Build Slow for the Long Haul, with Commodity’s Vicken Arslanian

The story begins with a text message. While sitting at the beach, Vicken hears that Commodity has shut down and is looking for a new owner. It’s 2019, and by then, the company had made its mark on the industry as the first direct-to-consumer fragrance brand. Launching with a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign in 2013, it more than doubled its goal, became Sephora’s rising star, and just as quickly as it grew, Commodity found its future hanging in the balance. Vicken decides to buy the brand, and with decades of experience as a fragrance distributor, turns it around.In this episode, he sits down with Benny Campa, who runs product design at Scentbird. He explores how the art of perfumery can be more intuitive – an innovative idea inspired by skin scents – and why he doesn’t believe in what he calls the “Oprah effect.”Highlights:Leading Europerfumes and representing 20+ artisanal brands as a distributorFirst becoming aware of Commodity (and why Vicken felt a bit envious)The text message, while at the beach, that leads Vicken to buy CommodityA look into the world of a fragrance distributorThe first thing Vicken did after taking over the brandThe tipping point for fragrance brands and what led to Commodity’s declineLosing $1.5M and failing with his first fragrance brand in the late 90sWhy selling a fragrance feels like a Las Vegas experienceWhat Vicken cared about the most when rebooting CommodityThe story behind Scent Space, a first in the fragrance industryRethinking traditional terms like “Eau de Toilette” or “Eau de Parfum”Giving consumers choice in their scent projection: Personal, Expressive, BoldHow Commodity formulates different versions of each fragranceScent Spotlight: Paper, Milk, and BookAll Commodity fragrances combine two or more opposing notesThe fragrance that smells like toasted marshmallowsScent Connection: Life Moments EditionWhy Vicken believes in building slowly vs. quicklyFeatured Fragrances:Paper- Personal by CommodityPaper+ Bold by CommodityMilk- Personal by CommodityMilk Expressive by CommodityMilk+ Bold by CommodityBook- Personal by CommodityBook Expressive by CommodityBook+ Bold by CommoditySoak in all of our audio and video content at https://podcast.scentbird.com.