Emotional Appeal

In an arena in which products quickly come and go, Lanman & Kemp-Barclay & Co.’s Florida Water Cologne has remained a family tradition, particularly among Hispanics, for more than 200 years!

By Jamie Matusow, Editor

Trumping the recent trend in cosmetic packaging in which labels simulate retro and homey, L&K’s Florida Water stands out as the real thing. Both the popular fragrance, launched in 1808, and its familiar Victorian-era label—with colorful depictions of flowers, birds, troubadours and the Fountain of Youth—have remained virtually unchanged for 200 years.

Daisy Villegas-Daniel, the dynamo general manager of L&K, headquartered in Westwood, NJ, illustrated the reason for the product’s longevity by proudly showing me a page from Latina magazine, featuring the cologne. Turns out Latina’s editors had been brainstorming about beauty products they could all relate to, and they unanimously came up with L&K’s Florida Water—the fragrance that boasts 20 uses, from a classic unisex scent to an itch relief for insect bites.

“Florida Water is a family tradition,” says Villegas-Daniel. Users, she says, have fond memories of their relatives dousing themselves and others with the alcohol-based product as well as applying it to their hair or using it as a room freshener. Although the label clearly instructs that the cologne is for external use only, Villegas-Daniel says, “There’s a scene in ‘Gone With the Wind’ in which Scarlett takes a swig of it!”

From generation to generation, word of mouth has driven sales to an average of two million bottles a year—and still it’s affordable to all at just $3 or $4 a bottle.

Sales are especially high in Latin America, where Florida Water devotees are also fans of the bright orange almanac the company produces as a giveaway by local merchants. Similar to the Farmer’s Almanac, L&K’s bilingual 176-year-old Bristol’s Illustrated Almanac serves not only as a clever advertising vehicle, but also provides everything from jokes to regional weather predictions and tides, which, laughs Villegas-Daniel, “is essential for fishermen in these areas.”

By knowing its market so well, the company has successfully expanded its product line to include soaps, colognes, hair tonics and lip balms, all decorated with charming vintage images.

L&K’s products also sell well online and in North American stores such as CVS, Walgreen’s, Wal-Mart and the Vermont Country Store, and are especially popular in cities with large Hispanic populations such as Miami, Los Angeles and New York.

With such a strong customer base, it seems there’s no stopping L&K’s expansion. In December, the company will launch a line of 12 astrological-based Good Luck Kits ($25-$30), developed in partnership with Walter Mercado, a well-known astrologer who has a show on Hispanic television. Each kit, packaged in a cylinder and labeled in both Spanish and English, will include special fragrances for each zodiac sign, with candles, soaps, camphor tablets, spiritual bath wash, lucky charm and a prayer card. Advance orders, says Villegas-Daniel, are already streaming in from Latin America.

But L&K is not stopping here. Plans are under way to introduce two prestige fragrances (1808 for men and Restless for women) and a baby products line in 2009. “We’re ready to reach a