Millions are expected to tune into the 2025 Super Bowl this Sunday. While the spotlight will be on the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles going head-to-head for the NFL championship, Kendrick Lamar’s half-time show and Taylor Swift’s much-anticipated second NFL WAG appearance, British fragrance house Jo Malone London has its own play to execute.
Jo Malone London is leveraging the Super Bowl’s massive cultural footprint — last year’s event generated $1.3 billion in media impact value (or MIV, which calculates the monetary value of posts, article mentions and social media interactions), per brand performance agency Launchmetrics — to unveil its latest roster of male ‘Mr Malone’ ambassadors: NFL athletes JuJu Smith-Schuster (garnering $17 million in MIV in 2024), Jayden Daniels (2024 Rookie of the Year and accumulating $245.2 million in MIV last year) and Kyle Juszczyk (totalling $39.4 million in MIV in 2024). With 83.1 per cent male viewership, according to Northwestern University research, the Super Bowl is prime time for Jo Malone to expand its foothold in the booming men’s fragrance market.
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“We wanted to scale the discovery of Jo Malone London by elevating the brand during culturally relevant moments and with partnerships that can help solidify our position as a men’s lifestyle and grooming authority,” says Melanie Canty, Jo Malone London’s North America VP of marketing. The brand is tapping NFL players on social media, starting with Smith-Schuster (the Chief’s wide receiver) at the Super Bowl this weekend. He will take his 2.9 million Instagram followers behind the scenes with Jo Malone London to reveal his pre-game rituals. Meanwhile, the brand is partnering with San Francisco 49ers’s Juszczyk and his wife Kristin on social media — an influential NFL couple — to strengthen its position with both men and women. The duo will also be showcasing their routine rituals via Instagram campaigns. “[Kristin Juszczyk] helps us bleed over into more feminine relevance, which we know is important as women do influence male purchases,” says Canty.
“Each athlete tells a well-rounded story and leans into the NFL and the Super Bowl, broadening our appeal and reach,” says Canty. “The Super Bowl also has that cache where people are intentionally looking to see what content and commercials are going to break through with their favourite celebrities and athletes. So, the move naturally allows us to authentically play to this moment with content that features some of the NFL’s breakout stars.”
The male fragrance sector presents a lucrative opportunity. Jo Malone London saw significant success after naming actor Tom Hardy as global ambassador of its Cypress and Grapevine fragrance last year, moving from position 23 to number one within Jo Malone London’s internal portfolio, based on sales and a Q4 versus Q3 comparison — an achievement Estée Lauder Companies CEO Stéphane de la Faverie highlighted in the conglomerate’s Q2 earnings report.
“More young men are turning to fragrance as this channel for expressing their individuality. Instead of trading Pokémon cards, they’re trading fragrances, and we want to be part of the conversation,” says Canty. She also outlines that the brand has continued to see young men outpace women in the prestige fragrance market since the pandemic. Circana data reports that in 2020, 34 per cent of Gen Z men used fragrance; in 2024, it was 56 per cent. This is also not the first time that Jo Malone is partnering with an NFL player: “Last year, we partnered with Christian McCaffrey and he delivered a million dollars for us,” in earned media value (or EMV, which is the estimated monetary value of the media attention a brand or influencer receives through organic channels like social media), says Canty.
Data from analytics firm Euromonitor predicts the global male fragrance market will reach $22 billion by the end of 2025, with a 4.21 per cent compound annual growth rate — an increase from 3.5 per cent between 2023 and 2024. Meanwhile, financial platform Clearpay reported a staggering 399 per cent year-on-year sales growth (2023 to 2024) in its men’s fragrance category, led by Dior Sauvage (+223 per cent) and Emporio Armani’s Stronger With You (+139 per cent). Jo Malone London has also seen its men’s fragrance portfolio grow threefold since 2020.
Experts foresee continued expansion. “Grooming, fragrance and wellness are now integral to men’s lifestyles, driven by growing self-awareness and a stronger emphasis on emotional well-being, self-expression and personal development,” says Pauline Oudin, CEO of marketing agency Gradient Experience. “The connection between beauty, grooming and gender is becoming less defined, allowing brands to expand their reach beyond traditional demographics.”
The strategy playbook
Enter male athletes — where the sports spotlight becomes a natural gateway to grab men’s attention — now expanding beyond pure athletic performance. “Male athletes no longer just represent sporting excellence, they symbolise a lifestyle of ambition and success. By partnering with these influential figures, brands present the fragrance not just as a scent, but as a desirable persona that consumers can achieve,” says Shakaila Forbes Bell, Clearpay’s consumer insights psychologist.
Granted athlete endorsements in grooming aren’t new; brands have long tapped into their influence, like David Beckham’s long-standing Gillette campaigns. What has changed is the evolving perception of masculinity and shifting consumer behaviour, especially in fragrance, says Canty.
The brand will roll out to a tiered influencer approach for its men’s fragrance business, continuing with Hardy at the top and leveraging Smith-Schuster, Daniels and Juszczyk on a macro level as another gateway to reach the male consumer. On a micro level, the brand will still leverage influencers and content creators who can tap into audiences on a smaller and more engaging scale. For Canty, “consideration and trust from customers are beholden to creators and influencers that they turn to day in and day out, not only for entertainment but inspiration and guidance. Therefore, the Mr Malone story has to be infiltrated at every level for success. At a macro level, that’s where Jaden, Kyle, JuJu and the Super Bowl fit in — it’s where we want to drive that awareness to consideration and strengthen our full-funnel behaviour.”
A common pitfall for brands is overextending athlete partnerships across multiple endorsements, which can dilute authenticity. Jo Malone London is keen to avoid this misstep instead activating select ambassadors for select fragrances at different moments throughout the year. Canty teased the brand is underway with Mr Malone’s ahead of Father’s Day, otherwise they’ll refrain from working with the athletes on their unisex portfolio, like its Wood Sage and Sea Salt fragrance. “We need to remain distinctive,” she says.
Beauty, grooming and sports evolving opportunity
Jo Malone London isn’t alone in recognising sports as a nascent ground for beauty marketing to cultivate a broader audience base. Last year’s Super Bowl saw Cerave, Elf Cosmetics and Nyx launch targeted campaigns, while Unilever-owned Dove made its first return to the Super Bowl ad space in 20 years. A pivotal moment in bridging beauty and sports came during Rihanna’s 2023 half-time show when her use of Fenty Beauty’s Invisimatte Instant setting and blotting powder mid-performance generated $11.3 million in MIV within one week, according to Launchmetrics. This year, Revlon, Cetaphil, Elf Cosmetics and Eos will also show up around the Super Bowl.
The intersection of beauty, grooming and sports is poised for further acceleration. “By tapping into sports, beauty brands can access a highly engaged audience that values performance, endurance and authenticity — qualities that align seamlessly with skincare and fragrance marketing,” explains Oudin. She emphasises that sponsorships and athlete endorsements can boost brand awareness, enhance credibility and drive significant sales.
“Sports is something that is extremely considered and extremely influential. So this is a space that we intentionally want to play in,” concludes Canty.
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