Misty Copeland, Part Deux

[Drew]

1 hour ago, Tapfan said:

   

Sorry, double post.

 

 

Some things need to be said more than once.

[abatt]

Misty has signed on with Estee Lauder, and is their new spokeswoman for the fragrance Modern Muse.  (Kendall Jenner was their former Modern Muse spokesmodel.)

 

http://www.elle.com/beauty/makeup-skin-care/news/a47049/misty-copeland-estee-lauder-modern-muse/

[Helene]

Good for her!

[Pique Arabesque]

11 hours ago, abatt said:

Misty has signed on with Estee Lauder, and is their new spokeswoman for the fragrance Modern Muse.  (Kendall Jenner was their former Modern Muse spokesmodel.)

 

http://www.elle.com/beauty/makeup-skin-care/news/a47049/misty-copeland-estee-lauder-modern-muse/

 

Wonderful! This is such a good opportunity for her. She is an underrated lyric/dramatic talent, and its very obvious that her story resonates with many people. A shame that her success seems to get under some people's skin - seems to say more about her critics than her. There is room for more than one successful ballerina at ABT.

[abatt]

I'm not really sure of the age bracket of her primary fan base.   It's pretty unusual to have the same person conquer the Barbie doll market and the children's book market, and at the same time have influence over the demographic for the Estee Lauder fragrance market. My impression is that the bulk of her fan base is young kids and teenagers.  Is that the market that would go out and buy Modern Muse fragrance?  I guess time will tell.

Edited August 1, 2017 by abatt

[Helene]

Most of our criticism says as much or more about us than our subjects.  People can dislike Copeland's dancing for many reasons.  People can dislike any dancer's dancing for many reasons.  And they do.

 

I haven't read that Copeland's new audiences are all children, and when she spoke in Seattle, adults far outnumbered people in their teens and younger.  Copeland has many fans and adnirers, not all ballet fans,  that are prime targets for the perfume ads, and if teenagers want to emulate her, I'm guessing the perfume will smell better than the fiid-smell bombs targeted to girls and teenagers.

[abatt]

Based on what I've seen of the folks who come to her performances, and at the stage door after one of Misty's performances, a substantial amount of teens and kids comprise her fan base.  In the past, she has marketed herself, in part, as a role model, for kids and young adults.  The target audience for this perfume is women in their 20s and up.

 

PS:  The reason most of the perfumes targeted at teens smell bad is because they are cheap.  Marketers know that teens earn little or no income, and don't have money for fancy perfume.

 

More power to her.  I hope it works it out well for her and Estee Lauder.

[Helene]

It's not just money: there's also a hormonal aspect to what smells are pleasing, as most women who've been pregnant have experienced.  I've already seen Purl Soho tout Christmas ornament kits, and Ravelry is full of ornament and holiday sweater patterns.  I wouldn't be surprised if Copeland's younger fans found Modern Muse among their holiday gifts. 

[dirac]

The whole premise of the cosmetics industry is that women must work to look good/look younger/smell good, women's bodies in a more natural state being suspiciously hairy, smelly objects, and the products they are selling will solve those issues for you. Good to know these principles are being fed to girls at a properly impressionable age.

 

Copeland is the first ballet dancer to get an endorsement deal with Lauder, so this is a pretty big deal. I think the last time a ballet dancer was able to cash in like this was back in the day when Misha was flogging clothes and perfume.

 

The whole endorsement business is a racket, but that's capitalism, and if movie stars, athletes, and Jenners/Kardashians can get in on it, ballet dancers, whose livelihoods are as uncertain as an athlete's and poorly paid, certainly should be able to do so.

[lmspear]

Throwback to last year.

 

http://courtney-lavine-avons-new-fragrance-2412905089.amp.html

 

There might be potential for a thread on ballet and perfume/cosmetics/fashion.  

[abatt]

A bit off topic, but Hallberg is now a Tiffany spokesperson.  He seems to be ramping up his endorsements, trying to cash in while he still can.  His relationship as a dancer at the Bolshoi seems to have come to an end.

[Helene]

Good for Hallberg, too!

[volcanohunter]

3 hours ago, dirac said:

The whole premise of the cosmetics industry is that women must work to look good/look younger/smell good, women's bodies in a more natural state being suspiciously hairy, smelly objects, and the products they are selling will solve those issues for you. Good to know these principles are being fed to girls at a properly impressionable age.

 

And that they're being taught to waste their money, designer fragrances being among the most overpriced products on earth. I've read varying estimates over the years, but the cost of the actual liquid in the bottle is only 1-3% of the pricetag. Now that's a racket.

 

Not to mention that by wearing the stuff at the opera house you'll make lots of fellow ballet patrons miserable, and not just those with allergies.

 

(Diamonds are also spectacularly overpriced. Really massive stones are rare. Half-carat and one-carat stones are not.)

[abatt]

Some might say that ballet tickets are also overpriced and a waste of money.  IN fact, I know a number of people who would happily spend a lot of money on a bottle of perfume, but would never spend a dime to go to the ballet. To each his own.

Edited August 1, 2017 by abatt

[volcanohunter]

29 minutes ago, abatt said:

Some might say that ballet tickets are also overpriced and a waste of money. 

 

Objectively they're not overpriced. Doesn't nearly every ballet fundraising pitch seem to start with a line about what percentage of performance costs are covered by ticket sales, followed by handy pie charts about the company's income sources, in which ticket sales make up a conspicuously small slice? Ballet performances are not profitable. The perfume industry is outrageously profitable. I'm merely pointing out that designer fragrances and diamonds are among the greatest marketing scams of our time.

[Stecyk]

14 minutes ago, volcanohunter said:

 

Objectively they're not overpriced. Doesn't nearly every ballet fundraising pitch seem to start with a line about what percentage of performance costs are covered by ticket sales, followed by handy pie charts about the company's income sources, in which ticket sales make up a conspicuously small slice? Ballet performances are not profitable. The perfume industry is outrageously profitable. I'm merely pointing out that designer fragrances and diamonds are among the greatest marketing scams of our time.

 

For many people, even if ballet performances were free to attend, they would be overpriced, regardless of their actual cost of production. Cost of production is irrelevant to value.

Which fragrance companies are earning excessive rates of return? If it is so outrageously profitable, then why isn't every company engaged in producing fragrances? Are new companies being formed right, left, and center to capture all these easy profits?

 

[Helene]

The business is much more complex than creating a scrappy start-up: ask all of the tech companies smothered by Apple, Microsoft, Google, amazon, etc.  Distribution, shelf space, the huge cost of advertising, the clout of major companies all are huge barriers to entry.

[Stecyk]

1 minute ago, Helene said:

The business is much more complex than creating a scrappy start-up: ask all of the tech companies smothered by Apple, Microsoft, Google, amazon, etc.  Distribution, shelf space, the huge cost of advertising, the clout of major companies all are huge barriers to entry.

 

Well said, Helene. All these things cost money. One can look at pharmaceuticals too. The actual drug itself might be inexpensive. But that doesn't account for all the costs incurred to develop the drug. If you look at publicly traded companies, very few earn outrageous rates of return. When they do, they attract competition, which then destroys the excessive rate of return. The same applies to the fragrance industry. If excessive returns were being generated easily, venture capitalists would flock to the industry and new companies would be formed overnight. Scrappy companies happen all the time. And, it ain't happening. Consumer goods are notoriously difficult industries. 

[Stecyk]

6 hours ago, abatt said:

Based on what I've seen of the folks who come to her performances, and at the stage door after one of Misty's performances, a substantial amount of teens and kids comprise her fan base.  In the past, she has marketed herself, in part, as a role model, for kids and young adults.  The target audience for this perfume is women in their 20s and up.

 

PS:  The reason most of the perfumes targeted at teens smell bad is because they are cheap.  Marketers know that teens earn little or no income, and don't have money for fancy perfume.

 

More power to her.  I hope it works it out well for her and Estee Lauder.

 

Estée Lauder is a prestige brand. If you go to the Estée Lauder website and look at its fragrances, I think you'll agree that the price points are rich for "typical" poor teenagers. And, when we go to ballet performances, most attendees are not poor teenagers. Indeed, many appear to be reasonably affluent, the very market that EL is targeting. Companies tend to pick spokespeople who are young, attractive, and well-spoken. It helps when they possess a strong media presence. Those affluent ballet goers appreciate having young, attractive, well-spoken people market goods and services to them. 

 

 

[nanushka]

1 hour ago, volcanohunter said:

Not to mention that by wearing the stuff at the opera house you'll make lots of fellow ballet patrons miserable, and not just those with allergies.

 

I imagine some of Copeland's partners might be rather unhappy as well, if what she says here is indeed true:

 

Quote

How do you use fragrance now?
I over-use fragrance now. [Laughs] Usually when I put on fragrance, it’s before I step onto the stage. So I definitely have this strong connection to performing and being onstage with the scents that I wear. It kind of puts me in my zone and in the mood, and just feeling really beautiful, feminine and ready to perform.

 

[Helene]

Most people overuse fragrance because they become inured to the fragrance and keep adding on until they can smell it.  It's a bit like opiates in that respect.

 

Balanchine used to give his dancers perfume so he could smell who was coming and going, so there's a good tradition of dousing.  (I'd be sneezing a lot.)

[dirac]

12 minutes ago, Helene said:

Most people overuse fragrance because they become inured to the fragrance and keep adding on until they can smell it.  It's a bit like opiates in that respect.

 

Balanchine used to give his dancers perfume so he could smell who was coming and going, so there's a good tradition of dousing.  (I'd be sneezing a lot.)

 

His female dancers, I believe. At least, I don't recall any accounts of him making gifts of Old Spice or Canoe to Edward Villella or Peter Martins. Balanchine's morning class must have smelled....interesting.

 

Quote

One can look at pharmaceuticals too. The actual drug itself might be inexpensive. But that doesn't account for all the costs incurred to develop the drug.

 

Whole new can of worms here, Stecyk, but the two industries do resemble each other in that most of the company money is spent on advertising and marketing the product and not on actually making the product.........

[volcanohunter]

We aren't seriously comparing the process of developing medications with what goes on in the chem labs of cosmetics companies, are we?

 

I wouldn't care to take a guess at who the target audience of this perfume campaign is, but at the last ABT performance I attended in June I was seated in row G of the orchestra, so among some more affluent folk, and next to a couple of women of retirement age, who used smart phones and social media, and as they were flipping though their programs, one of them said, "Misty Copeland. That sounds familiar." Probably not the perfume's target audience. (They did know who Alessandra Ferri was.)

[Helene]

That's so true:  I don't think he cared what Villella or Clifford smelled like

 

Balanchine's morning class must have been like walking into the wrong entrance at Bloomingdale's back in the day and trying to avoid the spritzers when they spritzed first and asked forgiveness later.

[Stecyk]

26 minutes ago, dirac said:

Whole new can of worms here, Stecyk, but the two industries do resemble each other in that most of the company money is spent on advertising and marketing the product and not on actually making the product.........

 

Exactly!