Pura Eyes Additional Growth Across the Fragrance Category

Pura is rolling out a new logo, packaging and creatives—an outward indicator of what’s been happening under the hood at this fast-moving company.

This Utah-based start-up—which initially called itself a “tech company” when founders Bruno Lima and Richie Stapler started the business in 2014—broke into the home scent category with its direct-to-consumer (DTC) diffuser and a connected app. Today, Pura has become an omnichannel home fragrance business selling products in retailers like Target, Ulta Beauty and Anthropologie. By its own accounting, it sells one fragrance every 1.5 seconds.

The company’s growth has come through collaborations with high-profile brands like Disney, Pantone, Nest New York, Capri Blue, Anthropologie and The Met. Pura this year unveiled a scent collection with The Malla Fund, and earmarked 8% percent of revenues from collection to go directly to the non-profit.

Most recently, Pura forged a deal with Calm, the mental health platform. The Pura x Calm Collection, released in June, integrates scent and sound to create immersive, multi-sensory wellness experiences at home through the Pura app which syncs with Calm’s content.

The company showcased this new collaboration at the World Perfumery Congress in June, setting up special booths on the show floor where attendees could experience the collection. The company netted an award at event, which was held in California.

What’s Ahead

Pura wants to be seen as both an innovator and a premium fragrance destination, and, according to company executives, win in the whitespace between luxury fragrance and smart home technology.

“Pura wants to revolutionize the way people experience fragrance. We’ve done that in the home with our diffuser platform,” said Dmitri Siegel, Pura’s chief brand officer, who has worked for Patagonia and Urban Outfitters. “The technology is incredibly advanced, but what makes it luxury is that it works seamlessly. It creates the perfectly balanced fragrance experience without you having to think about it. That’s where tech and luxury overlap.”

Pura’s new brand ID, which is rolling out across the company’s website and digital channels with a phased plan for retail and packaging, will also serve as a springboard to expand into new areas across wellness, luxury fragrance and wearable scents, too.

“With the rebrand, our goal is to present the brand as the integrated experience it is—technology, world-class perfumery and design working together,” said Siegel. “We have built a genuinely innovative approach to the fragrance experience and the rebrand captures Pura’s unique position as both an expert in luxury fragrance creation and a platform for other brands, which are featured in our marketplace.”

The logo and core identity hint at Pura’s technology leadership while graphics and typography capture the firm’s creativity and world class fragrance creation, he said.

Pura is setting its sights on a personal fragrance system, following its strategy of melding luxury scent with technology.

“And that’s the same approach we are taking in our wearables R&D. We look at how personal fragrance experience can be more fluid and more responsive to the individual,” Siegel said.

Targeting a New Growth Category

The move into personal fragrance presents ample opportunity to add to the company’s revenues.

“Home fragrance is a tiny category compared to personal fragrance. The wearables business could easily eclipse our home fragrance in a short period of time,” asserted Siegel.

According to industry sources, Pura’s sales are estimated to be in the “nine-figure” area.

In addition to its home devices, the company’s technology can be used in cars, too, as reported by Happi.

Facility Expansion

Pura, which has a team of engineers and perfumers, is expanding its operational footprint with two new facilities—a lab in Utah and a creative office in New Jersey.

According to officials, the dedicated R&D site in Utah will advance the science behind its Puralast technology and Pura’s broader scent experience by sharpening fragrance intensity, longevity and diffusion performance.

The new East Coast site will be a hub for fragrance design and sensory experiences, according to officials. It is expected to be operational at the end of October.