“How to stand out?” – the masters of controversial marketing answer the hottest question
The panel discussion on Esxence 2025: “How to position your brand for maximum attention from press, influencers, journalists and retailers?”
The question remains unanswered, as it should be, because there is no universal solution that fits every brand.
However, Etienne de Swardt (Etat Libre d’Orange) and Jun Lim (Borntostandout), the masters of controversial marketing, gave the most illuminating talks on standing out in a highly competitive and overcrowded perfume market.
Sarah Colton, the journalist and author of the book “Bad Girls Perfume Tips and Tales,” and Sebastijan Jarra, an influential perfume reviewer also known as “The Perfume Guy,” brought together the brand founders and creative directors: Andrea Valdo and Chiara Valdo (JUSBOX), Thomas de Monaco (Thomas de Monaco Parfums), Jun Lim (Borntostandout), Etienne de Swardt (Etat Libre d’Orange), and Francois Henin, the founder of Jovoy, the distributor.
In the measured 5-minute talk, each panellist gave their best to answer the question and provide their perspectives on standing out and long-term success.
However, Etienne de Swardt and Jun Lim, the masters of controversial marketing, gave the most illuminating talks on standing out in a highly competitive and overcrowded perfume market:
JUN LIM: – polarisation and the obsessive consistency
“Is everything screaming at you? Is it screaming more to stand out?”
I started out of nowhere, Seoul, Korea. Our industry is extremely competitive. You know, in 2020, we had a total number of 20,000 locally born brands.
Now, as of 2024, we have 35,000. But at the same time, the number of, or the value of the industry, the cosmetics industry is on a downturn, a constant downturn for the past couple of years, about minus 5% per annually, which means that we are fighting for the same pie, but more people are in it. So, how do we stand out?
And this is something that I still cannot solve. And this is probably the homework that every brand should solve for the duration of its lifetime. But I would simply put, as a young, small brand, two things are what I have been doing, and I would suggest that other brands do is first, polarisation.
And second is obsessive consistency. First, polarization, meaning do something that pisses off people, make people angry. Do you have some factors that can make a super fan or a super hater?
So, do you have that factor in the brand? And you can do this across practically the juice, its naming, the design, the package, and your communication. For instance, the juice can be something wild, and you can name it something obscene that may really make people angry, but at the same time, it can make people laugh and remember.
And you can; the way we present ourselves to stand out is through the stark contrast of white and red. And it’s the simplest way that I thought is a way to stand out. Our communication, as you saw on the right and left, we want you to be, well, we want you to remember.
And I certainly think that we’re very proud of what we do. And we have a lot of fans, I’m proud to say, but at the same time, we have a lot of haters. So do something that generates a lot of love and hate, and don’t try to be loved by everybody.
It’s okay to be hated. I always say to my marketing team, hate is a form of love. There’s no such thing as bad publicity. So do something crazy as a small, young brand.
The second thing is obsessive consistency. I always say: Are you coherent?
Every angle of everything that you communicate, whether it’s the design, the bottle, the package, your Instagram, your TikTok, or the bottles, or the juice, whatever it is, is it screaming? Is everything screaming at you? Is it screaming more to stand out?
So this is what we are always trying to do, because consistency means memorability. The more consistent you are, the more likely people are to remember. So, to summarise and to finish up my five minutes, you have to do something that is polarising, do something that people will hate, make critics furious, don’t try to be loved by everybody, and do it constantly, and you will stand out.
That’s it for me. Thank you.
ETIENNE DE SWARDT – from edginess to inclusiveness
“A brand is a long train with many wagons”
We created the brand, so I’m supposed to answer your question. So we created the brand in the art of narrative, at the beginning, because when you are not a perfumer, in fact, you create a brand in some kind of imposture. That’s very much the spirit of being into narrative and creating a perfume house.
That means that we belong to words over fashion. So we created a brand with, let’s say, strong narratives, such as Secrétion Magnifiques, Putain des Palaces, Hotel Slut, and then Jasmine & Cigarette. And it was thanks to the press and influencers that we are still alive.
So we bow to the strength of the journalist, because it keeps the momentum and it keeps you alive. But at the end, in 2015, we realised that it’s not enough. At the end, everything is a good balance.
A balance of goodwill, a balance of tangible things and intangible things. So, after that kind of very edgy, audacious perfume concept, we decided to blend a little bit with more poetry. So we created the Poetry of the Trash with I Am Trash.
And the idea was to give you a good balance between edginess and bowing, also to the merchants. So we cleaned the trash of the industry at Givaudan and we created that perfume. And the baseline, that was not the institutional baseline, but the funny baseline of edginess and PR at the beginning, was when the world becomes filthy, might as well wear it.
So I Am Trash, Les Fleurs du Déchet. Quand le monde devient sale, autant le porter sur soi. Then Etalit Libre d’Orange is a perfume house of blending things on the frontiers of edginess and inclusiveness.
So we also created Story of Your Life with the definition of a grand amour, with the help of a team. So now Etalit Libre d’Orange, to stay alive, it’s a teamwork of talented people all together. So we create a narrative at the beginning, but the rest is a beautiful talent on board, involved and dedicated to making things happen.
Because a brand is a long train with many wagons, and the idea is not to stay only on edginess, but the idea is also to focus on supply chain, cash and everything. So at the end, Etalit Libre d’Orange is a land of plenty. It began with edgy, audacious, maverick, and even crazy concepts, such as the magnificent secretion that we call the 4S.
But now Etalibo d’Orange is a long train with talented people on board, and we created Nostos on the beauty of Achilles and the notion of returns. Nostos means the return in Greek, and the perfume is a fantastic tool of return. The beautiful Nostos and the beauty of Achilles.
Anyway, thank you and a giant leap! That’s very much Etalit Libre d’Orange from Secrétion Magnifiques to Nostos.
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