The “new Coty” rises 2 years after merger with P&G beauty

Coty dressed the front of the DFS duty free store at JFK T4 in Tiffany & Co. blue for three months earlier this year.

 

In the two years since Coty merged with the Procter & Gamble Company’s fine fragrance, color cosmetics and salon products businesses, the company has made huge strides in completing an incredibly ambitious and complex transformation which involved fundamental changes to and simplification of its business processes.*

According to the company’s latest financial results, important steps were made in Fiscal 2018, including a full organizational redesign, a comprehensive upgrade of information systems to allow Coty to run on a single platform, a full Supply Chain reorganization agenda, and multiple route-to-market conversions, among other major accomplishments.

The changes are clearly on view in Coty Inc.’s Miami headquarters for the company’s travel retail and export businesses for the Americas.

Although it stayed at its 777 Brickell Avenue address in the heart of Miami’s downtown business district, Coty moved into greatly expanded and redesigned space to accommodate the merged staff. The bright and inviting open design features subtle Coty “codes” and color accents throughout and even sports a lounge and game room.

Miami is one of the first Coty offices worldwide to incorporate completely the new look and feel, says Romain Ritter, General Manager Travel Retail Americas at Coty Inc.

“This is our second year since the joining of the two portfolios, and it has been a strong year. We closed our fiscal year at the end of June with many successes that we can now fully rely on for continued growth. Mainly, and its true for us and the company as a whole, the successes of Gucci fragrances and Tiffany & Co. have allowed our luxury portfolio to thrive,” Ritter told TMI.

The travel retail division continues to benefit from a portfolio of extremely strong brands with global appeal. This confirmed Coty global leadership in Travel Retail, says the company.

“The depth of our portfolio is extremely important for our continued performance. We have brands that make us relevant in all of the markets in which we operate and we have the ability to adjust our strategies dependent on the consumer profile, which is a massive strength in itself,” he adds.

Ritter says that his team is very excited about the opportunities that lay ahead:

“Under the new organization, we have staffed up and have more support in the field, newcomers in sales and marketing, and with the joining of the two companies we have a team that has fully embraced the new Coty culture, very entrepreneurial and agile.”

“We are also in the final stages of our new supply chain and logistics, and can now supply more than 90% of our portfolio out of the U.S. as of Sept. 1. This will change the lead times and our efficiencies to market significantly.

“Coty is a new company – both from a systems standpoint and from a cultural standpoint – with the aim to challenge the status quo and celebrate diversity,” he stresses.

Coty has also enjoyed a stellar year at the point of sale in travel retail, where it staged one ground-breaking activation after another.

“As the leader in luxury fragrances, one of the integral parts of our strategy is to disrupt the market and especially at the point of sale. As you’ve seen over the last 12 months, we disrupted the market with the successful pop-ups we staged for Gucci Bloom and with the store façade we did for Tiffany & Co. in JFK T4. We bring a lot of innovative elements to our executions.”

In Latin America, HUGO Urban Journey took passengers in the Rio de Janeiro
airport on a virtual reality paragliding trip over Peru.

 

Among the key launches that have taken place within the last few months, Coty rolled out Chloé Nomade, with animations that ran all around the region in North and South America in May, June and July. It also rolled out Burberry fragrances, which became part of the Coty portfolio in October 2017, including Mr. Burberry and the new Mr. Burberry Indigo.

Coty’s travel retail executions involve animating in store, doing large scale executions and media investments in unexpected places, such as it did this summer with Marc Jacobs Daisy Love.

 

The fourth edition in the family after Daisy, Daisy Eau So Fresh and Daisy Dream, Coty’s launch for Daisy Love disrupted Dallas Forth-Worth International Airport with DFASS, by placing a huge wooden structure dressed in the Daisy Love motifs near the front entrance.

Coty took over the front of the duty free store in Dallas Ft. Worth International Airport with this disruptive installation for Marc Jacobs Daisy Love.  

 

“We have a long-term media investment in the Rotunda at JFK T1 with JCDecaux in front of the International Shoppes store which we used to display Daisy Love. We also did a ‘front of store takeover’ at the new DFASS central store in Dallas. This is the type of disruption we are talking about,” says Ritter.

Coty’s stunning pop-ups for Gucci Bloom have enhanced airports throughout the world.

 

Coming up between now through December, Coty will be staging major launches for Hugo Boss The Scent Private Accord fragrances for men and women, with a new campaign featuring actor Jamie Dornan and model Birgit Kos. The Hugo Boss fragrances hold an especially high relevance in Latin American markets.

There are also two important launches for Calvin Klein. First is CK One Platinum, which follows on the success of CK One Gold, launched as a limited edition last year but is now part of the permanent collection.

And Calvin Klein Women, the first Calvin Klein fragrance fully developed under the vision of Chief Creative Officer Raf Simons, launches with a campaign celebrating women, by women. It is on counter in travel retail worldwide this month.

Gucci Bloom Nettare di Fiori, the third fragrance in the Gucci Bloom series, is rolling out with pop-up animations throughout travel retail. Embodying a more intense essence than the first two, the Nettare di Fiori pop-up is decorated in a new black shade of the Herbarium floral print, in line with the fashion house.

Also rounding out the year is the new Tiffany & Co. Intense, with its iconic blue packaging and diamond-shaped bottle. The Tiffany launch was one of Coty’s biggest success stories last year, and there may be more surprises from the brand in the future.

“The strength of Coty is that ability through all of the brands of creating that link. Whether with the consistency with the fashion house codes for Gucci Bloom, or with the modern look and DNA of the Hugo Boss fashion house for Boss The Scent, or Tiffany & Co.’s blue box, gifting element, and of course the iconic diamond-shaped inspired bottle – it’s perfect,” commented Ritter.