Why TV commercials for celebrity perfumes may not be selling at full strength

    I wrote yesterday about memory and scent and the possibility that a multimedia promotion for a perfume might have the potential to implant a deep scent memory that could, when triggered in the future, bring back a strong desire for that particular fragrance.

    Now a logical response to this suggestion might be, "What about all the celebrity fragrance commercials on TV where the celebrity is a singer? Isn't their plan to create a memorable event for the viewer?"

    My answer is that while that may be the plan, the general result falls short and for several good reasons.

    First, look at the relationship between the celebrity and the fragrance marketer. The marketer takes a license to use the celebrity's name and image. But the license is for a fixed period of time, perhaps just three years. Only if sales targets are met will renewal be allowed.

    So a commercial that might trigger memories and desires for the perfume in four, or six, or ten years could be considered a costly, wasted effort.

    Typically even when a license is renewed, by year two the marketer is already throwing the money at a second perfume, allowing the first to fade into the background.

    Next there is a problem of rights to the music. Few celebrity performers compose their own music and so the rights issue comes up again. To use a tune to trigger memories three years down the road, the marketer must have the rights to use that music, three years down the road. And, since the marketer doesn't have a clue as to how effective the recall reaction might be in sales dollars, the gamble could be huge.

    The same problem arises in the use of music that is already associated with the celebrity. A celebrity fragrance TV commercial may run just 30 seconds. But the hits the celebrity has recorded would run considerably longer. Will the owner of the music allow it to be cut for the commercial? Will the owner allow it to be used for a commercial at all? Will the celebrity agree to record it, thus perhaps changing the association from the celebrity to the perfume?
   
    You would have to look into it, case by case.

    So you might say, why not compose music especially for the commercial? But commercials generally mix talk with music. And, while special music would generally be composed for a perfume ad, will enough effort be put behind it to make it truly memorable -- by itself -- without the talk which will be recorded over it?

    Again rights rear their head. Will the celebrity be willing to record a special song for the perfume? Will he or she get royalties from the use of this song in addition to the money made from the sale of the perfume? Will royalties continue into the future when perhaps the marketer no longer has the rights to sell the perfume?

    For the marketer of a celebrity fragrance the practical approach is to keep it simple, to avoid risks, to avoid setting up unnecessary unknowns. So maybe, just maybe, the potential for future sales is diminished but if you have to license this and that and create this and that, all without knowing if it can be of any help to you, is it worth the risk?

    On the other hand, if it was your perfume ... and you could control ALL the circumstances ... wouldn't you want to at least TRY to create that big memory, a memory that might stick with people for years, keeping interest in your perfume alive -- and profitable?