Beyond The Headlines: Sephora and Zalando wind down partnership, Chanel opens Lucky Chance Diner concept for perfume launch

08 Sep 2023 --- This week in industry news, Sephora and Zalando announced they are closing their partnership. Beiersdorf appointed OMD as its single media agency for Europe and North America. Meanwhile, Chanel opened the doors to its diner-themed pop-up to advertise its latest perfume launch, Chance Eau Fraîche.

New product launches
For the first time, soap brand Lush introduced two reusable advent calendars, The Lush Advent Calendar and the Christmas Buds Advent Calendar. Featuring a selected range of 25 vegan products for the lead up to Christmas, this year’s Lush Advent Calendar is packaged in a limited edition box and features “retro” and exclusive products, which are not available to purchase anywhere else. The box was designed by Andre Williams from Intoart, a London, England, based studio for people with learning disabilities. Andre’s Advent Calendar design also features the word “celebrate” in 23 different languages including English. Lush classics are featured, as well as festive exclusives and returning “retro favorites” such as Chocolate Santa Bath Bomb, Snow Angel Bath Melt and Snowman Bubbleroon. Meanwhile, Lush’s Christmas Buds Advent Calendar features an array of bath bombs shaped like characters in the stylings of Snow Dragon, Groovy Fairy, Butterbear, Snow Angel, Sleepy Bear, Penguin, Raindeer and Magic Santa.

Lush unveiled two reusable advent calendars (Image credit: Lush).Medical aesthetic skin care brand SkinCeuticals launched its national Treatment Tour. Kicking off during New York Fashion Week, in the US, the SkinCeuticals Treatment Tour aims to spread awareness on the importance of pairing treatments and skin care for optimal results and offers an opportunity for consumers to experience 1:1 access to top medical professionals. From September eightto ten, the SkinCeuticals Treatment Truck will be in New York City,, marking the start of a year-long national tour that will reach various top-cities across the country. Attendees will receive skin consultations, complimentary treatments administered by professionals, and learn about the best treatment and skin care pairings. Guests will also receive a US$50 treatment credit for participating SkinCeuticals SkinLab or flagship locations, SkinCeuticals branded items, along with a sample of C E Ferulic, paired with H.A. Intensifier or Phyto Corrective Masque.

Business activities
Sephora and e-retail platform Zalando are winding down their partnership, which launched two years ago in Germany and Italy. A statement by Zalando states that the company believes its “full potential in beauty is best realized outside of the current partnership.” While drawing the partnership to a close in the next few months, Zalando says it will focus on direct partnerships with beauty brands in Germany and Italy, “in line with the model we continue to have in the rest of our beauty markets”

In the first half of this fiscal year, Symrise reported a sales increase of 6.8% to €2,414 million (US$2,589 million) compared to the same period last year. EBITDA amounted to €446 million (US$477 million). The Fragrance division increased its sales organically by a single-digit percentage in the first half of 2023. Meanwhile, the Fine Fragrances business unit hit a double-digit percentage in organic growth, particularly driven by the EAME and Latin America regions. The business unit Consumer Fragrance achieved single-digit percentage growth, discloses the fragrance house. Like in Fine Fragrances, the EAME and Latin America regions recorded strong growth. Sales in the Oral Care business unit in the first half of the year matched the previous year’s level. In the first half of 2023, sales growth in the Aroma Molecules division was impacted especially by a difficult market environment and the production shutdown at Colonel Island, Georgia, US. Moreover, demand for fragrance ingredients and menthol was adversely affected by customer destocking. Overall, volumes were significantly down compared to previous year. Sales in the Cosmetic Ingredients division continued to develop well in the first six months of the current year, with organic growth again in the double-digit percentage range. The EAME, Asia/Pacific and Latin America regions increased sales significantly. Sun Protection products and Micro Protection recorded the strongest growth.

Brand engagement
Chanel launched a pop-up concept called the “Lucky Chance Diner” in Brooklyn, New York, US. This American-style diner will sport a nostalgic ambiance with retro decor and an array of Chanel-themed treats, all color-coded to match the brand’s classic style. Without serving any food dishes, Chanel is using this pop-up as an opportunity to introduce its latest fragrance, Chance Eau Fraîche, crafted by their in-house perfumer Olivier Pole. This stylish diner will be open to the public for a limited time from September eight to ten. Visitors to the Chanel diner are invited to embark on a “personalized scent discovery” journey to explore the new fragrance, completely free of charge. The space is adorned in pink and green hues, adorned with Chanel’s iconic round perfume bottles gracing every surface. Matching dining booths, countertop seating, napkin holders, clocks and various items featuring the Chanel logo add to the thematic experience. Chanel has also set up interactive activities in a back room of the diner, offering patrons opportunities like taking selfies with a life-sized bottle of Chance perfume, enjoying “diner-inspired treats,” and a fragrance window to purchase Chanel perfumes.

Chanel opened the doors to its Lucky Chance Diner, coinciding with its latest perfume debut (Image credit: Chanel).Cloud gaming software company Ubitus K.K. teamed up with L’Oréal Dermatological Beauty Division to launch Perfect Skin Expo, a metaverse showroom, running from August 30 to September 30 in Taiwan. The virtual showroom is exhibiting and offering products from L’Oréal Dermatological Beauty Division, which brings together La Roche-Posay, CeraVe, Vichy and SkinCeuticals, each catering to specific beauty purposes. La Roche-Posay is known for soothing sensitive skin, CeraVe specializes in restoring and maintaining the skin barrier, while Vichy targets skin health in anti-aging and SkinCeuticals specializes in antioxidants. Each showroom has a unique and vivid design theme that matches the respective brand’s image. Customers can navigate to each showroom, explore products of interest and make purchases through links to Taiwan’s main e-Commerce platforms, momo and Shopee.

Corporate announcements
Evonik received the Ringier Technology Innovation Award for Personal Care 2023 for its newly launched ceramide Sphinox Immulance, which protects the skin by balancing its immune barrier. This is the fifth consecutive year that the Care Solutions business at Evonik has been recognized. Sphinox Immulance is a unique ceramide based on uneven fatty acid side chains that are known for its various health benefits as a food supplement. With this new product, Evonik is the “first to explore” ceramides with odd-numbered fatty acids and their cosmetic benefits. In combination with phytosphingosine as a base, Sphinox Immulance boosts the skin’s antimicrobial defense mechanisms by induction of antimicrobial peptides, strengthens the skin’s immune barrier and soothes sensitive skin. Evonik highlights that ceramides are an integral part of many systems solutions in the cosmetics industry. 

Aline Robert-Hazotte, a researcher at Shiseido Europe Innovation Center, won the top award for the Podium Presentation Basic Research category, and Ryushi Fukuhara, a researcher at the Shiseido MIRAI Technology Institute, won the top award for the Podium Presentation Applied Research category, at the 33rd IFSCC Congress 2023 Barcelona, the world’s largest research conference for cosmetics technology. It was held in Barcelona, Spain, from September 4 to 7, 2023. Among a total of 449 research presentation papers (76 Podium Presentation papers and 373 Poster Presentation papers), their research presentations were chosen to receive the top awards, resulting in Shiseido achieving a total of 31 awards (of which 27 are top awards) including those received at the “IFSCC Congress” held every other year and those from the “IFSCC Conference,” which is held in the year between the biennial Congress.

Beiersdorf appointed OMD as its single media agency for Europe and North America and as the partner for global media strategy consultancy. The new agency and the new media operating model will “lead to a more efficient setup, and put digital expertise, data and technology at the core,” according to the beauty giant. Some parts of the media work will be bundled in hubs and lay the foundation for increased speed, transparency and automation. OMD Worldwide is one of the world’s largest media agencies. It is part of the Omnicom Group, headquartered in New York, US, and has already been working with Beiersdorf in several markets across the world. The new mandate for OMD provides a framework for all Beiersdorf brands.

By Benjamin Ferrer