Brand Matters: Tracking a Dog's Scent
By Robert C. Sprung - TippingSprung LLC
This year's Westminster Kennel Club dog show at New York City's Madison Square Garden featured an unusual product launch. Michel Raviol, founder and president of Les Poochs, was showcasing the latest addition to his line, Pooch VIP. A perfume specially formulated for dogs, it comes in an elegant crystal bottle and costs $250 for a 1/4 oz. A study of the perfume reveals packaging and branding challenges as complex as those of any product intended for humans.
The Brand's Story
Why would someone buy dog perfume? "Did you ever smell a dog?" Raviol answers. Value propositions are rarely so straightforward. Dogs, especially small ones in urban areas, have traditionally been the target of an occasional spritz of Chanel or Giorgio. These are hardly healthy, says Raviol. Human fragrances contain a high concentration of essential oils, impairing a dog's sense of smell. Les Poochs supposedly makes a dog smell nice to humans, without interfering with the dog's life. It contains less alcohol and essential oil.
S Robert Sprung. Consumers seem to buy the story. Les Poochs, which manufactures its scents in the south of France, sells millions of dollars worth of product each year. The company's claim to fame was the 1987 introduction of the "first designer fragrance for dogs." The two flagship products were his-and-hers scents, dubbed Le Pooch and La Pooch. They launched at Bloomingdale's in New York, where they had the third-highest sales per square foot of any fragrance sold there that year. Before then, says Raviol, the world knew only of cheap spray colognes sold in pet shops for a few dollars. "Certainly nothing in crystal bottles done up properly," he says.
The Packaging
The new VIP scent also comes in a special 4-oz size, packaged in an elaborate crystal decanter and priced at $3000. The image of the product, from the Web site to the quality of packaging and marketing collateral, all reinforce the company's upscale branding. The perfume's design team is clearly targeting the sensibilities of the affluent consumer, using the branding language of luxury goods to sell these canine products. Les Poochs products are not sold in pet shops, but only in grooming salons. In maintaining the profile of its brand, the firm is rigorous in screening suitable retailers.
My colleague, brand strategist Martyn Tipping, sees Les Poochs' scents as an interesting extension of the human luxury-goods category. Pets are viewed as surrogate children, as one of the family. And they have a distinctive marketing advantage over many of their human counterparts. "The market can be developed in so many different ways, partly because the end-consumer here doesn't really have a voice, aside from 'Woof'," he says.
Buying luxury goods appeals to American consumers' desire to demonstrate their love through purchasing. Tipping couldn't leave the Westminster dog show without observing that "the whole system of pedigrees works the same as a brand—it is a 'guarantee of authenticity.' The 'label' of German shepherd is akin to that of the German Mercedes-Benz. It's a brand, and all brands require cultivation and investment."
Robert C. Sprung can be reached at robert@tippingsprung.com. TippingSprung (New York City) offers brand strategy, naming, and design services with a focus on the needs of technology companies.