Jo Malone and Jo Loves

This Christmas I was received Jo Malone's book My Story. The book was brilliant, very insightful into the development of two luxury brands. I own two Jo Malone London perfumes, firstly they smell wonderful, and of course I love the way it is packaged and presented, hopefully I will obtain a Jo Loves scent soon...

Jo Malone London was the first company founded and created by Jo Malone, she later sold it to Estee Lauder in 1999, Malone remained creative director until 2006 then parted ways with the company all together. For the last 20 years plus Jo Malone London has made a huge impression on the cosmetics industry. There is no doubt that the scents and products are unique, luxurious and game changers within the beauty world. This has been helped by the iconic, understated yet elegant style of branding and packaging; cream and black with a hint of gold, a simple design with classic type encased in double box, that has become instantly instantly recognisable. Despite imitations seen on candles, the Jo Malone London products stand out among the other cosmetics. For some reason I always save 'posh' paper gift bags, and obviously Jo Malone London bags with their scented tissue paper and grosgrain ribbon are no exception. In Malone's book she discusses when she and her husband or negotiating a concession in Bergdorf Goodman the importance of giving the customers the Jo Malone London bag in order to market and advertise the brand before the age of internet advertising over the Bergdorf Goodman bag which is apparently the only bag that concessions were allowed to give to customers.

Malone has changed how scents were named and marketed, so many perfumes have a fictional and perhaps irrelevant names to what they smell of, naturally for marketing purposes, with name such as Calvin Klein Euphoria, Chanel no.5 or Dior Poison... this blindness to the actual roots of the smell frustrated Malone because she liked to know what the actual scents were. So her first scent was called Mandarin, Lime and Basil, which of coursed contained notes of well you've guessed it - Mandarin, Lime and Basil. Now other cosmetic companies are following this unique naming example, such as Tom Ford's Black Orchid and Clarins Eau des Jardins. however on the whole cosmetic companies are still using the showy dramatic names such as Gucci Guilty, Prada Candy or Vera Wang Princess. Some would argue more catchy and simpler others like Malone would question what exactly does the scent contain?

Malone was on 'garden leave' or locked out of the industry by contract for 5 years after she parted ways from Estee Lauder (in the aftermath of battling an aggressive form of cancer). In her book she is honest and says how much regret she felt very quickly after leaving and decided again to launch another line. Some may naively think creating a new line after having a phenomenal success with Jo Malone London would be easy. It certainly isn't... Knowing to much much about a product or an industry can make you overly cautious and hesitant when making what would be simple decisions. Malone said it felt painful competing against her first established company. The packaging was hard to get right, firstly there was too much red and black she felt it was too harsh... She struggled to name her new brand, her son came up with the idea of Jo Loves around the dinner table. There is of course comparisons between Jo Loves and Jo Malone London. The Jo Loves branding is more contemporary and minimalist, it has style but I wouldn't say it is in any way, shape or form an imitation of the original Jo Malone London branding.

One of the things that always concerns me about a brand that has so much of a recognisable and consistent identity is how to keep up the momentum, how can the creators not allow it to go to sleep? There is of course an argument not change a successful formula and the danger of alienating the customer with changing the brand? Jo Malone London come up with a remedy for this by creating limited addition collections in addition to the usual lines.

Some of the bottles in the photo above are stunning, I quite like the 2 on the left with their bold graphic patterns. However the limited edition Red Roses Cologne, I would say is not consistent with the brand, it looks messy and unappealing to me... definitely more Saatchi Gallery than Jo Malone London. With regards to the four 'Rock the Ages' bottles on the right, I am undecided, half of me likes them, the other half of me thinks the detail around the lid is fussy and is a bit pointless, but on the other hand it catches your eye and looks fresh. What does Malone think of Jo Malone London now and the limited edition collections?

#JoMalone #JoLoves #Perfume #Branding #Luxury