AN INTERVIEW WITH FREDERIC BRAUD, GENERAL MANAGER J&E SOZIO

 

Can you talk a little bit about the heritage of J&E Sozio?

J&E Sozio is one of the oldest (it may be the oldest), most prestigious fragrance houses, founded in Grasse in 1757. At that time, the whole perfume industry was in Grasse, and the fields of Rose, Jasmine and Lavender were famous throughout Europe. If you have never been to Grasse, go to the Museum of Perfumery, it is amazing. And Sozio has contributed a lot by offering several masterpieces representing the ancient fragrance industry. In fact, this museum was my introduction to the fragrance world when I was a young boy. Of course, in recent years, more and more essential oils were replaced by synthetic and chemical ingredients , so the industry moved to other places and other countries, but Grasse is still a magical place.

 

How important is international to you?

J&E Sozio has always been open to the world, since the very beginning, when the founders of the company traveled for months to buy the finest crops of Rose or waited for newly arrived ships carrying spices from Java or India. Today, to buy globally more efficiently and therefore to offer better prices to our customers, J&E Sozio has facilities in the US, in France and in Hong Kong. Since a lot of our customers are global companies who request local compounding, these strategically located centers make it pretty easy to address these requests. We have also a tight network of carefully selected agents and distributors in most of the key countries in Latin America, Asia, Europe and Africa so our customers can be sure to get a professional and prompt service.

 

What is your development strategy? What do you think are your strengths?

Our worldwide strategy is deliberately a multi-market one, with some variations and priorities according to each country. We work with giant global companies as well as with young entrepreneurs, which is a huge source of inspiration for our perfumers since it offers them a lot of creative flexibility. As such, we place little bit more Fine Fragrance emphasis in France, a little bit more accent on Home Fragrances in the US, for instance. In fact, you cannot be too specialized nowadays for obvious reasons so we cover all the main sectors: Fine Fragrances, Personal Care, Home Fragrances, Household and Industrial. Also, I strongly believe in cross fertilization. Before, the trends came from Fine fragrances and were “trickled down” to various applications. Today, it is different, and we see innovations coming from Household or Air fresheners “trickled up” to Fine fragrances.

 

I understand you place a great deal of effort into research and technology.

Many people wonder why a mid-size fragrance house like ours would be so immersed in research, but actually it is just another aspect of one of our core principles: we want to offer our clients what the giant fragrance houses offer coupled with the streamlining our size can offer. So when Protex International bought J&E Sozio in 1979, the end result was a partnership rather than a buyout, strengthened by the fact that Protex is also family-owned with similar personal values. But the best part was that this alliance with such a cutting-edge company gives us further tools for our development by giving us access to numerous technologies unique to the industry. As far as research goes, we invest around 15% of our sales in R&D. Our objective is always to be 2 or 3 years in advance of the competition and offer our customers real innovation. For instance, we have been USDA Organic certified for a long time and our malodor neutralizers Absorbzio™ and Masquodor™ are constantly evolving in light of new organic discoveries. We have also a strong expertise in perfuming plastics with our line Plastodor -- and our newest line of “Green” fragrances: CLEANSCENTS™ has been designed to address the growing concerns of biodegradability and safe chemistry. Since science is moving at such a dramatic pace, we recently created the position of New Technology Manager to develop technical partnerships with various innovative companies.

 

How do you see the future of the fragrance industry?

I personally think that for years the fragrance industry has been a “sleeping beauty” with some loss of creativity and a war on prices as fragrances are more and more considered as commodities. At the same time, raw material costs are skyrocketing as well as Regulatory, Marketing and Logistic costs. Small fragrance houses cannot compete, innovate or assume their cost increases, and it is not finished! In many ways, for a company like J&E Sozio, this gives us a lot of opportunities, as many customers are disappointed by the poor service offered by some of our major competitors who have become over-sized and encumbered by bureaucracy. On the other hand, fragrance is an intimate part of our lives and is a critical attribute of so many products. Yet, the potential for future development is still huge as I believe potentially 90% of everyday objects could be perfumed in some way. I am always looking at something and thinking, “Could this be fragranced?” My family thinks I overreact.

 

And what about regulations?

I may surprise you, but I think the current focus on regulations is an opportunity for our industry. RIFM is doing a wonderful job. REACH is now the next challenge to come, and we also have to be well informed on VOC s, allergens, green chemistry and -- more generally – listen to what consumer associations have to say, even if sometime exaggerated. All these constraints will force us to work with safer and environmentally friendly chemicals and renewable natural ingredients

 

And marketing?

Marketing is essential for us. At J&E Sozio, we always consider a project in its totality. Fragrance is an important part of the product mix, but you really have to understand the entire project, so we spend a lot of time with our customers in the preliminary stages. We are also frequently a partner to our customers in many other aspects unrelated to fragrance, such as packaging, formulations, advertising, promotions, public relations and focus groups. As fragrance creators, it is also our responsibility to bring our customers new trends with a different and original creative angle.

 

What is your Human Resource policy?

Due to the global profile of the company, we favor multicultural employees. We also try to hire people with a large view, not necessarily coming from the fragrance industry, as long as they are curious and creative. We also favor transfer among our subsidiaries. In my case, I started with J&E Sozio in Asia and Europe before moving to the United States. And since we give a lot of autonomy to our key employees, they feel freer to be more honest and transparent.

 

What are the conditions of future success? Where do you see growth?

I believe we need to have a greater presence with major companies where we are not on the “core” list yet. Considering our stability and innovative background, we haven't become as well-known as we should be. We feel that can change with our new emphasis on proactive Marketing and Research. But we also want to maintain our present virtues: proximity to the customer, fast and reliable service, “creation sur mesure”. In short, we never want to abandon our heritage, the artisanal aspect of the company, and we will continue to resist the elaborate paperwork and rules and regulations that burden so many of the giants.

 

So then, how do you see J&E Sozio in the coming 5 to 10 years?

We should continue our organic growth of 15 to 20 % per year, and therefore double our size in 5 to 6 years. We are also interested in some potential acquisitions or advantageous alliances. As I already mentioned, we should add some key customers to our portfolio in Europe and North America. Internationally, our major focuses are Latin America and Asia, where we have several project investments, especially in Mexico and China. More important is that we will always keep our unique heritage as a guide. It has guided us since 1757 so we must be doing something right.

 

I have a project . What should I do?

Call me or one of our salespeople and let’s talk about it.