ROYAL COPENHAGEN’S SPORTY ADDITION
Byline: Soren Larson
NEW YORK — Tsumura International is out to bring its 26-year-old Royal Copenhagen brand up to speed.
In May, the company will launch an extension to the men’s franchise called Royal Copenhagen Sport. The motive is to find a more youthful audience by tapping into the move toward lighter, fresher scents and what the company perceives as an interest in a fitness-oriented lifestyle.
The new item will be introduced in April, in about 1,200 department store doors, with Federated Stores and May Department Stores Co. as the leading chains. The distribution will be slightly more upscale than that of Royal Copenhagen and its follow-up, the 1976 entry, Royal Copenhagen Musk, according to Alfonso J. Lopez, president of the consumer products group at Tsumura.
The top account for the existing Royal Copenhagen scents is J.C. Penney Co.
“The Royal Copenhagen base has grown older,” Lopez said. “It still has a very loyal, traditional user, but now we have an opportunity to draw in new people. We’re basically looking at the 18-to-35-year-old bracket.”
He said that initially, the company is looking for the Sport scent to achieve 50 percent of the sales of the original Royal Copenhagen. He did not divulge specific sales figures, but according to industry estimates, that would mean a retail volume of around $10 million this year for the new fragrance.
“The time was right for another entry,” said Lori Singer, director of fine fragrances. “The question was how to reach new and younger customers. One thing we did know was that the sport category is hot right now, as an attitude and a lifestyle.”
Even the success of Ralph Lauren’s Polo Sport — the leading men’s launch of last year — inspired the firm, said Singer.
“Obviously, the [sport] category is successful and wide open,” she said. “If we can capture that active and sporty imagery, we’ll do very well.”
In order to project that image, Tsumura will spend $3 million this year to advertise and promote the new fragrance, according to Lopez.
To coincide with the launch, the firm will introduce a gift-with-purchase program where a T-shirt, cap or umbrella will be given away with any $25 expenditure.
Tsumura will also undertake “major modeling and sampling” in stores, Lopez said, and around 10 million scented inserts will be dropped in store catalogs and in a print campaign that will make its debut in the September edition of magazines.
The still-unfinished print ads, which feature a man cruising through the waves in a motorboat, have a working tagline reading, “For guys who also know when to go slow.”
“Royal Copenhagen always had that outdoorsy, nautical image,” said Berger. “But now we’re moving from the schooner to a speedboat.”
For the Father’s Day period, a 2.5-oz. spray will be packaged with a beach chair for $35, while in the fall, the company plans various giveaways featuring gym bags and water bottles.
“We’re really trying to cut through the clutter and offer something that a man wants to use,” Lopez said. The fragrance itself, which was created by Quest International, is categorized as an aromatic fougAre. The topnotes are citrusy “eau fraiche” notes, including bergamot, grapefruit and ozone. The herbaceous middle includes lavender, oakmoss, sage fir and white musk, while the base is sandalwood, patchouli, cedar and amber.
The brand will be launched with three sizes of cologne and four ancillary items. Prices will range from $12.50 for a 2.75-oz. anti-perspirant/deodorant or 5-oz. shaving cream to $42 for a 3.3-oz. cologne spray.
Leading up to this launch, Lopez noted, Tsumura has undertaken a rejuvenation plan for the first two Royal Copenhagen fragrances in the last three years. Distribution was cleaned up and new advertising and promotional plans were introduced with the hope of giving a spark to both aging brands’ sales. The results have been positive, Lopez claimed.
“We’ve grown the franchise by 45 to 50 percent since then,” he said, describing the business as being in the “double-digit” millions at wholesale.
He also noted that in a year full of blockbuster women’s fragrance launches by top players like Estee Lauder and Lancome, the men’s market will be relatively quiet.
With his fingers crossed, he said, “It was good timing. Hopefully, we’re locked in at the right spot.”