• by Christine Bittar , February 14, 2007

A year after its debut in Europe, British soccer star/pop culture icon David Beckham is rolling out his men's fragrance Instinct in the U.S.

Coty, which has licensed the product, plans to evolve the Beckham fragrance brand into a franchise dubbed Beckham Beauty House. This move is seen as getting Coty closer to its stated goal, per CEO Bernd Beetz, of doubling global revenues to $5 billion by 2010.

Beckham, who has developed celebrity status beyond athletics, made headlines last month after signing a five-year, $250 million contract with Los Angeles Galaxy, an American soccer team. He makes his debut as a U.S. athlete this summer.

Coty's intention for Beckham Beauty House is to make it a franchise of several men's fragrances and grooming products. It also plans to leverage off Beckham's celebrity wife, Victoria (also known as Posh Spice), with his and her fragrances called Intimately Beckham.

David and Victoria Beckham seem well on their way to following in the footsteps of Jennifer Lopez, Sean Combs, Sarah Jessica Parker and other athletes, musicians and celebrities before them who have become marketing darlings, quickly parlaying fame and creative talent into outright entrepreneurship. Already, David Beckham has deals with companies including Gillette, Pepsi, and Adidas, and has just finished a photo shoot with Annie Leibovitz for Florida's Disney World Resort's "Year of a Million Dreams" celebration.

Coty is looking to market Instinct to men under age 34 who follow sports, and also to females who know Beckham for being a fashion icon. Marketing for the Beckham brand will start with a print ad including scent strips in magazines targeting both audiences, including People, Maxim, Glamour, Cosmopolitan and ESPN, breaking in March. Other advertising includes a TV campaign and online efforts.

Instinct will likely rival Coty's own Stetson brand of men's fragrances, which had dabbled with the use of Texan actor Matthew McConaughey in print ads about two years ago.

Like Stetson, Instinct will largely be a mass fragrance sold at drugstores, Wal-Mart, Walgreens, Sears, Kohl's and J.C. Penney stores. A one-ounce spray of eau de toilette spray is set to retail for $32 with a 2.5-ounce spray selling for $50. Also included in the mix is a matching deodorant for $16.

Separately, actor Josh Holloway--who plays James "Sawyer" Ford on the ABC-TV series "Lost"--has been signed as the new face of the men's fragrance Davidoff Cool Water, marketed by the beauty maker's prestige unit, Coty Prestige.

The deal calls for Holloway to appear in ads outside of North America. Davidoff Cool Water fragrances -- which have long been marketed with images of ocean waves, shorelines, and blue packaging -- will likely leverage off Holloway's image at the moment as a character who is a castaway lost on an island.