• by Christine Bittar , December 4, 2006

Elizabeth Arden has signed this year's Daytona 500 winner, race-car driver Jimmie Johnson, as national spokesman for its Daytona 500 fragrance.

Johnson will appear in TV spots for the men's fragrance, which launched in February through a partnership with the International Speedway Corp.

TV spots for Daytona 500, the Fragrance for Men--a brand which uses a "thrill and exhilaration" marketing theme--will break this month for holiday gift-giving time and feature Johnson and his wife, Chandra.

Johnson, who was just named the 2006 Nextel Cup Series winner on Nov. 19, will also appear on promotional packaging and in-store displays.

Other beauty companies have more recently introduced men's scents promoted by athletes, such as Avon's Driven, fronted by Yankee team member Derek Jeter. Daytona 500 is Arden's second, the first being a deal with NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon to promote Halston Z-14 in 2005.

The company's use of Gordon and Johnson are efforts to appeal to men--or women buying for men. Arden's women's flagship brand is primarily marketed as prestige in department stores, but Daytona 500 is being launched in more mass retail chains--including Kohl's, Sears and J.C. Penney--along with such food, drug and mass outlets as Rite Aid, Wal-Mart and CVS.

Part of the reason for the scaled-down launch might be due to what industry insiders have called "the Axe effect," referring to the growing popularity among young men of inexpensive body sprays sold at food, drug and mass.

August data from NPD Group's Men's Fragrance Track 2006 study found that usage of cologne was down among teens opting instead for inexpensive body sprays--such as Unilever's Axe. Per NPD, the number of males ages 13-17 who use cologne dropped 18 percentage points from 2005 to 2006.

The partnership comes at a time when Elizabeth Arden has been introducing themed, celebrity-licensed fragrances at a fast pace. Although Arden has had a line of Elizabeth Taylor fragrances--including White Diamonds--for more than a decade, all its other celebrity scents were introduced in the past few years.

The beauty company most recently launched Danielle by Danielle Steel (the romance novelist). Arden and other companies typically partner with actors, athletes and musicians. So the affiliation with an author and mother of grown children--albeit one whose books have been popular with teen girls--is unusual.

Other recent Arden licenses have focused on the 'tween-to-late-20s set, including fragrances by teen star singer/actress Hilary Duff and pop star Britney Spears.