MILAN — Valentino Beauty is looking to strengthen its attraction to Gen Zers with its latest product launch.
The brand is expanding its hit Born in Roma fragrance collection with the introduction of hair and body mists, tapping into a booming product category that is poised to further propel the franchise’s momentum, driven by younger generations.
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Launching Thursday in Europe and subsequently this month in the U.S., the mists aim to respond to consumers’ demand for scent layering, self-expression and an overall playful approach to fragrance by inviting younger customers to experience some of the Born in Roma signature ingredients in a new way.
The Caramel Crush hair & body mist by Valentino Beauty.
“We’re not launching a flanker, but a new category, which is very different,” said Claudia Marcocci, global president of Valentino Beauty at L’Oréal, which holds the Roman house’s fragrance and beauty license. “It’s no news that mists are becoming a new gesture thanks to new generations being so obsessed with perfume….And when you are market leader, as we are today in the U.S., one of the big objectives [is]: how do we keep recruiting?”
Marcocci pointed to a two-pronged strategy. “On one side, the key insight we have about Gen Zers, which are our main consumers when it comes to Born in Roma, is the fact that they are already layering fragrances, independently from us,” she said. “Mists are something that they used, it’s just that they didn’t have an offering coming from us. So first of all, there was really a market need. And the second was to create an even more opulent and unforgettable experience,” she added about the creation of four scents that could enhance the existing fragrances and be mixed and matched.
The Salty Pistachio hair & body mist by Valentino Beauty.
The collection includes four gourmand-inspired essences, dubbed Golden Coconut, Caramel Crush, Vanilla Bliss and Salty Pistachio. Even if the brand suggests some combinations to consumers — such as layering the Born in Roma Donna eau de parfum with the Vanilla Bliss mist — it also encourages experimentation across the collection, as “freedom is part of the authenticity,” as Marcocci put it.
“There is something joyful in creating your individual scent by layering in different ways…and this joyfulness fits perfectly with the universe of Born in Roma,” she continued. “For one, people are obsessed with our vanilla scent, so [we thought], ‘How do we make it stronger and last longer? How do we make it on the go?’”
She further elaborated on the opportunity of increasing consumers’ basket by addressing multiple occasions of usage, especially during the summer season. “You [might not carry] a fragrance in a beach bag, but a mist you can, because there’s less alcohol. But also it’s a matter of [spritzing it] in a different location, like the hair is very important,” she said about the new products, the portability of which is further encouraged by the lightweight design of its studded 100-ml bottles priced at 49 euros each.
The Vanilla Bliss hair & body mist by Valentino Beauty.
The sense of youthfulness embedded in the project is mirrored in the dedicated campaign themed Valentino Summer Fair, which comprises a pinball-inspired film and candy-hued visuals pairing mists with attractions such as duck fishing, balloon darts, tin can alley and claw machines.
The creative concept also will anchor retail experiences and activations the brand is planning in the U.S. and across Europe — from Paris, Berlin and Düsseldorf to Madrid and Lisbon — to promote the launch.
Golden Coconut by Valentino Beauty.
“Part of our success today is linked to the fact that we do things in a different way, but also in a very authentic one as a luxury brand. It’s always this tension between the haute couture and the street,” said Marcocci, highlighting the community-driven label’s popularity on social platforms such as TikTok, which she teased to be “the place of the mist for us.”
The brand will look to further unlock the power of content creation and social conversation with the launch, which will add to artistic collaborations that most recently saw Valentino Beauty partnering with New York-based painter, performer and drag artist Tabboo! for its colorful pop-up installed in Milan during design week last month.
The activation was centered on the “Born in Roma Purple Melancholia” fragrance duo, which built on the olfactory masterbrand introduced in 2019. According to Marcocci, Born in Roma has become the number-one franchise in the U.S. both in the women’s and men’s categories, in addition to reporting strong performances also in Spain and Latin America.
Caramel Crush by Valentino Beauty.
“We see there’s no difference in Gen Z consumers across markets, which is the first time probably that you see the same conversation in New York, Rome, Mexico City and Rio [de Janeiro]. They’re all about the same topics and they share very openly because this is the speed of communication today and how the trends go very fast, very viral and very global,” Marcocci said.
She underscored that Born in Roma “exploded in a moment when the fragrance talkers became so popular. It’s really a generational shift because only five years ago the average age for fragrance was much higher. To be so young [drawn to] a brand, especially a luxury brand, is quite phenomenal.”
Vanilla Bliss by Valentino Beauty.
Timing is the salt in the franchise’s secret sauce, but Marcocci mentioned a combination of different ingredients behind its momentum. These range from the quality of the juices and having tapped into some key accords like vanilla before they became popular among consumers to the catchy visuals linked to the scents, spanning from the bottles echoing the house codes to the campaigns.
“It was the first time that actually a mixed-race couple was put in advertising,” she said, recalling the images fronted by Adut Akech and Anwar Hadid unveiled in 2019.
“We created a cultural brand…it resonates not only from a generational point of view, but also from a cultural one,” said Marcocci, additionally pointing to events like the Studio 54 reboot that Valentino Beauty threw last fall to launch the Born in Roma Rendezvous Ivory Collection. Back then, Marcocci said the activation came at a time of growth for Valentino Beauty, which would be 15 times larger by sales volume than when L’Oréal first acquired the license in 2018.
Claudia Marcocci, global president Valentino Beauty at L’Oréal.
“I believe in 10 years from now we will say that Born in Roma is the fragrance of this period and this generation, [similarly to when] you think about the ‘80s and there are some mythical fragrances like [Mugler’s] Angel or [Yves Saint Laurent’s] Opium,” she concluded.
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