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Clinique's Happy: 24 Hours Of Kindness

Clinique Happy

It's Happy Day. (Seriously, go tell your coworkers.) Clinique -- owner of Happy perfume -- has named Dec. 11 Happy Day in order to generate awareness for Big Brothers Big Sisters, the national youth mentoring organization. Clinique asked participants in the program to create six designs evoking happy holidays. The greeting cards will be given away free all day at Clinique counters, along with Happy-To-Go Fragrance Pencils.

Counters will be manned not just by sales staff, but also Clinique executives, dressed in festive orange (admittedly a nice break from the relentless red found in most retailers this month.)

There's also a big social media push, with its Happy Day Card Designer app for customizable e-card, combining personal photos with the kids' artwork, available on Facebook http://apps.facebook.com/clinique_happyday/fb/welcome. In addition, Clinique says it will offer Happy Day followers status updates and tweets, encouraging them to share their happy moments on both Facebook and Twitter. Those with five Happy Day Card comments or more on Facebook get either Free Standard Shipping or a sample of a Happy Fragrance when ordering from Clinique.com.

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This is the third year that Clinique, owned by Estee Lauder, has selected Big Brothers Big Sisters for its holiday promotion, and it is providing $350,000 in support for its initiatives. But it will also partner with locally affiliated charities, and encourage people to embrace its five tips for happiness (Smile! Say thank you. Perform an act of happiness. Spread positivity. Pay it forward.)

While such holiday promotions may seem a tad on the twee side, getting attention for fragrance brands on the selling floor is critical during the holidays, the biggest selling period for fragrances. NPD Group reports that this year will be especially important, since in the first nine months of 2009, prestige fragrances sales in the U.S. stank, falling 11% to $1.38 billion.

The good news? NPD reports that 19% of shoppers say they plan to buy fragrance as a gift this season, a two-point increase from last year.

1 comment about "Clinique's Happy: 24 Hours Of Kindness ".
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  1. Ellen Garrett from Charter Media, December 11, 2009 at 2:26 p.m.

    Let me just alert everyone who plans to visit a Clinique counter today to take advantage of the give aways. They are not giving anything away at the Clinique counters in Greenville/Spartanburg South Carolina. They require a purchase. So much for the holiday giving spirit. There's always a catch to it! Gee, thanks Clinique...you just lost a longtime customer.

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