Perfumer and entrepreneur Jo Malone CBE discusses the viral commercial momentum of opening her first boutique on Walton Street in London in 1994.
Insight
Beauty conglomerates acquire indie brands because massive budgets cannot replicate founder authenticity
“Today they're certainly not, they're the They're the brands where everybody, you know, the big guys want to buy them, because they can see that we had created things that they, with all their money, and all their teams, and all their budgets, could not create.…”
Disclosure
Jo Malone hired people to carry empty branded bags around NYC
“We employed people to walk around New York City holding 10 empty Jo Malone bags for the month and the six weeks run up to opening in Bergdorf Goodman, and by the time we did, everybody had seen these Jo Malone bags, which had nothing in them, and everybody tho…”
Assertion Supported
Industry skeptics incorrectly predicted Lime Basil and Mandarin fragrance would fail
“And I remember someone saying to me, no one's going to buy a fragrance called Lime, Basil and Mandarin. And I remember looking at them and saying, why not? That's what it is. Why are we pretending to call it something it's not? Well, they were wrong. It did.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Jo Malone's signature black ribbon originated from her husband's discarded tie
“It was Isabella Tedjwi that did it, and she was the one that put the packaging together, and as we were sitting there, I said, it's still missing something, and she turned around, and on the back of the sofa, Gary had left her A tie, a black tie from an event …”
Insight
Product quality is pointless in new markets without proactive advance buzz
“There's no point taking any brand or any product to any part of the world, no matter how brilliant it is, if no one knows it's there. So, you have to create this buzz, and you have to create the voice, and you have to create the wantability.”
Assertion Supported
Jo Malone remains legally barred from using her name in beauty products
“I couldn't use Jo Malone. I couldn't, I still can't. I'm able to use it as the person and as my voice, but I'm not able to use it in any other capacity in, in beauty or whatever. But I was allowed to use Jo.”