'Skinn' in the game: Titan's perfume brand is aggressively wooing men

10% is the share India commands of the fragrance and flavour market globally

There are boys and there are men. Apart from other things that separate the two, perfume happens to be one of the most potent differentiators, at least for marketers and brands.  

Titan, the maker of perfume brand Skinn, has stepped on the advertising gas to push Skinn which was launched in 2013. Though Skinn is already the biggest perfume brand, in volume and value terms, across the departmental stores in India, the brand was plagued by lack of visibility. With its latest blitzkrieg on TV, though, Titan seems to be more than making up for that by grabbing eyeballs.

Titan, reckon brand experts, has invested disproportionately in the perfumes category as Skinn vies to dominate not only the niche high-end perfume market, but the massified deo segment as well. “Titan seems to have its skin in the game,” says brand strategist Harish Bijoor. The company, he adds, has done well in establishing advertising dominance and relatively premium themes for Skinn.

Given the fact that even deodorant makers such as Wildstone are getting into the perfume vertical, the category might be at an inflection point. “Deo is a poor man’s perfume,” says Bijoor. “There is a dog eat dog marketing play out here.” While the deo marketer aspires to eat the talcum powder market, the perfume market aspires to eat up the deo play.