Left: TRBusiness’ Naomi Chadderton outside Astor Film Lounge where a screening for the scent’s visual campaign was held. Right: Davidoff Cool Elixir.

ON LOCATION: Beauty giant Coty yesterday (21 May) launched the new Davidoff Cool Elixir fragrance at a city-wide event in Berlin, starting with a perfumer meet-and-greet at Soho House Berlin.

Nearly four decades after the launch of the original Davidoff Cool Water fragrance in 1988 – a scent that became a cultural icon, sparking waitlists at fragrance counters and achieving record sales in Germany, the UK, and the US – the new scent marks an exciting new chapter for the Swiss-based business, which is celebrating its 100^th anniversary this year.

The fragrance is now widely available throughout travel retail globally, including in Europe, India and the Americas, priced at around $90 for 100ml.

“The timing for this launch is perfect in travel retail because we are just going into the busy summer season, so we will get to welcome even more customers to experience it,” explained Markus Stauss, VP Global Marketing Travel Retail & Export Europe at Coty, which has a long-standing license agreement with Davidoff. “Travel retail gives the consumer even more chances to explore and discover, and it is a market that is continually growing.

“Millennials, Gen Z and Gen Alpha are travelling a lot more than previous generations, and they place a greater importance on experiences. Consumer behaviour is changing from ‘having stuff’ to prioritising these new experiences, which is good for travel retail because it means people are investing more in buying memories, and the things that remind them of their travels.

“Zino Davidoff was an adventurer, so that is already a perfect link for us in travel retail in a way. If this fragrance can help recall memories from your travels, then it is the perfect fragrance for you.”

The perfumers behind Davidoff Cool Elixir: Nelly Hachem-Ruiz, Jean-Christophe Hérault and Anne Flipo with TRBusiness’ Naomi Chadderton (third from left).

TRBusiness was on location at the launch event in Berlin, where we enjoyed some one-on-one time with the fragrance’s three perfumers, Jean-Christophe Hérault, Nelly Hachem-Ruiz and Anne Flipo; got a first look at the visual campaign at Astor Film Lounge; and attended the after party at Berlin’s famed Metropol Club, with guests DJs including Kavinsky and LSDXOXO.

American singer and model Annahstasia Enuke, who stars in the fragrance’s epic blockbuster campaign, was also in attendance, and serenaded guests with three of her beautiful ballads on stage at the theatre.

The scent itself, which was three years in the making, is crafted from three key ingredients including oud accord, which is among the most precious and coveted ingredients in perfumery.

Davidoff Cool Elixir is now widely available throughout travel retail globally, including in Europe, India and the Americas, priced at around $90 for 100ml.

“As perfumers, we knew it would be an important new pillar, and a very important release for Davidoff perfume brand, so we kept all challenges in mind right from the start,” explained Jean-Christophe Herault, a student of perfumer Pierre Bourdon, who composed the original Cool Water. “I feel very proud to be able to carry on Pierre Bourdon’s legacy and to write a new chapter of Davidoff.”

“While there is no olfactory link between the Cool Elixir and Cool Water, Cool Water was a revolution when it first launched, and we tried to reinvent its original ingredients to bring a new sensuality with oud and vanilla. We pushed boundaries, so I suppose in this point of view there are some common points.

“We imagined depth as a double intention – in terms of the sea and in terms of freshness.

“The immediate impression feels like a deep dive, then the intensity takes over, leaving a lasting and seductive trail.”

Coty’s high-impact campaign for Cool Elixir fragrance stars actor Charles Melton (see poster, left).

Lavandin absolute, which is harvested according to an enfleurage technique that uses only the flower heads for an enriched accord, brings notes of lavender, while rose oxide offers a salty floral texture to Cool Elixir’s alluring profile.

“Rose oxide is far more unusual that an ordinary flower note – as though the flower petals were suspended in liquid metal,” explained Flipo. “As an aldehyde, its unique molecular structure results in a scent that is clean but also otherworldly. In using rose oxide, we have transported Cool Elixir to another dimension.”

“We didn’t want it to just be an extension of Cool Water, we wanted to bring a new blockbuster to the market that is relevant to the trends of today,” added Stauss. “This fragrance goes deeper into oud than its predecessor, which has been a growing trend for a while now. This is what the consumer desires now, and we always create with the consumer in mind.”

Enjoying the Davidoff Cool Elixir ambience at Berlin’s Astor theatre.

Coty has also launched a high-impact campaign to promote the Cool Elixir fragrance, starring actor Charles Melton. A rising talent with 5.4 million followers on Instagram, he is best known for his roles in Riverdale and May December, and is considered the epitome of a “gentleman adventurer” who encapsulates the Davidoff man, furthering the vision of the brand’s founder, Zino Davidoff.

Directed by Loni Peristere, known for House of the Dragon, the campaign showcases Melton’s journey to retrieve the fragrance bottle guarded by a mythical sea dragon and a guardian temptress played by Enuke, highlighting the bold spirit of the scent and Davidoff masculinity.

American singer and model Annahstasia Enuke, who stars in the fragrance’s epic blockbuster campaign, was in attendance at the event and serenaded guests with ballads.

Key contributors include Oscar-winning Director of Photography Linus Sandgren and photographer Matthew Brookes, who captured the main portrait of Melton.

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