Parfums Cacharel De L'Oreal 1997-2007: Decoding and Revitalizing a Classic Brand

Parfums Cacharel, a division of L'Or al, used to have a dominating position on the European market with both the number one and number two best-selling fragrances: Ana s Ana s and Loulou. At the time of the case however, sales were declining at a rate of 15 % per year and Cacharel was a fragance brand in need of a major revitalization. The task assigned to Dimitri Katsachnias, the new general manager of Cacharel, is to turn around the business. But before doing that, he needs to understand the brand. 1. Brand identity decoding What is Cacharel's brand identity? What are its conceptual and tangible components? Can it be summarized in less than five words? Does the Cacharel umbrella brand itself have an identity beyond that of its sub-brands? Which sub-brands are mostly responsible for creating Cacharel's identity? 2. Brand revitalization What is the root source of Cacharel's maturity crisis and how can understanding the brand's identity help? Should Kataschnias bring the Cacharel brand closer to where the market is now? Should he focus on meeting the desires of today's consumers or in remaining faithful to the brand's original identity Students can watch the television commercials mentioned in the case on the dedicated case website: http://cases.insead.edu/cacharel/home. On this website, instructors can also access video interviews with the managers mentioned in the case, more recent television commercials, and PowerPoint presentations to be used in the classroom or as handouts using the login and password mentioned in the teaching note.