Lancôme - Historia Marki.

Lancôme is a luxury brand which history starts in 1935 in France. An adventurer and businessman Armand Petitjean decides to launch his own luxury brand of perfume and beauty ....but let's back in to the past... much earlier...

At the beginning of his career, Petitjean, founded an import company in South America and settled in Santiago.  The World War I is coming and Armand became a diplomat in Brazil and Argentina. After the war he resigned from his position at the Brazilian Embassy and decided to return to the world of business.

Francois Coty, the most valued perfume maker of these times, hired Petijean to manage his Brazilian branch.  At the end of the 1920s, made him CEO of the  HQ of  French company. During employment, he developed an unique gift, that is just by smelling a bottle of perfume, "sniff out" its composition.

After the death of Fracois Coty, Petijean left the company and decided to launch his own luxury perfume and cosmetics brand. A group of colleagues –employees of Coty was ready to undertake the adventure with him. The d'Omano brothers, responsible for the commercial management of the company, the artist George Delhomme, who designed the bottles and boxes, the chemist Pierre Velon followed his idea.

It is 1935 Y. One is left to do – create a name of the brand and symbol. At the begining he considered using the name of the village where he was born, Saint-Loup, but it did not sound feminine. He dreamed of a name that should have a truly French sound, like Brantome, Vendome… One of the d’Ornano’s brothers suggested the name of a castle Lancosme. All they had to do was to change the silent “s” for a circumflex , and the result was perfect – a French name that everyone could pronounce, written with the specifically French circumflex. The symbol of the brand starts to be a rose-  “Rose” Quinn of the flowers, which has the same meaning in all culture- faminine and love.

For many months the family property of the Petijeans, "Les Vallieres" in Ville d'Avray, and its garage was as the headquarters of the company. The office was managed by Madame Petijean. Petijean created the perfumes on his own, as well as edited the texts which accompanied them.
Company is developing very fast. After one month activity introduced 5 perfumes a powder and several lipsticks. Petijean managed to bring his company to the World's Fair in Brussels where his brand was officially presented and had its debut.
First 5 perfuma is: Tendre Nuit, Bocages, Conquete, Kypre i Tropiques.

Petijean start to built a factory in Carbevoie, and opened a shop in the elegant district of Faubourg Saint Honore .During 6 months, it conquered 31 markets, and its international market revenue quickly equaled that of its domestic revenue. In  1936 y  produced 29.6000 bottle of perfume.

He didn’t concern about the  events of the World War II and in February 1942 established the school Ecole Lancome which educated cosmetic experts and "ambassadors" to conquer new markets all over the world. In 1946, the factory reached the level of 720,000 bottle of perfume The factory in Courbevoie became too small.

In 1950, the apogee of Petitjean’s administration, Lancome launched Magie. Petitjean had dreamed of this perfume for years. He had conceived of the fragrance, based on aromatic woods and splashes of jasmine, and had made over a thousand tests. The bottle was design by Georges Delhomme. It was perhaps one of the most spectacular creations of the fifties.
The new factory was established in the years 1957-1962 in Cheville-Laure, near the Orly airport, in the midst of a large rose garden.

In the meantime, the range of products continued to grow but the sales was falling. There was a few reason of this, lack of strategy failure entrance into the American market, where Lancome established a cosmetics studio in the New York mall Saks, as well as in 10 luxurious boutiques, and the fact that Armand Petijean rejected the idea of replacing the luxurious and high-value lipstick packaging for cheaper ones.

In 1955, Petitjean’s wife died. He was devastated by her loss and seemed to lose something of himself. The following year, his adored grandson, Jean-Claude, decided that he was going to go his own way and that he would not join Lancome. Suddenly, Petitjean felt that he had built his castle on sand
In 1961, the company’s financial situation became critical.
The debts mounted up until the director of the company’s bank contacted Armand-Marcel Petitjean to tell him, “We no longer have confidence in your father. Lancome is a family concern. If the family doesn’t shoulder its responsibilities, we shall cut off all credit. You have 48 hours to make your decisions.” Armand-Marcel had no business experience – he was a writer – but he took over from his father managing director title. Despite the reorganization and modernization of the company, he was unable to save it.
The company was sold in 1964 to L'Oreal.

Armand Petijean died in 1969.

Lancome stays under this brand and for the next  years develop its technology. From  the begining of launch  try to proof the beauty of the women is sth more then apperance.

Today, as knows as Juliette Binoche, Ines Sastre, Cristiana Reali, and Marie Gillain, like Isabella Rossellini before them, offer their multiple appeal to every woman in every country in the world. And in every major airport you will find the smile of one or the other of them and the phrase, “France has a word for beauty: Lancome.”

“Why did I create Lancome?” he said one day, “Because I had seen that two American brands had taken control of the beauty industry. A French brand should be up alongside them.” … and His dream comes true…

Bibliography:
https://perfumeknowledge.wordpress.com/2012/11/19/lancome-the-story-of-a-brand-name/
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armand_Petitjean