Andy Tauer has come a long way since he released his first perfumes, Le Maroc Pour Elle and L’Air du Desert Marocain, to the public in 2005. Not counting special editions and limited releases, he now has twelve fragrances to his name, with Carillon Pour un Ange seeing a recent pre-release, plus Une Rose Vermeille and L’Eau D’Epices (a scent he’s been working on for the past four years) due to hit retail by the end of 2010, so, okay . . . that makes twelve.
But it’s not like a perfumer ever stops creating, and much like the “publish or perish” mantra in the world of academia, it can be “launch or perish” in the world of the DIY perfumer. Yet continuous inspiration and creation (the hallmarks of a vibrant artist) can sometimes lead to a bloated product lineup that becomes difficult for consumers to navigate, not to mention the burden on the mom-and-pop type shops that carry these brands.
“I want my retail partners to be happy,” Tauer said, when I asked him about how shop owners deal with an ever expanding perfume range. “So I’m flexible. I don’t require minimum orders, and in situations where my entire range would be too heavy an investment, we decide together on the fragrances that might sell best for them.”
He sees this as an advantage of being his own producer and distributor — developing retail partnerships rather than just handing off his product to a bevy of anonymous resellers. Tauer mentioned that larger, commercial distribution entities work differently, imposing minimum order requirements and multiple brand packages, forcing small shops to carry brands W, X and Y if they want brand Z, thereby stacking the shelves with their own products and leaving little room (and little budget) for the competition, which is often why you don’t see DIY brands in any of your local stores.
“The price and growth calculations of these distribution companies don’t fit with artisanal brands, and this translates into retail uniformity and consumer boredom,” stated Tauer, “especially on the ‘niche’ level, where consumers are actively seeking out something new and different.”
Andy’s new blue glass bottle
But this is where the rise of the blogging phenomenon has been invaluable to a one-man, small brand, DIY outfit like Tauer Perfumes. “Andy is a pure product of the blog culture, which he’s leveraged to perfection,” said industry writer Denyse Beaulieu when I asked her what she thought of the intense loyalty of his customers. “It also doesn’t hurt that he was annointed by the emperor,” she added, referring to Luca Turin‘s favorable coverage of Andy’s work that launched the Tauer name with a thousand keystrokes.
And with more and more people turning to the Internet for straight-talk on consumer products, from shoes to cars to cosmetics and perfume, the blog culture can make or break a struggling young brand. Fortunately for Andy, his engagement with the fragrance blogging crowd came early on, before hedge-fund money started pouring in and niche-perfumery became the investment flavor of the week.
“When it comes to my marketing,” he explained, “I stick to word of mouth, providing new product for blogs to give away to their readers, visiting the shops that carry my brand, mingling with perfume lovers and organizing events.”
He also spends a good portion of each week responding directly to commenters on his own blog, doling out bits of information regarding new ideas he’s working on, or new materials he’s discovered. This has created a sense of community with his customers and readers, which Tauer finds more important (and a lot more effective) than advertising with traditional media outlets.
In the WWD article “The Rise of the Blogger“, Neil Weilheimer writes: “Industry players said blogs have gained clout and relevance because they can post information about a company or show its product much faster than traditional media . . . The blogs also serve as marketing tools that can go beyond conventional advertising, allowing brands to connect more closely with customers.”
And for a small artisan outfit without wide distribution and pretty much a non-existent marketing budget, connecting closely with customers is the lifeblood of a company. But another form of successful brand promotion can be partnering and/or collaborating with other brands, so I asked Andy if he’d ever been approached to create a scent for another company, or if he had any interest in collaborating with other perfumers on a limited edition project.
“I would never create a scent for a hotel chain or a fashion brand,” he said, possibly referring to projects like the fragrance range created by Olivia Giacobetti for the Costes Hotel or Caroline Sabas’ work for the Josie Natori lingerie line, “but I am in constant exchange with other perfumers and artists, and I’m quite confident that one day there will be some type of joint, scented project.”
A new 2010 release, Carillon Pour un Ange
He even suggested that an all-natural Tauer perfume is on the agenda for 2012, but for now, we have his ten going on twelve solo creations, the latest of which is Carillon Pour un Ange, a Lily of the Valley fragrance likely inspired by Andy’s reverence for the great master perfumer, Edmond Roudnitska.
In a short “time travel” Scent Treks piece for Basenotes.net from 2008, Andy had this to say: “I would be delighted to travel to the 1950′s. There is one reason to travel back then: It is Edmond Roudnitska . . . I would travel back in time, end of April, early May, when the lily of the valley in his garden were blooming and where I imagine meeting this genius. ‘Bonjour Monsieur,’ I would say, and would … sniff with him the lily of the valley, growing in his garden . . . after the second glass of champagne, I would be brave enough, begging him to let me know more about the base that he used to fix the lily of valley” (into one of Roudnitska’s most famous creations, the Diorissimo of 1956).
So now it’s 2010, and Andy has taken the opportunity to pay his homage to Roudnitska’s garden with Carillon Pour un Ange, which Tauer himself describes as “green, silvery, opulent and elegant.” And true to Andy’s blog-loving, small-brand customer engaging nature, he and Lucky Scent have provided mini 15ml pre-release bottles (the larger bottle will be available later this year) of Carillon Pour un Ange for two of my readers.
So anyone signed up to my mailing list by the end of Friday, August 27th, will be entered into the draw, which will also include samples of all-natural perfumer Mandy Aftel’s Fig and Trevert EDP’s.
*NOTE : I asked Andy what he thought of discontinuing fragrances that aren’t selling so well to make room for new releases in his range, but he quickly assured me that that isn’t part of the Tauer Perfumes plan. “Every fragrance in my line has a very passionate fanbase that would be disappointed if they couldn’t purchase it anymore, so if I felt my product range was getting unwieldy or that a perfume was no longer suitable for large-scale sales, I’d rather introduce a separate sub-line within the brand,” he said. “Maybe they’d become seasonal offerings, or recurring limited editions, but I’d make them somewhat rare and hard to get rather than extinct.” So all you Tauer Perfume fans can breathe a little easier now — none of your favorites are going away.
*UPDATE (09/01/10): The drawing for the Tauer/Aftel giveaway is now finished. Congrats to Brooke and Nancy!
