Puig headquarters, Barcelona, 1990, 9:12pm, a younger inexperienced product supervisor was taking a look at potential packaging designs for a brand new Puig fragrance. He needed to decide a minimum of two finalists for a gathering together with his boss the next day.
Suddenly, Mariano Puig Planas (pictured left) appeared on the door to his tiny workplace and calmly requested him what was preserving him so busy this late within the night. With a combination of nerves and shock, the younger worker informed him what he was doing and added that it was uncommon to see him on this flooring. Mariano appeared on the choices on the desk and, in a pleasant however agency tone, stated: “Choose the choice that builds the brand extra solidly. The brand is the important thing.”
Mariano stated goodbye and reassured the worker he would see issues all a lot clearer within the morning.
Next-gen ambition
In 1950, Mariano Puig Planas joined the family fragrance firm based by his father in Barcelona in 1914. Right from the beginning, brand building was the maxim that drove him, in addition to internationalisation. One demonstration of this was profitable the contract to be the distributor for Max Factor, adopted by different nice manufacturers reminiscent of Chanel.
At the top of 1968, he employed Paco Rabanne (pictured beneath), an unknown progressive Spanish designer who was gaining consideration for his authentic creations created from small metallic plates. In 1973, they launched Paco Rabanne Pour Homme, which turned a number one brand of their key markets for nearly twenty years, appearing as a retail brand, like Nina Ricci, to make sure that the Puig umbrella brand was not restrictive as they had been constructing the brand.
Mariano’s final milestone earlier than the generational handover of the agency was the invention of Carolina Herrera, a proficient Venezuelan designer primarily based in New York with a fledgling vogue brand that had begun working nearly by likelihood, however wherein he noticed nice potential.
A ardour for vogue
Paco Rabanne and Carolina Herrera are two manufacturers constructed from scratch, with a transparent strategic imaginative and prescient that connects vogue, luxurious and perfume, with the worldwide profile that he aspires to realize for the corporate’s manufacturers: with the manufacturers at all times on the forefront, producing creativity, innovation and design, with out ever dropping sight of monetary viability and with their toes firmly grounded available in the market.
The present brand construction of the Puig Group has grown, underpinned by the strong strategic pillars established by the second technology of Puig brothers: Antonio, Mariano and Enrique. They every introduced a unique, complementary facet to the management of the agency, however shared a typical imaginative and prescient: constructing luxurious and worldwide perfume and vogue manufacturers.
At the top of the Nineteen Nineties, they continued creating or incorporating manufacturers reminiscent of Nina Ricci, which the corporate distributed for twenty years earlier than it turned the property of the group, with the clear mission of having the final word freedom and duty to create the brand for the long run. If we take a look at the profile of the manufacturers that they integrated, a transparent sample emerges: vogue, luxurious, worldwide, persona, values of id and the potential to proceed creating.
The handover to the third technology occurred in 2007, with Mariano’s son Marc Puig Guasch taking up as president, and his nephew, Antonio’s son Manuel Puig Rocha, because the vice-president. Their complementary government capabilities had been, to a sure extent, much like the roles held by their respective fathers, combining Marc’s organisational management with Manuel’s conceptual and inventive imaginative and prescient.
From the store flooring
The cousins had labored on the firm since 1995 and 1987, respectively, with numerous top-level operational and business duties, each having began out as salesmen to achieve actual an understanding of the fact of the sector and perception into how the manufacturers and the corporate had been perceived available in the market. Without a doubt, this unbeatable education is a particular characteristic of Puig as a novel family firm.
The group tirelessly continued constructing manufacturers. In one shocking and daring transfer, they took management of the Jean Paul Gaultier (pictured proper) brand in 2012. At that time, the brand had been a worldwide chief for the earlier decade and it was beginning to present indicators of fatigue. Within three years of Puig taking full management of the brand, they’d embraced the reconstruction of the brand with creativity and fervour and launched Scandal, which acted as a catalyst driving the brand new dynamism of the brand, reaffirming its standing among the many high 10 on the planet.
Another sudden incorporation was Penhaligon’s, one of probably the most legendary manufacturers within the historical past of perfumes. Building on its distinctive legacy, Puig masterminded an entire overhaul of the merchandise and revitalised the enjoying area, showcasing it on the level of sale, pre-empting the posh perfume pattern for signature perfumes.
Trusted advisers
Throughout this course of, the manager group that assist the Puig family has been a key characteristic that clearly units the group aside within the sector. The stage of dedication, complementary profile and stability of the board of administrators is one other of the corporate’s defining traits and significant success components. The most senior 5 executives have been working for the group for greater than 20 years. Moreover, the internationalisation and multicultural coverage of the corporate’s administrators and executives has a transparent affect on the merchandise and their positioning available in the market.
From the founder, Antonio Puig Castello (pictured left), during to the newest technology, they’ve all began off in gross sales, a necessary coaching floor for gaining perception into the true actuality of the sector. This connection to the purpose of sale, the salespeople, the purchasers and the distribution channels is a continuing characteristic that’s essential for constructing manufacturers.
Of course, the standard of the perfume, design, supplies, distribution, communication and so forth are all very important, in addition to differentiation and creativity, however how the brand is expressed in the marketplace and the way the top buyer perceives it’s the ‘final mile’ that requires the best consideration to element. The stage of creativity and innovation utilized to the factors of sale is astonishing, as we will see in airports and malls all around the world. The complete course of of strengthening your place on the planet of fragrances, mixed with vogue in an ideal symbiosis, is epitomised in Puig’s Beauty and Fashion division, which is why it ranks among the many high 5 main choose perfume teams on the planet.
Commitment to progress
In 2020, Covid-19 arrived and the posh perfume sector was one of the toughest hit as a consequence of its publicity to journey retail and its highest dependence on the European market, which has confronted the strictest lockdowns and business restrictions. However, the strategic roadmap was already designed and the brand new levers for progress concerned strengthening the opposite two segments of the cosmetics sector: private care and make-up.
The group has created the Skincare division with its manufacturers Uriage, Apivita and Isdin. However, in probably the most outstanding transfer on the most unsure, complicated time of the pandemic, in June 2020, the group took management of Charlotte Tilbury, a transparent dedication to progress within the make-up sector, creating a selected division for this brand. This was the biggest company operation that Puig had carried out in its historical past, which is a transparent demonstration of how braveness and a daring entrepreneurial mindset are the hallmarks of this profitable family firm.
The new, fascinating challenges on the horizon for Puig, for which of course they set excessive expectations, contain embracing the eagerness for respiratory life into vogue, designing magical merchandise and experiences, with countless creativity and innovation, and an entrepreneurial spirit dedicated to making sure the long-term success of a really exemplary family firm.
Sadly, Mariano Puig died in April 2021, abandoning an amazing business legacy and an enduring affect on anyone fortunate sufficient to have met him, similar to the younger product supervisor who spent hours scratching his head making an attempt to know what Mariano meant by “construct the brand”, when he was simply fascinated about a design.
However, after seven years working at Puig and later witnessing the exponential progress of the corporate, the creator of this text discovered the essential lesson that Mariano gave me that evening in Barcelona 31 years in the past.
