Images from Viktor & Rolf’s fashion showFRANCE. L’Oréal Produits de Luxe International has unveiled plans for its highly selective fragrance brand Viktor & Rolf as the new men’s line is rolled out internationally in domestic and travel retail outlets.
Antidote, the first men’s fragrance from the Dutch design duo, is making its debut this Spring supported by a number of innovative promotions being held during February, March and April.
The fragrance theme of magic is being brought to life by professional magicians who use smoke in their shows and break chains to get to the much-prized potion, or antidote.
The promotion is currently taking place at Amsterdam Schiphol, the designers’ home airport, where a podium has recently been installed. The animation moves to London Heathrow (all terminals) from 7/8 March.
In another unusual move which is proving popular among passengers, Antidote is being sampled on white men’s handkerchiefs embroidered with a black V&R logo and doused in the woody, oriental fragrance.
“A lot of people are asking to buy them [the handkerchiefs]. Initial results indicate that this promotion is highly successful,” said Nina Wegner, Marketing Manager Prestige & Collections Travel Retail Europe, Middle East & Africa.
Additions to the family
In a further development of the Viktor & Rolf franchise, the company is extending its women’s Flowerbomb fragrance line.
In April 2007, a Flowerbomb edt will be launched, and in September 2007, a 15ml travel spray and a 5ml parfum will join the prestigious family.
The Viktor & Rolf fragrance brand is highly selective and available at only 75 travel retail sales points. Some 20 or 30 shops will be added this year, said Wegner.
“We want to stay extremely selective and highly priced [Antidote, for example, retails at €60 for 50ml and €80 for 100ml]; we want to build pillars for the brand and install it on a long-term basis. We want it to become a real classical fragrance,” she added.
The brand is also demanding when it comes to space in-store. “We need personalised space to show the identity of the brand,” Wegner explained. “It is important for the brand to have a strong presence at point of sale, to show its originality and to attract people.”
At Schiphol, the brand has negotiated personalised space in a store where there is normally no fragrance personalisation.
Viktor & Rolf’s strongest travel retail markets are the UK (London Heathrow) and Amsterdam Schiphol. “Moscow is also doing well because Russians like opulent, powdery fragrances. Also, the Middle East/Dubai,” said Wegner. The brand is also available in France, Spain, Germany, Turkey and the US, among other countries.
Viktor & Rolf – fashion’s true originals
The roll-out of Antidote, the first men’s fragrance from Viktor & Rolf, coincided with the Dutch design duo’s Autumn/Winter 2007 ready-to-wear fashion show held in Paris on 26 February.
The pair, famous for their quirky take on fashion, astounded the audience with a typically one-off production in which each model carried her own set of spotlights to showcase the clothes. Dresses were pinned up to the lighting apparatus, while high-heeled clogs were the order of the day for footwear.
The designers described the concept as “hi-tech romance”.
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