Many of our readers are likely to be familiar with Ghandor cosmetics, as they’ve provided skin and hair care products in West Africa for the past twenty years. With over 600 people at its head office in Accra, Ghana, Ghandour also has operations in another 14 African countries – including Mali, Togo, Burkina Faso and The Gambia. At Africa Fashion, we love a new product launch and we’re really excited to see if Ghandor has achieved its goal of ‘capturing the spirit of the continent’ with the Scent of Africa.
Everyone who loves fragrances, will know it’s too tempting to get hooked on a new scent, especially when your strolling through the ground floor a department store, trying not to make eye contact with the perfume assistant. But it’s too late if they catch you with their tester bottle, it’s good, you fall in love and walk around with that scent for the rest of your day.
Often, an impulse buy can turn into a favourite fragrance – especially when it becomes intimately interwoven with happy experiences in your life. One whiff brings back memories, evokes feelings and becomes a powerful trigger.
On 14th November 2015, Ghandour Cosmetics is set to launch the Scent of Africa, which the company describes as ‘Africa’s first luxury fragrance’. Scent of Africa was conceived in Ghana, produced in France and will be released first to high end West African retailers. That will be followed up with launches in other African countries, Europe and North America – as well as international Duty Free shops.
” Scent of Africa is very different from anything we have produced before at Ghandour. We wanted to introduce to the world a product that is truly reflective of the richness and splendour of Africa. Everything from the packaging to the branding and advertising of this product will disrupt notions of what it means to be an African brand,” said Tanal Ghandour, the Founder and Managing Director of Ghandour Cosmetics.
A recent market studies report indicated that Africa has the world’s second fastest growth rate for luxury retail sales – expected to exceed $5 billion in 2019.
“Of course there is always a high demand for Western luxury goods, but we have begun to notice a growing trend for African luxury consumers looking to buy local brands and products made with the same high standards and quality that they find abroad. Our goal with the new fragrance is to reverse that trend, by making a product in Africa for Africans that is coveted around the world!’’, added Ghandour.
Scent of Africa and its celebrity brand ambassadors will be unveiled at an exclusive event in Accra, Ghana on 14th November 2015.
Ghandour’s launch provoked a lively conversation here at Africa Fashion.
While exploring Ghandour and its brand, our attention was drawn to its various marketing platforms and assets. While there’s no doubt that the web site could do with a sleek update, we loved the beautiful black models on all the company’s packaging – which is still quite a novelty in the west. We all know this shouldn’t be the case, so we’re hoping that brands like Ghandour will help provoke a positive reaction in western marketing companies. The value of the ‘African spend’ in the UK alone has increase 10x over the past 10 years – and it’s high time brands woke up to the benefits of positively marketing their products toward the ‘black pound’.
Another thing we loved was watching Ghandour’s previous advertising on YouTube. This one in particular brought a smile to my face: The age old story of an African prince searching for his future queen. It really brought back happy memories of watching ‘Coming to America’ as a teen! I’m including it here for some afternoon cheer.
Ladies, if only it were so simple as using Princess Coca butter to deliver a suave man with good qualities that penetrate more than skin deep, encouraging you to treat him like a prince. Yes, I would order a pot now! In the meantime, here’s a link to a competition that Ghandour are running, where the lucky winner will ‘Live the African Dream’.
How would you describe the scent of Africa? Let us know over on Facebook.
