HAPPI - August 2014

Major Products: Oral care—AquaFresh, Biotene, Dr. Best, Macleans, Odol and Sensodyne. Denture care—Polident, Poligrip and Corega.

Comments: GSK’s story in 2013 is nearly identical to what it re-
ported in 2012. Oral care sale rose 6% last year driven by strong
consumer demand for Sensodyne toothpaste for Sensitivity and
Acid Erosion, which was up 15%, and sales of denture care brands,
which increased 9%. However, sales of Aquafresh fell 12%.
Back in 2012, oral care sales were up 5%, driven by a double-
digit gain for Sensodyne Sensitivity and Acid Erosion. Aquafresh
sales fell back in 2012, too. But the drop was a more modest 2%.
For the first quarter of 2014, oral care sales increased 5% to
$756 million. Sales of Sensodyne increased 13% and denture
care sales rose 5% to more than offset a 14% decline in sales of
Aquafresh, which the company blamed on now-resolved supply
issues.

15.CHANEL FRANCE
WWW.CHANEL.COM
SALES: $2.4 BILLION

Key Personnel: Alain Wertheimer, co-owner and chairman; Gerard Wertheimer, co-owner; Maureen Chiquet, chief executive officer.

Major Products: Fragrances—Chanel No. 5, Allure, Allure Homme, Coco, Coco Mademoiselle, Chance, No. 19, Cristalle, Pour Monsieur, Antaeus, Egoïste, Les Exclusifs, Bleu de Chanel. Skin care—Sublimage, Ultra Correction Lift and Line Repair, Hydramax + Active, White Essentiel, Le Blanc, Hydra-Beauty. Color cosmetics—Rouge Allure, Rouge Coco, Le Vernis, Inimitable, Inimitable Intense, Les 4 Ombres, Vitalumière, Joues Contrastes.

New Products: Reflections of Summer color cosmetics collection.

Comments: The term iconic gets tossed around a lot these days—iconic automobiles, iconic design—heck, there’s even an iconic bag of potato chips (that would be Terra Chips, apparently). But when it comes to brands, Chanel really is, well, iconic; in part, because the brand has been around for nearly 100 years and, in part, because the company keeps itself exclusive, aspirational and yes, limited.

In an interview with Yale, her alma mater, CEO Maureen Chiquet noted when it comes to luxury brands in general and for Chanel in particular, less is more.

“In luxury, sometimes you are trying to sell less so you don’t
vandalize the product,” she explained.“The bottom line is on the
quality and beauty of the image and the designs we have and
customer service. Do that and the profit will come.”
Slow and steady wins the race and the hearts of luxury con-
sumers, too.

“At Chanel we have a lot of stable products like No. 5 and the
handbag,” Chiquet pointed out. “It’s not always churn and burn.
We have a stable product that we want to maintain.”
“We are the ultimate house of luxury; defining style and cre-
ating desire now and forever. That vision is the same in the US,
France, China or Japan,”insisted Chiquet.

Of course, there are differences among consumers especially when it comes to beauty. As a result, Chanel adapts products such as skin care and color cosmetics, to meet the unique needs of consumers who have different skin types or different skin tones.