Coty Inc. and Katy Perry officially announced today (Nov. 28) plans to produce and distribute Perry's fragrance line, which includes previous scents Purr and Meow. The news of the acquisition was first reported by Billboard in the Oct. 20 issue.
Speaking with Billboard for a Woman of the Year cover story that will hit subscribers Friday, Perry said, "Coty has become my partner" in her fragrance line and that "we are working on the next fragrance, which is almost finished." As for timing, Perry says the next product will hit some time in 2013. "Everything is like a year off. It's not because we need the year. It just takes that much time."
"We are thrilled to have an artist as creative and talented as Katy Perry join us at Coty," Renato Semerari, president of Coty Beauty, said in a statement. "Katy is original and daring-her unique approach to music and life will serve as the inspiration behind her innovative new scents and allow us to explore new avenues of scent creation."
Celebrity brands have become quite a boon for the fragrance industry, accounting for $140 million of the $2.9 billion in U.S. prestige sales from October 2011 to September 2012, a 32% year-over-year increase, according to NPD Group. Leading the category were Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber, whose Wonderstruck and Someday fragrances were, respectively, among the top overall prestige fragrance brands during the time period. (Someday was No. 18 and Wonderstruck No. 25 in terms of overall dollars sold.)
"It's a celebrity party," NPD Group VP/senior global industry analyst Karen Grant told Billboard in October. "The recent influx of new products is fueling prestige celebrity sales. Both Someday and Wonderstruck were launched in the second half of 2011 so they have had a wonderful ride in 2012 without any major [competitors]."
The precedent is high for celebrity fragrances to be a highly lucrative piece of an artist's earnings portfolio, particularly with Coty. The company shattered records in September when its Lady Gaga fragrance became the second fastest-selling fragrance in history, next to Coco Chanel, with the venture estimated to net Gaga a reported $15 million during the next three to five years. Other musicians with big Coty fragrance lines include Beyonce, Celine Dion and Jennifer Lopez, the latter of whom has seen her 18-plus fragrances yield over $2 billion in product sales since the debut of Glow in 2002.
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Fragrance / beauty post?