Womanity Mosaic screenshot | Source: Clarins Fragrance Group

PARIS, France — Last week, Thierry Mugler and Clarins Fragrance Group launched a major campaign under the banner “Womanity.” They have also registered the “Womanity” trademark in a number of product categories. There’s just one thing missing: there’s no product. At least, not yet.

At the center of the initiative is womanity.com, a content site “powered by Thierry Mugler” and deployed in collaboration with Microsoft’s MSN, who is handling online media and editorial strategy. The site features an interactive “mosaic” of tiles, each containing an article, video or other piece of content designed to inspire women, respond to their current mood — and importantly, invite them to share their thoughts on femininity and what it means to be a woman today. Indeed, throughout the site, users are prompted to add their own text, images or videos to the mosaic, in response to the omnipresent question: “What does womanity mean to you?”

Clarins describes the site as a “creative commons for expression and exchange.” But it’s also a massively multi-player focus group for gathering insights and ideas that will no doubt help drive the development of the Womanity brand and Womanity products yet to come. In luxury fragrance, a category that traditionally elevates the status of the “creator” and employs top-down, command and control style marketing, this represents a remarkable shift in thinking. BoF recently had a sneak preview of the site in the brand’s Paris offices, and afterwards, caught up by e-mail with Joel Palix, President of Clarins Fragrance Group, to find out more.

… Continue Reading