Coty Prestige is preparing to invest heavily in the duty free and travel retail channel in its next fiscal year as three major Calvin Klein launches come to market; two in the autumn and one the following spring.

 

“We plan on creating a 360-degree merchandising environment to really highlight these launches and offer a huge consumer experience which will bring Calvin Klein to a whole new level in terms of size and relevance,” says Steve Mormoris (below), Senior Vice President of Global Marketing, American Fragrances at Coty Prestige.

 

“We will target the key hubs in DF&TR to make this a major phenomenon: Calvin Klein is the number three (fragrance) brand in the world so we won’t compromise. We are looking at creating an environment that captures the imagination of the consumer. The best example so far is Marc Jacobs with its visual motifs (dots or daisies), which has brought light-heartedness and luxury to store environments.”

 

The 360-degree concept will use physical structures to create a shop-in-shop style of presentation with screens, projected visuals and other animations so that each scent is presented in its own universe within the overall concept.

 

SIGN OF THE TIMES

The step up to such big promotions is happening across the channel and is a sign of the times. Mormoris describes it as “a real estate war”, saying: “If you have a really strong concept they [the retailers] will give you the space. If you don’t you get put in the library… literally a shelf with other fragrances. We will invest in this type of merchandising if we think the project is big enough and, for next year, with these three fragrances, the projects are so large that we are prepared to do it.”

 

Helping that decision is the fact that in DF&TR in general Coty is has been seeing double-digit growth rates. Mormoris describes the DF&TR channel as “in a way more important than domestic markets” for a brand like Calvin Klein. “The Calvin Klein consumer is so global that the brand transcends its US heritage and people all over the world want to buy it as an American iconic luxury label.”

 

[For the full exclusive interview with Steve Mormoris see the January issue of TRBusiness which also includes details of Calvin Klein’s current launch Endless Euphoria (right).]