Mariah Carey takes her happiness seriously. That's why she has named her new women's scent "Forever." It's due out in September.
"I am in a wonderful place right now, surrounded by all the things I love, and Forever captures this moment in time," said the entertainer, whose first scent, M by Mariah Carey, launched in September 2007.
"When we work with celebrities, we aim to put together a project which is representative of their life," said Ron Rolleston, executive vice president for global fragrance marketing at Elizabeth Arden, of the new women's launch. "Mariah's happily married, has a movie coming out in November, which already did well at Sundance, and she is releasing a new album in September. She's got a lot of joy and optimism in her life right now, and we wanted to express that in a fragrance."
Perfumer Olivier Gillotin of Givaudan worked with Carey to create the modern opulent floral, which has top notes of neroli, lotus blossom and dewy green apple; a heart of tuberose and gardenia, and a drydown of white musk and exotic woods. "When I first met with Mariah, I was inspired to create a glamorous, opulent floral," said Gillotin. "I wanted the scent to be radiant but to also evoke a warm sensuality. This fragrance has iconic white florals, which convey a powerful message of feminine sensuality and classic glamour."
The collection includes eau de parfum in three sizes — 1 oz. for $42, 1.7 oz. for $55 and 3.3 oz. for $65 — as well as a 0.5-oz. parfum, $250, and a 6.8-oz. body lotion, $28.
In the U.S., the scent will be available in about 2,000 department and specialty store doors, including Macy's, Dillard's and Belk's.
The bottle, inspired by Carey's love of the art deco style, is clear crystal with a gold band around the top. Outer packaging is bright pink with a metallic trim.
While executives declined to discuss sales projections, industry sources estimated that Forever would do upwards of $35 million at retail in its first year on counter. Sources also estimated Arden would spend at least $10 million on advertising and promotion.
Print advertising, shot by Michael Thompson and featuring Carey, will break in October fashion, beauty and lifestyle magazines, including Elle, Vogue, Glamour and In Style. A TV campaign, which also features Carey, is slated for the holiday season. As well, vials on card, scented strips and other scented pieces are expected to deliver upwards of 49 million scented impressions, noted Noreen Dodge, senior vice president, fragrance, global brand development for Elizabeth Arden.
In addition to a dedicated Web site, MariahCareyBeauty.com, a strong social media campaign will also be part of the campaign, Dodge said. Arden plans MariahCareyBeauty pages on Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, hoping to leverage Carey's 1.7 million followers on Twitter and 700,000 Facebook fans (Carey also has 132 fan separate fan pages on Facebook.) Arden is also working with social media sites Imeem, Pandora and VideoEgg to further drive business. Pandora will create Carey fragrance-branded backgrounds for users to see while listening to the singer's music, while Imeem will feature an exclusive Forever-themed playlist customized by Carey on its home page. VideoEgg will feed into Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and YouTube in an effort to drive traffic to MariahCareyBeauty.com. DailyCandy will offer a "twitter-to-win" sampling program for the fragrance, and Sugar Inc. plans a customized Carey page on its site and a sweepstakes to win the scent.
(Women's Wear Daily)
