Star pulling power

The latest sponsorships sees Coty Beauty roping in Celine Dion to launch another new perfume - Celine Dion Parfums Belong; MAC Cosmetics hiring Pamela Anderson as the newest spokesperson for the Viva Glam V Lipstick campaign and Kinerase signing Friends star Courtney Cox to represent its skin care products.

Celine Dion is said to have been personally involved with every step of the creation of the new Belong perfume line, right down to the packaging, which included a pentagon shaped bottle, representing the singer's lucky number, five.

Coty's other perfume lines featuring Celine Dion have to date proved to be run away successes. Sales of Celine Dion Parfums amounted to US$11.7 million in 2003, making it the ninth-best-selling women's fragrance of 2003. In 2004 sales were even higher, making a significant contribution towards Coty's total sales of $1.95 billion for the year.

Pamela Anderson's is joining a list of stars that currently include Christina Aguilera, Missy Elliot, Linda Evangalista and Chloe Sevigny, in her role which will focus on MAC's charitable Aids Fund. Proceeds from the new cosmetics line will be channeled into the charity.

MAC says that 100 per cent of the proceedings from the sales will go towards the charity's fund, aiding people living with HIV/Aids. So far the charity has raised over $44 million. Anderson will also be using her position as a platform to focus on the importance of testing for sexually transmitted diseases.

Meanwhile, Valeant Pharmaceuticals, which owns the Kinerase brand, says that Courtney Cox will be a representative of its skin care products throughout 2005. Cox will appear in personal appearances and work on promotional materials that will be used in campaigns in North America and Europe.

The Kinerase brand first appeared in 2002 and has been built up to provide a full range of skin care products. Cox will also be used to promote the soon-to-be expanded line, which includes lotion, intensive eye cream, SPF 15 cream and a peptide-derived cream.

Star sponsorships have tended to focus on the lucrative high-end perfume industry, where big profit margins and the cache associated with big names makes an ideal combination. According to market research company Euromonitor, the fragrance industry was worth $22.4 billion (€18.5 bn) in 2003, for fragrance sales alone, not including extended product lines. Of that, premium brands accounted for nearly $15 billion (€12 bn), and products with mass-market appeal US$7.7 billion (€6 bn).

But equally, big names are being drawn in in increasing numbers to promote skin care and cosmetics lines. Recently Diana Ross signed for a line of cosmetics products with MAC cosmetics and Jessica Simpson has extended her Desert cosmetics range.