Henry Rose — Geographical Expansion Plan: San Diego

Henry Rose — Geographical Expansion Plan: San Diego

This project was completed for LXFM 745 — Global Distribution for Luxury Brands at SCAD (Summer 2023), alongside teammates Kelsi Dugas, Tia Charmaine Fowler, and Lexx Holsey, under Professor Alessandro Cannata. We developed a comprehensive geographical expansion plan for Henry Rose — the genderless fine fragrance brand founded by Michelle Pfeiffer, known for 100% ingredient transparency, EWG Verified certification, and Cradle to Cradle certification.

The Brand: Henry Rose

Henry Rose is a category-defining brand at the intersection of luxury fragrance and clean beauty. Founded by actress Michelle Pfeiffer, the brand was born from her commitment to safe, fully disclosed ingredients — a first in fine fragrance. Its genderless positioning, EWG Verified status, and Cradle to Cradle certification make it the rare luxury fragrance that consumers can wear with complete confidence.

Current distribution at the time of research: 265 retail locations including 224 Sephora doors, Bergdorf Goodman, Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, and Credo Beauty. The brand's TikTok presence had generated 74.4M views — evidence of strong organic digital momentum that a targeted regional push could amplify.

Expansion Target: San Diego, CA

We identified San Diego as the optimal expansion market. The city's demographic profile — health-conscious, sustainability-oriented, coastal lifestyle — aligns perfectly with Henry Rose's brand values. The competitive set in the San Diego fragrance market (LE LABO, Guerlain, Jo Malone) left a clear opening for a clean, genderless, mission-driven alternative.

Communication & Promotional Plan

The $91,000 promotional budget was allocated across a 3-month launch window covering: social media activation (TikTok content building on 74.4M existing brand views), SMS and email campaigns for high-intent consumer segments, an influencer mix combining macro San Diego lifestyle creators with nano-influencers in the clean beauty space, PR agency engagement for earned media, and regional editorial seeding.

Strategy Framework

The plan spanned an executive summary, company and brand analysis, alternative market analysis (why San Diego vs. other California cities), target consumer profiles, store location and design strategy, full communication and promotional plan, and financial projections. The research demonstrated that Henry Rose's clean fragrance positioning — a first-mover in the space — creates a defensible and emotionally resonant brand story that scales powerfully in health-forward markets like San Diego.