The world of perfume features different brands trying to produce the best fragrance for men and women. One of the leading brands in the perfume industry is Lancome, and it manufactures and distributes its perfume internationally. The brand has successfully created a name for itself in the beauty world through constant innovation and top-quality products. Throughout Lancome history, it’s clear that the main goal is to provide women with the opportunity to explore their beauty. Today, it is a premium brand known to make quality its top priority. To better understand how Lancome came to become the innovative brand it is, let us explore Lancome’s history and its tactics to become the best luxury perfume brand in the industry.
Lancome History – The Beginning
Armand Petitjean founded Lancome in 1935, and its headquarters are in France. When Armand first came up with a luxury brand, he was already fifty years old. He left several countries, careers, and lives behind to start the company. He gathered all the experience he garnered over the years and preserved it for the next course of his career. Armand had lived in South America and dealt with the Europeans over the years. He has also worked with the French Foreign Office, so he understood the preferred taste in these countries. However, what propelled Armand into the perfume scene was his collaboration with Francois Coty.
Francois Coty is known as the father of perfumery because he delivers rare and exclusive perfumery to the world. However, Armand had a different view of him. He believed that Francois compromised the quality of his perfumes in search of quantity. Therefore, at this point in Lancome history, Armand began creating a different fragrance brand. He wanted to provide the world with fragrances that were either the best they’d ever had or nothing. Armand was pretty clear right from the beginning about what he wanted, and therefore, he decided on the idea of a luxury perfume brand. He wanted to create a perfume that would extend French elegance to the rest of the world.
Armand wasn’t worried about support when he created a different perfume brand. Several of his colleagues were prepared to join him as he started the journey. They entrusted him with the leadership qualities and focused on producing the perfumes. With everything set out, they began to make Lancome history.
Creating the Lancome Name
While the team focused on making the first set of perfumes, Armand focused on a name for the brand. Although he started with the thought of using his village name, he didn’t think it was feminine enough to draw attention. He wanted the name to be truly French and represent history in the brand. Guillaume D’Ornano came up with the word Lancome. It is based on the remains of the Le Chateau de Lancome Castle.
Throughout Lancome history, the golden rose in all Lancome perfumes represents the roses growing in the castle area. Lancome was bound to be successful with such a historical and powerful name because the name featured history and an identity that was hard to forget. Additionally, the name was easy to pronounce and represented France well globally.
Lancome Launching
Despite being left with the leadership duties, Armand was very involved with the manufacturing process of the perfumes. He did not like how American perfume brands were taking over the beauty industry. Therefore, he wanted to create fragrances that captured both men and women and catered to people’s demands at the time. Now that the brand name was all set, Armand redirected his attention towards determining the brand’s launch date.
The brand’s journey officially began when it launched its first five perfumes in Brussels. The perfumes were Tendre Nuit, Kypre, Conquete, Bocages, and Tropiques. Most people did not think the brand would be so successful. Contrary to these opinions, Lancome did quite well, and all the attention was on the brand after its launch. The reason for this is quite simple.
Lancome history shows that the company used the deco style art that took off in the 1930s. Armand used a minimalistic art design to produce bottles for his complex perfumes. It was a clever idea by Armand because the 1930s was when people started to appreciate art and were ready to spend any amount on things they found valuable and unique.
Therefore, Armand utilized this strategy when designing perfume bottles for his delicate fragrances. He understood the people’s taste and wanted to provide them with value as well as a pleasing fragrance.
Lancome History – Brand Growth
Today, Lancome perfumes are created by the best perfumers in the world. Armand’s ideals of providing the most prestigious perfumes were held through the years. The brand refuses to compromise quality and remains true to its vision of expanding through the global fragrance market. After its success as a perfume brand exclusively, Lancome began to explore the skincare industry. Soon, it moved to lipstick manufacturing, and its productions have remained bestsellers over the decades.
However, Lancome history reveals that L’Oreal acquired Lancome in 1964 and expanded the brand further into the luxury cosmetic industry. Lancome continues to offer innovative products in its various product lines. The brand releases new perfume categories each year, and these are always a hit. The Lancome brand has been in business for over 86 years now, and it has collaborated with many top celebrities and perfumers across the globe. Several makeup artists, models, and actresses have also represented and supported Lancome. In addition to that, there’s a new wave of fashion designers who have joined hands with Lancome and created dresses for some of its fragrances.
Armand’s dream of creating top-quality beauty products is a reality today. Today, Lancome is a leading company in the French perfume category. It is available in over 163 countries, and its insights and marketing strategies ensure that the brand stays true to its vision.
Lancome Marketing Strategies
Throughout Lancome history, the brand has been quite successful in the beauty industry. It is a top-quality brand with an impressive clientele base. This company has achieved this with solid marketing strategies to attract its consumers. Below are some of these marketing strategies; let’s take a look.
Exclusive Customer Base
The company has always catered to a niche customer base throughout Lancome history. Its prestigious fragrances are exclusive products and, therefore, upmarket. Lancome produces a premium range of skincare, makeup products, and perfume. Although their products are popular across a vast spectrum, the brand targets specific market segments and is quite successful with this.
Premium Customer Category
Since Lancome’s products are meant for the upmarket, it is priced for its premium customers, creating high price targets for Lancome products. Throughout Lancome history, their products have maintained the best quality of fragrances, and the brand doesn’t use harmful chemicals. Over the years, Lancome began to target the medium segment of the fragrance market. Therefore, the brand has mid-priced products available as well.
Effective Product and Brand Promotion
When it comes to advertisements, Lancome speaks for itself. The company focuses its advertising strategies on promoting its products, and it achieves this through top advertisements. In the beginning, Armand believed the brand would never need advertisement. However, it is a top advertiser today in the beauty industry. Several Lancome ads are available in leading publications like Harper’s Bazaar and French Vogue. Lancome always showcases the products’ quality to highlight the brand value in these publications.
Top photographers like Mario Testino, Brigitte Lacombe, Mario Sorrenti, and more shoot their advertisements to show the brand’s premium qualities. Lancome’s advertisements throughout its history succinctly capture the high quality of its products while helping the brand connect with its customers.
A Continuous Effort to Spread Its Wings
Armand’s goal has always been to penetrate the global beauty market, and the brand continues to advance that goal. Lancome’s efforts focus on ensuring its presence is felt in almost every country. Therefore, the brand ensures that its products are available for use in several exclusive cosmetic boutiques worldwide. It also uses diverse distribution channels to effectively market its fragrances and beauty products to a vast customer base.
An Established Target Market
Another top strategy the company used throughout Lancome history to achieve success is establishing its target customers early. Although the brand focuses on women’s skincare products, it also caters to the needs of the millennials. When Lancome entered the skincare market, its original line focused on intensive skincare products like wrinkle-free formulas and anti-aging. However, the brand then released another product line that appealed to younger women who were looking for proactive products that were less intensive. Lancome has more opportunities to expand and continually grow by catering to this broad market. It is one of the reasons Lancome continues to enjoy an incredible success story.
Matching up to Competitors
There’s fierce competition in the beauty industry. Yet, Lancome is able to rise above them all to become one of the industry’s best beauty and fragrance companies. The brand matches its customers by launching several boutiques that promote its beauty product lines. As a way to stand out from the competition, Lancome also offers consulting opportunities to its customers. It utilizes coloring tests to match skin types and ensures customers find their ideal shades while in the store. Additionally, all Lancome boutique managers are beauty-school-trained, which helps differentiate the brand from others greatly.
Utilizing the Internet
The internet can be a valuable promotional instrument when used appropriately. Lancome understands this and uses the internet to its advantage. Several Lancome pages online are solely dedicated to providing customers with information about the brand and its products. Lancome informs customers about the changing tides in fashion and technological advancements in the beauty space on these pages. The brand also provides consumers with information about its upcoming products. Another way Lancome sets the trend in the fragrance industry is by trademarking Lancome Hype.
Lancome Campaigns
The brand has developed several trendy campaigns throughout Lancome history that effectively target its present and potential customer bases. Additionally, the brand upgrades and revalorizes its ads to connect with younger audience bases. The brand has an impressive list of star-studded ambassadors to increase its wow quotient in commercials. Some of the top stars the brand is synonymous with are Zendaya, Kate Winslet, Lupita Nyong’o, Penelope Cruz, Julia Robert, and many more.
One of their most popular campaigns focuses on making people happy and sharing the joy of giving. With this recent ad, Lancome identifies with female empowerment and passion. This campaign featured Julia Roberts and was quite a hit upon its release. The brand also embraced diversity with its star-studded campaign revolving around Zendaya. Lancome’s I Can, We Will campaign helps the brand resonate with its younger set of customers. This ad focuses on an audience ready to abandon traditional norms and establish a united front.
Final Thoughts
Lancome is a premium fragrance company that has carved out a space in the beauty market. Despite belonging to the L’Oreal set of beauty companies, the brand retains its ideals and the natural ingredients used in creating its products. Lancome products offer you prestige and give customers a premium feel when they become Lancome users. Throughout Lancome history explored in this article, it is clear that this premium luxury fragrance brand continues to retain its cultural values and pure quality goal.
