2024-08-27 13:45:23
CEO of the house Creed Since 2020, Sarah Rotheram has had only one idea in mind: that niche perfumery be at the forefront of an industry in full revival. Marketing and fragrance interview.
In 2020, when you were appointed CEO of Creed, you said: “ Marketing as we knew it is gone. » What is marketing today?
Sarah Rotheram : I think the customer has progressed, that he is much more informed. We can no longer just sell a story, even if many brands still do that, of course, with their ambassadors. It is now about creating more emotional connections with the customer. From our point of view as perfumers, we have noticed for about ten years that the customer is much better educated: before, customers came and we sold them products. Today, they come and ask questions. They understand the creative process better, know the notes they like, and are generally more engaged.
Any idea why this evolved?
I guess it’s social media. You follow people online who like the same restaurants, the same clothes, the same wines, the same parties as you, and so you’re part of the same community. So marketing today is about being part of the conversation, not shouting to be part of it, but drawing the customer into your world.
Maybe Generation Z is better educated about beauty?
Absolutely !
And do they wear more perfume than their parents?
Do you know what the most interesting trend is? Our biggest audience is young men, 15 and up. If you look at our audience on TikTok, it’s 15 to 25. When I came to Creed, I thought, because of the high price point and where we sell our products, that our main customer base would be people over 40. But we have an equal number of customers aged 20 to 30, 30 to 40, 40 to 50, and 58 and up. It’s a very balanced split. But young men in particular are very educated when it comes to fragrance. They watch a lot of fragrance reviews on YouTube. It’s the same trend with young women, but our share of their budget is being competed with by skincare, which is less the case for men.
In 2020, 70% of Creed’s sales were male. Is the goal now to attract a female audience?
My goal is to be as universal as possible. We recently launched two new fragrances, “Carmina” and “Queen of Silk,” which are more aimed at a female audience, but we still have men using them. Young people, in particular, don’t care about gender. In a new market like China, which only started to use perfume in the last decade, there are no gender stereotypes.
“WHAT MATTERS IS THE CONSTANT SEARCH FOR A RADICAL PERFUME…”
What is your definition of niche luxury, to which Creed claims to belong?
It’s not about size, or the number of distribution points. What matters is the creative process, the commitment to quality and the constant search for a radical fragrance. For us, I think we fit into this luxury niche because a big part of our DNA is sourcing the ingredients ourselves. Just before our interview, I was looking for some very exclusive oud wood.
Why oud?
It is usually associated with Middle Eastern perfumes, for its woody, animalic note, which is very recognizable. Oud comes from a tree, whose fungal infection creates a resin that develops inside the tree. To get a real oud, the tree must be at least 35 years old. I was with a producer today who has a 250-year-old oud… There is still this woody, resinous note, but there are also fruity notes that come through. This is the reason why we are a niche luxury brand, because we buy directly from producers who harvest the best ingredients.
I am fascinated by the ability of certain brands with strong heritage to renew themselves. I am thinking of Saint Laurent, but it is perhaps even more true of Creed, founded in 1760. What were your objectives when you arrived at the head of the brand in 2020?
Not to lose what makes our history valuable. When I arrived, I called on a historian who told me that Creed was the first brand to organize a fashion show in New York, while everything happened in Paris, London… The Creed family has innovated a lot over the years. I want to resume this tradition, at the same time as keeping the close relationship with craftsmanship, with relationships with growers and customers. As a niche luxury house, we have to push the boundaries of innovation, not only because it is difficult to create a completely new perfume, but also because there is a lot to do around sustainability, and the harvesting of ingredients. We have to be relevant to the consumer.
You launched the project “Fragrances for the future”. What is an eco-responsible and sustainable perfume?
When I arrived, we looked at our entire business – we are now carbon positive. Of course, it’s about changing our packaging, which most brands can do. But our business itself is low-polluting. What has the biggest impact on the planet is the products we buy. We are members, along with Dior, Chanel, Guerlain, of the UEBT (Union of Ethical and Bio Trading). We have almost 450 ingredients in our product portfolio, which are rigorously audited, sourced from sustainable, renewable and responsible plantations. We are careful not to deplete resources or soils.
How does this affect the scent of the products?
With these new extraction methods, the olfactory palette is completely different. So, in the “Queen of Silk” there is a new tuberose. It is a white flower that is quite animalic, but with the new extraction methods, you lose all the animal notes and you get a pure white flower. So it is very exciting from a creative point of view.
You are in regular contact with the brand’s “noses”. Are they as strange and fascinating as the Jean-Baptiste Grenouille ofParfum de Patrick Süskind ?
Oh no! Creating great perfumes is to rely on a form of magic, which noses master. But it is more like a passage of Tender is the nightthe book by Scott Fitzgerald, in which there is a sublime description of an entrance into a garden, where there are like clouds of pink peonies…
By Alexis Lacourte
Photo Davide Carson
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