury. Customers buy first and foremost a creative point of view they feel close to.”
The brand, along with Viktor & Rolf and Stella McCartney, comes under the auspices of L’Oréal’s YSL&Designer Brands division. “We consider this [division] as a “talent incubator”, that we must help to flourish by respecting the various brands’ identity and potential,” adds Valentin. “All of them help to give us a very strong specificity within the market.”
That specificity has prompted a launch strategy built on exclusivity and partnership. In 2010, its launch year, Untitled was available in fewer than 400 points of sale worldwide, including the Maison Martin Margiela flagship stores. In 2011, in the US it will be available exclusively at Saks from April 2011, and in the brand’s three flagship stores in New York, Miami and Los Angeles.
Not forgetting, of course, travel retail. Untitled went on sale in Heathrow T5, as part of a global travel retail preview, on 2 February, and will not be available anywhere else in the channel for a three-month period. “We have been working for more than a year with WDF to create a highly innovative and uncompromising staging based on the simple promises of mystery and surprise,” explains Valentin.
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Cedric Aumonier: “Martin Margiela is an exceptional brand that requires exceptional implementations, something WDF has understood from the start.” |
Mystery and surprise do not, of course, always generate strong sales results. In short, listing Untitled was a gamble for WDF. What does the retailer believe the house will bring to its beauty offer?
“L’Oréal is one of our preferred partners and over recent years we have built upon this by challenging them to offer us initiatives which not only drive sales but more importantly, build on the WDF strategy, which is to offer our customers a more exciting place to shop,” WDF Head of Category for Beauty Debbie Ansell tells The Moodie Report.
“[Untitled by] Maison Martin Margiela was a perfect opportunity to introduce a fragrance which already has an innovative and exciting brand essence, which we knew we could build on to create an intriguing concept in WDF.”
The genius of the Untitled concept lies in the fact that it is virtually a marketing blank. All the things it is missing – a name, a logo, a lifestyle – add, not detract, to its appeal. Consumers have no preconceptions, good or bad, and can therefore allow the brand to represent whatever they want it to be. Which in theory makes the target consumer much broader than it might initially appear.
“No question here of a woman being targeted by age or by her semi-professional category,” agrees Valentin. “What matters to us is that women, and men, buy Untitled because they love the product, because they feel the brand talks to them – that’s it.”
She continues: “The aim of Untitled is, amongst other things, to touch a chord with a group of customers looking for a quality product without compromise and who, of course, love its scent. We are aware that the olfactory signature of Untitled is [polarising]”¦and miles away from the current trends in fragrance. But that is our preference and the vision that we have for this first perfume. It also demonstrates that Maison Martin Margiela is a brand with an olfactory vocabulary, which has something real to say in fragrance terms, and which brings something new and unexpected to the fragrance landscape.”
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The polarising Untitled Juice is constructed around galbanum, and can be worn by either women or men |
Composed by Givaudan’s Daniela Andrier, the Untitled Juice is constructed around galbanum, and can be worn by either women or men. “Maison Martin Margiela wanted to explore a simple and natural green trail for its first fragrance – it had to be an olfactory flash, followed by something textured and almost sensual,” notes Valentin. Other key ingredients include orange blossom, lentiscus, jasmine, cedar, incense and white musk.
The initial results, both domestically and in T5, have been promising, yet L’Oréal insists it is in no rush to build on the success of Untitled. “Of course we really want to explore other avenues in the future,” admits Valentin, “however, we are reasonable people. There is no pressure as far as we are concerned. We prefer to focus on Untitled, to fully support its launch and to give it all the time it needs.”
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L’Oréal Luxury Products Division General Manager Travel Retail Europe and Middle East Anne Valentin: “We are convinced that creativity, with quality, is what delivers the essential added value in luxury.” |
She continues: “There are no rules; the next fragrance will appear when it is the right time for it to do so. We really don’t want to be tied down by time limits. Having said that, we are not hiding the fact that we are buzzing with ideas.”
Travel retail has been earmarked to play an important role in building the Untitled brand, although L’Oréal will choose carefully where and when it rolls out in the channel. “Travel retail is a fashion-oriented and innovative market, known for building a strong brand image,” notes PCI Division Manager Travel Retail Europe and Middle East Cedric Aumonier. “T5 is a flagship shop and selective store with an innovative approach which allowed the creativity of Maison Martin Margiela to be expressed. It was the right place to start.”
He continues: “Other retailers have shown an interest in carrying the brand. But, as we did to establish the success of Victor & Rolf, we are aiming at a progressive, qualitative and selective roll-out. There is no rush, we want to make sure it happens in the right place with the right exposure and the right timing.”
“L’Oréal is one of our preferred partners and over recent years we have built upon this by challenging them to offer us initiatives which not only drive sales but more importantly, build on the WDF strategy, which is to offer our customers a more exciting place to shop.” |
WDF Head of Category for Beauty Debbie Ansell |
WDF, however, is certainly keen to explore further partnership opportunities. “This year we are investing in the re-fit of some of our main stores across the estate, including Manchester T1, London Heathrow T3 and Heathrow T4,” confirms Ansell. “This will therefore open up opportunities to work with L’Oréal to identify a roll-out plan.”
But for now the focus is all about T5. Untitled is currently featured on three high-profile sites within the main beauty area, and is also present in a fourth location, within the Harrods store on the floor above. All incorporate striking, all-white installations which, on the day The Moodie Report visited, attracted a steady stream of intrigued travellers.
“Maison Martin Margiela is an exceptional brand that requires exceptional implementations, something WDF has understood from the start,” acknowledges Aumonier. “Through our experience with Victor & Rolf over the past few years, L’Oréal has developed genuine retail-tainment know-how in terms of launching new brands. We have capitalised on this expertise and adapted our business model and launch strategy to suit the identity of this new talent in our portfolio.”
He concludes: “This partnership with WDF is seen as a great opportunity to “dynamise” the whole shop, to increase penetration by driving new customers to the point of sale, while building the image of this unconventional brand that has something to add to the fragrance market landscape.”
