Fashion Designers Increase Brand Recognition Via Avon

Sometimes luxury fashion labels need to broaden their customer base to keep their brand alive. Brand licensing is an ideal way many achieve this goal. One of the smarter license ventures luxury brands have made is with Avon.

Avon, No Stranger to Brand Partnerships

Avon has decades of experience with brand partnerships. Most of their successful ventures have involved celebrity fragrances. As new celebrities take the spotlight, so have newer partnerships such as with Patrick Dempsey, Reese Witherspoon, Derek Jeter, Zoe Saldana and most recently Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas.

These fragrances have helped to build a stronger brand image for Avon and for the celebrities. With Avon's charity, the AVON Foundation for finding a cure for breast cancer, these celebrities get involved with the crusade, such as Fergie taking part in the Santa Barbara Walk with her husband Josh Duhamel. Such brand identity and philanthropic work make Avon a great candidate for luxury fashion design brands to enhance and increase their brand identity.

The Christian Lacroix Brand Still Maintains at Avon

It is no secret that Parisian couturier Christian Lacroix ran into financial dire straights last year. The brand still holds power within the fashion industry and is still synonymous with luxury fashion. In 2007, the Christian Lacroix brand made a smart move when it collaborated with Avon for the affordable luxury fragrance of Christian Lacroix Rouge. Two more fragrances from the luxury fashion brand came later, Christian Lacroix Noir and most recently Absynthe.

Even after the demise of the fashion house, the Christian Lacroix brand is able to make a slow recovery through its Avon venture. Budget fashionistas are able to sample the luxury of the Christian Lacroix brand at budget friendly Avon prices. Absynthe, which is still featured in current Avon campaigns in the United States, is regularly priced at $32.00 for a 1.7 fluid ounce bottle.

Emanuel Ungaro Strengthened its Brand with Avon

Emanuel Ungaro has gone through a tumultuous time since its founder and namesake left the helms in 2004. Most of the hard times came from poor choices in selecting head designers, with the most disastrous being Lindsay Lohan's brief reign in 2009. However, the luxury brand still held on through licensing partnerships, which included one with Avon.

U by Ungaro was created to be sold at Avon and is a popular fragrance amongst customers. The fragrance brought the Ungaro brand into the consciousness of more budget-minded customers. The growing fan base of this customer set, paired with the recent smart choice of choosing Giles Deacon to head the luxury brand, may bring the fashion house back to its old standard.

Introducing Hervé Léger for Avon

The newest luxury label to work with Avon is the Parisian fashion house of Hervé Léger. Max Azria, the head of Hervé Léger, brings the über sensuality of the brand to the masses via this partnership with Avon. The Hervé Léger Femme and Hervé Léger Homme fragrances debut in October for $34.00 and $32.00 respectively.

I have had the privilege to sample both fragrances and they are sexiness in a bottle. However, Max Azria said it best in the Avon What's New book, "These fragrances capture the iconic style of Hervé Léger, which evokes the very essence of sensuality." The only thing saving my budget from splurging on a Hervé Léger dress after wearing this perfume is that they do not come in my size. This fragrance does make a woman feel bold, confident and sexy enough to wear one of Leger's iconic bondage dresses.

These luxury design labels have increased their brand recognition with offering designer fragrances to the mass market via Avon. Avon has introduced Ungaro and Lacroix to most of America and Hervé Léger 's brand will now be recognizable to Avon clientele as well. Smart moves such as these by luxury brands help to preserve brand identity even when the clothes are not selling. Many people cannot afford these designers' clothing, but their brand is made affordable to them via fragrances sold through Avon.

Sources:

Avon and Christian Lacroix Introduce Signature Fragrances - http://www.emaxhealth.com/118/12258.html

Avon's Prestige Fragrance Counter - http://www.Avoncompany.com/brands/fragrance.html

May Sweeps for the Fashion World - http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/5442664/may_sweeps_for_the_fashion_world.html