captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> welcome to "the journal" in berlin. >> coming up this hour, wikileaks founder julian assange is released by a judge in london. eu leaders together to discuss the future of the euro. and an exhibition in bonn about napolean's influence on europe. wikileaks founder julian assange has been granted conditional bail by the high court in london after a judge

rejected an appeal by swedish prosecutors. julian assange is fighting extradition to sweden where prosecutors want to question him about allegations of rape. for the time being, he will be living under strict conditions in england until this case is heard early next year. >> julian assange emerged from the high court to the cheers of supporters. >> it is great to smell fresh air again. first, some thank yous. to all the people of around the world who had faith in me. >> after posting 280,000 euros bail, julian assange remain subject to stringent conditions. he must wear an -- electronics tag and is restricted to living here. swedish authorities are still

trying to have him extradited on allegations of sexual misconduct. he denied the charges. his lawyers called them politically motivated. julian assange turned himself into british authorities in days after wikileaks released thousands of confidential of u.s. diplomatic cables that greatly angered and embarrassed washington. "the new york times" says that u.s. federal prosecutors are investigating whether julian assange conspired with a former u.s. army intelligence officer. in which case, he would face charges of conspiracy. >> eu leaders meeting in brussels are making some progress. they agreed to a minor -- to minor changes to the lisbon treaty to help solve sovereign debt problems. some countries are calling for joint eurobonds, but the angela merkel opposes that idea. >> european leaders have their

sights set on achieving their best terms for the euro. they are bent to restoring peace after the dispute over the eurobond. >> i want to give a clear signal of unity for europe and the euro. we irresponsibility for sound economic management and solidarity -- we have responsibility for sound economic management and solidarity. >> if they want to create a permanent stability mechanism for struggling eu members. there is agreement that is needed, but how is the divisive issue. >> we do need a new mechanism to help the euro zone a sort out its problems and issues. that is important for britain, but we do need to make sure that britain is not liable to spend money under that mechanism. >> while heated debate is expected about how the system will operate, it is likely to

take place behind closed doors. european leaders and know that financial markets want signs of resolution, not in decision. >> let's get more analysis from the brussels meetings. we are joined by our correspondent here. give us more background about the progress being made. what are these minor changes and how will they help the debt crisis? >> they are struggling with words tonight and the summit. the exact wording of a variant limited treaty change to allow this permanent crisis mechanism to be set up. if it is done and will be tomorrow, that will give more certainty to markets and stabilize them. why? because from 2013, with the new permanent crisis mechanism, assuming there is plenty of money in it, markets should be convinced that the bureau's own and the european union is able of to tackle any other crisis. it is about stabilizing markets,

restoring the credibility of the euro. >> can this be seen as a victory for chancellor angela merkel? >> it can. despite the divisions and frustrations of her approach to the economic crisis, the night she has won a major concession. -- tonight. it will make clear at her insistence that the new permanent mechanism, the use of bailout money from it, can only go ahead in extremis, in times when the use of the money is indispensable to the security and future safety of the currency. she felt domestic consumption was very important and made clear that germany would not be called upon as the eu's biggest paymaster to be called on as a winter it has to be less resort. she has won that tonight. they have formally agreed to that at the summit tomorrow. >> an update from brussels.

a major decision at the european central bank today. >> a decision is being made in frankfurt after taking on risk through lending to banks. of course, spending billions on as a government bond desk buying program. the european central bank has pulled in fesresh liquidity. they've seen their role altered. thursday's move drive some the point that if it is pushed to take on orthodox members, the member states will have to pay the bill. >> the ecb's additional capital will come from the central banks of the 16 countries that use the euro. the ecb intends to almost double its reserves to 10.8 billion euros before the end of the year. about 21 billion will come

from the bundesbanke. although, britain will also contribute. since may, they have bought 72 billion euros from greece, ireland and portugal. it is the first time in its 12 your lifetime, the ecb decided to increase its capital base, indicating the severity of the situation. >> spain's treasury sold 2.4 billion euros of 10 and 15 year government bonds in the last scheduled auction of the year. the spanish treasury says the sale was a success and demonstrated its ability to obtain fresh capital on the open market. madrid is being forced to pay ever higher prices for its borrowing.

the average yield rose to 5.4%. for the 15 year bonds, the average yield rose more than a full percentage point. to the markets. german shares finished with modest gains on thursday. some better than expected economic data of the united states. our correspondent sentence a summary of the thursday trading session. >> the markets seem to be hypnotized by the eu's summit in brussels. the dax was flatline and closed in positive territory, mainly driven by economic data from the u.s. spanish construction company acs got new shares. this is an offer made by a key investor, southeastern, and

puts the share up to 30% for acs. it will be much more difficult for them to defend against the unfriendly takeover. >> in frankfurt, a closer look at thursday's numbers. dax finished at 7,024. stoxx 60 finished at 2845. the dow trading higher as well by nearly .4%. the euro trading at a value of $1.3212. news from the u.s. >> president barack obama says that the war in afghanistan remains a difficult endeavor but the nation is on track to achieve its goals. obama said the u.s. is on

course to begin withdrawing troops next july, but he noted that 2010 was the deadliest year for foreign troops in afghanistan. here in german, the foreign ministry has said that germanty will start drawing down its forces in afghanistan at the end of next year. it came during a keynote speech at the bundestag. germany has the third largest contingents of troops deployed in afghanistan. >> this is northern afghanistan. this is the main base for foreign troops. outside the struggle with taliban forces continues. inside, the regional commander reports back on progress in the military campaign. >> i won't say it's voer. i'm sure we have some difficult weeks and months ahead of us.

i think the fighting has peaked. we are over the hill. it should approve it -- improved. >> back in berlin, the foreign ministers sees the report as a confirmation of government policy. afgahhan security forces are assuming responsibility, and germany wants to prepare for a troop withdrawal. >> i am optimistic enough to say that we will be able to reduce our contingent for the first time in late 2011. we will use any room for maneuver available to begin the process as soon as possible. >> nato aims to have all foreign combat troops out of afghanistan in 2014, but opposition politicians are not convinced the situation has improved for good. >> things are not going well in afghanistan right now. the last 12 months have been the bloodiest since the mission began. >> the plans to start preparing

for the pullout are the talk of debate, but the commander says it will have no bearing on the current commission -- current mission. >> news on emerging economies. >> to china and india are taking steps to strengthen their trade ties. went about signed a series of agreements on -- wen jiabao signed a series of agreements on thursday. trade between the two nations is about half of that amount right now. the two leaders signed agreements on green technologies and cultural exchanges in delhi. the cost of air frate leaving germany went down, and now those prices are climbing again.

simliailiar price hikes were greater to ship to japan and china. one of germany's biggest tax evasion cases has come to a close. proceedings against two banks based in lichtenstein were suspended. >> this man is the most prominent tax evader in the case. he is the former ceo of deutsch of poste. he received a two-year suspended sentence and had to pay a 1 million euro fine. his money was tucked away in liechtenstein. prosecutors have been working on the case since last year. now the banks have reached a

settlement along with bank employees. have to pay an average of 15,000 euros in fines. the deal is a victory for the german government who collects a fine sto -- the fine. >> the european court of human rights has ruled that ireland's abortion laws violate women's rights because they restrict their right for women to seek proper medical care and life threatening situations. they ordered them to pay 15,000 euros to a woman. the court found that she should have been allowed to have an abortion in ireland, instead of traveling to britain. abortion is a criminal offense in ireland if there is no risk to the mother's life c. shia muslims are marking one of

the holiest days in their calendar. it is one of the days of ritual morning for hussein the grandson of muhammad. tens of thousands of people have processions in beirut. well, small in stature, far- reaching in influence. a new exhibition is paying tribute to napoleon and his impact on europe. he was born in corsica and rose to prominence after the napoleonic wars, which involved every major european power. the exhibition will move to france next year. >> he was a man of contrasts -- and loved like a god and hated at the same time. an exhibition called napoleon in europe, a dream and trauma has

opened in bonn. it includes about380 priceless works of loans from the louvre or versailles. >> our exhibition shows napoleon in a new light. it is not a military history or a biographical one. 12 chapters of dirt -- offer pictorial glimpses into napoleon's way of life. >> it took napoleon 16 years to make his mark on europe. he laid the groundwork for a civic constitution. at the same time, he waged a war across europe and crowned himself emperor of all frenchmen. the exhibition offers a nuanced view of the napoleonic era and shines a light on the legendary, power hungry man. >> stay tuned for "in depth"

coming up next. we will take a look at that summit in brussels. >> new at the cdw store --

nine world-famous symphonies on dvd. the beethoven project. >> a two day summit of heads of state and government is under way in brussels to discuss the euros on debt crisis and ways of shoring up a common currency. in may of this year, a temporary rescue fund was created to avert a financial collapse of debt- ridden greece. now ireland has asked for a bailout package, and there are growing concerns that portugal and spain could be next. all this has put intense pressure on the euro. critics say that eu countries have failed to present a united front. they deny that, but opinions differ on what the best remedies are. we take a look of some of those opposing views. >> the euro is starting to spend

out of control and investors are nervous. the debts of yours on countries have weakened confidence. citizens of eu states are up in arms over the austerity package as soon. experts are divided on whether the massive loan guarantees put in place to bail out countries are effective. >> they acted decisively because they understood it was crunch time for bucthe euro. >> they fell over themselves on that may 8, 9, to finalize the bailout without including banks. it was not thought through. >> together with the imf, the european union made available 120 billion euros for greece. our rescue fund of 750 billion euros was put together from all

hold your zone -- the whole eurozone. not everyone was happy, because it came with strings attached. the country had lived beyond its means -- beyond its means for years, no sellers and pensions have to be cut. it brought people of on the streets in protest -- out on the streets in protest. >> the bailout package allows the greeks to finance the deficit for three years at low interest rates, and in this time, they have to massively reduce their deficit. >> i cannot imagine that breeze will be in position to raise money on the financial markets. -- that greece will be in a position to raise money on the financial markets. they have to declare bankruptcy and creditors should be allowed to write off a part of their money.

>> that's a risky statement to make. if you make statements like that, the markets will? get jittery and they will sell a lot more of the bonds they are already viewing with a lot of mistrust. >> one question is who should shoulder the losses -- the banks or the taxpayers? this question is of relevance in ireland. there, the government applied for 85 billion euros in of this year pure the country began running out of funds after bailing out the banks. ireland's budget deficit reached more than 30% per >> the irish state had promised to save the banks. the banks got into trouble. now the state is in trouble. we are promising to save ireland. that is not acceptable. >> if ireland is wobbly, then

portugal and spain could be next. >> spain is facing a shrinking economy and an unemployment rate of more than 20%. investors are concerned about spain's and portugal's ability to pay their debts. that is why those countries are being sent -- charged so much to borrow money. some worry that the 750 billion euro bailout is not enough. >> we should think really big. we should offer much higher guarantees. that would be a way to convince the markets that we really mean it, and that they should stop testing our limits. >> that would accelerate the rate of indebtedness in europe and drag the whole of europe

into a crisis. >> should state's stepped-up intervention or should the market be allowed to determine the fate of the single currency, and who will be left paying the bill? the search for answers has begun, but it is unclear whether the summit in brussels will come up with a solution. >> still, lots of questions opened, but to get some answers, we are joined by our brussels correspondent. we just heard in that last report, there is supposed to be a great concern about market reaction. how much do you think that leaders decisions there are being driven or impacted by the financial markets? >> to a huge degree, before the summit started, one of the commission officials said, the leaders want to make a statement as part of the summit conclusions about the state of long-term economic prospects for the year rose on. there is an argument going on

about what should be said and whether it would be better to say nothing at all, because everyone knows that whatever is said, the markets will react. if this is something positive, the tendency of the market is to think that is a double blow. it will take that as a negative. if they own up to something being not so good, then the market reaction is, we thought that is the case. we know it is now. it is interesting. they were agonizing more over the -- the exact wording of the future prognosis of your zone and the economy than they were -- over the eurozone and the economy. >> what are they saying about who should ultimately shoulder the cost of the bailout's? >> no fixed agreement at all. taxpayers are bound to take a hit. that is the nature of this economic crisis. it is inevitable.

there is the argument that the banks should take a hit, because it is largely their policies that are responsible. also, there is a question that although merkel raised,-- angelea merkel raised that the bond razors or speculators should be held to account as well. there is no clear agreement. angela merkel said that bond -- and speculator is will be held to account and some say that that triggers a part of the problem in ireland. there is no clear agreement, and there'll be no agreement at the summit on eurobonds. the truth is that the majority of the burden of the repairing the crises will fall on taxpayers.

that is a lot of economic. >> to the negative reaction by germany and france drew much criticism, especially from luxembourg. how much to smaller eu nations, do they feel steamrolled by merkel and sarkozy? >> i think so. not just the small countries. a british official was saying that it was interesting how nicolas sarkozy and angela merkel are now in cahoots. they will adjust to the treaty, which is happening even now. even more recently been cooperating on sharing tax amoritzation as a way of stirring economic performance. >> we thank you. the euro dispute and the summit, that has been the focus

of our "in depth" today. thanks for being with us.

♪ - hi, this is bob scully, and welcome to another edition of the world show: entrepreneurs: the dobson series. come a little closer. [he sniffs] what's that you're wearing? mmm. [he sniffs] smells good. could be one of the brands represented by my guest

this week, a man who knows the world of perfume inside out. his name is jacques pérusse. here he is. jacques pérusse, you have one of those jobs, you know, people say, "it's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it". you live in the world of perfume and imported luxury items. the company is called prestilux, for "prestige" and "luxury", and of course it has turned out very nicely. but let's tell the entrepreneurial story. let's go back to when it started. how did it start? - it started back in 1970. in fact, parfums christian dior was looking for a distributor to bring their products to the canadian market, and the international organization that landed in canada had travelled through various retailers and department stores and perfumeries, tried to identify the products or the company that was most dynamic at that time, and this was coinciding with

the launch of a new fragrance by guerlain called chamade, and my father was the general manager of the distributor for guerlain, so they called on my father and asked him if he would be interested in starting up his own company to take over the distribution of christian dior fragrances for the canadian market. - so they stole him from guerlain... - exactly. - ...who was their big competitor, but how could he start a company? he had no capital. he was in a job. did they make him a bigger offer than that? - yeah, it was interesting because in fact my father then was an employee with this company. he had four kids--and we were all in private schools in canada--and no money whatsoever. and that was the point where he was hesitating going into this new venture, not being sure of what would be ahead of him, so it was

a difficult decision, but then two things came up: one, dior suggested that he create the company, that they would help him out, they would finance him. and the other thing is both my parents--my mother and father-- decided that it was a risk that they needed to take, and they never wanted to look back at their life and say, "listen, we didn't take the opportunity when it came", so that's how it got started. - and so dior bankrolled him. - yep. - which is... i mean, to be bankrolled by your main customer and supplier is kind of a nice situation. but at some point he branched out? or how did it evolve from there? - well, initially, for the first year, all the attention was dedicated to implementing the brand and developing the brand. and in agreement with christian dior, prestilux was able to try to add other brands--so, to build up a critical mass so that

we became more significant on the canadian market with time. - and... something tragic happened. of course, i know the story because i've read the research. something happened. - yes. actually, when we first started the company, we practically had no business, so the employees were essentially: my father; my mother, who had never worked in a business before--she always had taken care of the family; then i had an uncle that was semi-retired that had agreed to help us out with the accounting; and finally another employee that was basically looking after the wares site, packing and shipping; and the kids were coming after school, helping out with packing the orders when christmas came. but, let's say 18 months after the company was started, my mother became ill. she had cancer, and it was a quite strong cancer of the spine,

and she lost the use of her legs and was hospitalized for about a year before she passed away in 1973, so we were only three years old at the time that she passed away. - and did that create--obviously it was a personal tragedy-- but did that harm the company? because there were so few people in it, it was a big piece missing, wasn't it? - well, it was a big piece missing, and it was also taking a lot of energy and attention from my father at the early stage of building up a company. but, thank god, i think there was... we ended up being able to overcome the situation, and the company was able to prosper after my mother had passed away, but it was a tough transition, of course. - and when you say you added other brands... this is one of the things that fascinated me about this business, is... it's not coke and pepsi.

they're not aggressive about their competitors; they're sort of buddies with their competitors. it's kind of funny. how does it work? - well, in fact, to satisfy the need of consumers, you have to be able to offer an assortment where people have a choice. - mm-hmm. - whether it's fashion or fashion accessories--you want to buy handbags, you want to buy makeup, or you want to buy fragrances--you want to be able to walk into an environment where you have options and can make a selection that the consumer will feel is convenient for her or for him. so obviously there is a need sometimes even to make sure that we work together in making a category and making sure that the offering is at the height of the expectations of the consumers and fulfills the needs and demands of the consumers. so that's why the relationship between different companies is always amicable, and it's not like you have the option of drinking a pepsi or drinking

a coke. you could be wearing our different brands for different occasions or different moments, for instance. - and so, i guess the companies are used to doing that all over, so they're no longer thinking in terms of market share directly; it's more like the sector itself has to do well. - yeah, first and foremost, we think about the category, but then within the category we fall back on each one's market share. but obviously the more successful, the healthier, the category is, the better all the members that try to get their market shares out of that category feel. so it's really consolidating and building categories. that's where we all kind of get together a little bit. - and i read in the research, you had another watershed. of course, there was your mother's death, but later the bank nearly put you to death as a company. let's talk about that. - well, through the years we've grown very nicely and we became

very significant on the canadian market. obviously we have branched the same way. we don't own the branch; we lease the branch, practically, as we develop their business on the canadian market on behalf of the brand and for the benefit of the brand. and later on, a major brand decided to create its own subsidiary. it represented about 60% of our business, and following this... - it pulled out. - they pulled out. and following this, our financial situation deteriorated, and as a result, the bank pulled the plug on us. so we were kind of close to closing down at one point. - and how close, and what did you do? were you like two weeks away? or... - we were very close to closing down. what we did is we essentially redeveloped

a business plan, streamlined the company, restructured the company, and were able to get support from another bank, and-- - i was going to say, yeah. begging another bank is the first thing you do usually, if you're... and you found one. - and we found one that was believing in our plan, and that was about 20 years ago, and they never regretted it. it worked out very well over the following 20 years. - and do you still need them, or are you self-financed now? - well, the plan that we developed was pretty good, because we're pretty self- financed actually. so we very, very rarely have to use their help, so we're able to serve nicely, but with a very tightly- controlled ship, if i can say, that enables us to live without too much support from the bank. - and have you faced a situation again where one of your brands has 60% of your business?

that's the danger. is that still the case? - yeah, it did happen a second time. however, this time we knew what to do and how to react and how to get organized as a result. the business model that we're using is a very elastic business model. ever since that first experience we decided that we were able to confront any type of situation that would happen again. it did happen a second time where a significant branch representing 62% of our sales decided to open up their own subsidiary, and as a result, we had to restructure. but this time we knew how it worked, and we did a fantastic transition. - so you were ready for it, but it looks to me like these brands kind of use you as a beachhead, and then when you've done all the hard work and the slogging work to get them established, then it's goodbye, charlie. why don't you ask for, like, ten-year contracts, or can't you get them? something that would allow you to collect

on the upside. - our contracts are relatively long term. they go from minimum five years to ten years, so they're relatively long. the first company that decided to start up their own subsidiary, we had had a relationship for 18 years. the second one, we had a relationship of 26 years, so the relationships were long, but obviously-- - but not eternal. - no, but i think today the market globally is very volatile, not only in terms of distribution, but in terms of acquisitions, so things keep on changing, and it's going faster than it's ever done before. the whole idea for us is that we were able and we continue to be able to provide a unique service for brands, and we give value to them, so if one goes, then another one is looking for an opportunity to conquer our

market, and we can assist them in doing so. - and let me flip it around for a moment. why would any brand, then, use this beachhead technique? why don't they start with a subsidiary and say, "okay, we're going into canada, or the us, or whatever". why do companies like yours exist to begin with? - well, our market is the size... canada, market-wise, is the size of california. - mm-hmm. - but it's spread over a territory that is much larger than the whole of the united states, so it's a very costly market to service. shipping orders from, let's say, montreal to vancouver, is as expensive as bringing in merchandise from paris to montreal. so when you start up servicing doors and visiting customers throughout a country of that size--geographically speaking-- for a market that is probably the size of california is very, very expensive. so until you have a critical mass that allows

you to be on your own, you want to make sure that you work with a company that already has some kind of an establishment, has a sales force in place, has a marketing structure in place, and leverage on the organization in order to get established, to deploy, and to develop. - so you are definitely the first stage in an expansion strategy, but you don't care, like you say, because you get new ones coming through the door. - right. - now, how good are you at... if you close your eyes, checking out perfume... you must be really good. - i'm not too bad actually. - if you go out to a dinner party, all the ladies around the table--you may not tell them--but you know what they're wearing, or you can guess? - well, sometimes i guess, and usually, i would say, i'm approximately 85% of the time right. - and we once had guerlain himself--jean-paul guerlain-- on the show. and he was known as a "nose". a nose is a specialist who can create perfumes.

how tough is it nowadays-- because there's so much stuff out there--to create a winning fragrance? and do you have to do crazy things--use spices that nobody's ever used? or... i mean, how tough has it become? - well, i think the fragrance market is divided into two categories today: one is high consumption category, and the bigger brands are creating fragrances and testing the fragrances in such a way that they bring to market winners. and so they will not take too many chances going away from areas--olfactory experiences-- that have been successful, so they'll stay in line with what seems to be working, with just small interpretations, obviously, to give it a little personality. but then there's a new category emerging also, which is going back to the origins of fragrances, with a lot of creativity and propositions that stand out, that are

different. and i think this is growing faster--obviously it's a small proportion for the moment--but it's growing faster and it's bringing back the perfumerie that we could appreciate at its origin. - but does this mean wild and crazy fragrances? who's going to buy that? - not necessarily wild and crazy, but very creative, very different, and with relationships of love or hate, you know? and i think those fragrances have chances of being successful because some people don't want to smell like everyone else; they want something that's very particular-- - they want "eau de skunk", as we used to say in louisiana. eau de skunk. or maybe they don't. how crazy does it get? what do they put in there that you never put in normally, for instance? - i think people always work with the basic assortment of essential oils that's available on the market. - lavender, orange, etc. - it's the composition that

might vary, and it's just taking chances with some creativity that no one else will do. - and is it true... i've read somewhere--in grasse, for instance, in france--where they, i believe, grow a lot of the lavender and a lot of those bushes--orange bushes and so on. they can create a concentrate--for purposes of transportation and so on, to keep it less expensive-- a concentrate that is like a thousand times... it's lavender but a thousand times more powerful. is that just an urban legend, or is that true? - no, no, i'm not sure if it's only for transportation, but essentially, through distillation, when you create concentrations--concentrates or absolutes of fragrances--it's highly, highly concentrated. i mean, it's extremely powerful, so you won't use the scent per se, but it's one of the elements of a mix that can go from ten different ingredients to 300. - and if you made the mistake of dropping that on your clothes, you'd smell for a year probably. that's how concentrated it is. - it is very concentrated, yes, absolutely.

- and there's another thing that may be an urban legend, but it's sort of a truism in business schools that the fashion industries--including fragrance, but clothing and makeup and all that--have huge marketing budgets... - right. - ...to such an extent that what you're paying for is the marketing. in other words, you have to wonder--i mean, you buy a perfume, and, boy, you look at it and you say, "oh, my god, this is expensive", but you have to buy it because you promised your girlfriend or whatever. but you're actually paying for those nice ads in vogue and so on. that's what's expensive about it, rather than making it. is that true? - well, marketing is definitely part of any promotion or any selling of consumer goods, obviously. is the proportion of investment required in marketing to launch a fragrance or to launch a makeup line--is it more or less than the car industry or any other type of industry?

that i don't know. but there is a relationship between price and quality of the products, and obviously if you pay a little more it's because you have a better quality product. in every part of the product, there's a portion that's invested in marketing and support for the brand, but is it disproportionate to the rest of what consumer goods are? i'm not too sure about that. - and i'm also told that in the makeup industry they're moving now to therapeutic makeup. for instance, certain types of makeup can actually enhance your... it's not just good health. it's more than that. it's active skin care. - actually, the theme, the word that's being used right now is "colorceutical", and it's basically the mix of colour... - like "pharmaceutical", yeah. - ...and pharmaceutical, and it's true that consumers are more and more--particularly the baby boomers--are expecting a little more from their colour

products. they want products that will also bring health and better looks to them besides just the colour. - and are you still worried about knockoffs? i remember years ago i interviewed the president of cartier in france, and he was the inventor of these bulldozer shows where they would collect fake cartier watches somewhere in the world, and invite the photographers--invite the police, of course, but also the photographers--and have a bulldozer bulldoze all the watches. he was trying to make a point, huh? knockoffs are still a big problem, or not? - i think knockoffs are a problem--not as much in the fragrance business today as it was in the past. the reason is that there's a lot of novelty in fragrances, so it's hard to keep up if you get involved with knockoffs--there is quite a lot of investment, and the lifespan of fragrances has gone down a little bit. there's about 900 fragrances being launched every year today, whereas in the year

2000, there was about 400 fragrances launched in a year. - that's incredible because who's going to buy all that? i mean, you've got the very famous fragrances. they're going to stay, right? - yep. - how much room is there for these new products? - well, i think it shows the trend of the market. i think consumers are just simply wanting to have new fragrances. they want to try something new. they don't stay very faithful to their fragrance. they keep changing, or they're using one, two, or three different types of fragrances. so the consumers are sending out the message to the industry and saying, "okay, bring me something new. bring me a new scent for every season". so this explains the multitude of launches and new products that are being brought to market every year now. - and are there still labs where noses like monsieur guerlain, who has since passed away, do their tricks? in other words, he talked about a lab he had in paris somewhere, and he would go in in the morning and make sure his nose was well--you know, had slept well and was ready

and so on. and he would go... [he sniffs] ...i suppose. he would go... [he sniffs] ...and he'd work all day. is that still the way it's done? - that's the only way you can do fine perfumerie. and there's some talents--not that many talents. a lot of them are in france--now, in the us as well, but all of the fine perfumerie is created that way still today. yes. - and does it apply to... for instance, when you do a dior line or a guerlain line or whatever... i keep talking about perfume, but obviously, what are the other...? there's soaps, there's lotions, there's... you've got to have the whole gamut. - absolutely, so when we talk about fine fragrances, i mean, there's specialized noses that work on fine fragrances' creations, but yet there's also noses that work on skin care, uh, makeup has odour as well, so they will have to use some essences also. but then after

this, we use essences for the household, even for food. but obviously this is another category of creators that will have the sophistication of a jean-paul guerlain or anyone of that calibre. - i would imagine that retailers--especially the powerful big ones--would want to either knock down your prices when it suits them--when they want to do a sale--or keep more of the ticket, of the official price, and you'd probably have to fight that all the time. it's tempting because it's a luxury product, and so there's a margin in there and it's juicy. do you have to fight your retailers? how does it work? - well, obviously we have to comply with the regulations of every one of the countries, and in many instances they're similar. it's very difficult to impose retail prices, but obviously anyone that's in the luxury business feels that

the band is better protected if the prices are maintained at its real value. if some people decide to under-price their products, obviously they don't serve their own purpose, and-- - but you're not allowed to impose a price, but you don't have to service everybody. you might suddenly say, "we're not going to deal with so-and-so, because it keeps putting us on sale. - the refusal of sale is also something that's legislated in some way. - oh. - so obviously if we sell to a category of customer, then we cannot select. i mean, we just make the decision to go to that category. - and you started by describing this sort of collegial mindset in the industry where people don't compete in a cutthroat way. at the same time, i'm thinking if you're going retail, there's only so much shelf space or floor space available in a big department store. there must be competition there to have the nice corner and merchandising.

it wouldn't surprise me at all, meaning, the retail outlets charging you and saying, "okay, you want the corner spot? that costs more". does that go on? - in the selective distribution today, no. i think they go on the strength of the programs, their belief that the product is going to be successful, and the type of support we can bring into growing their business. so if we combine those elements together, then the retailers will decide whether they want to make it a priority or not, and that's usually the deciding factor. - and, to end, we like to ask chefs, you know, what they keep in their fridge when they eat at home. do you have a cologne? do you have something you wear? or not? - i have a preferred cologne, for men, of course. and it's called perry ellis 360 white. - is it one of yours? - it's one of mine, yes. - okay. and you must have a hard time giving your wife... i mean, it must be hard to impress her

at christmas or whatever with a new perfume. it's got to be the best, right? - yes. - she knows it all. - yes, but my wife is using tonnes of different types of products and i would say that the one that she currently prefers is clean, which is a concept-- - it's called clean? - yep. it's clean. - thank god it's not called mr. clean. - it's called clean and it's actually a canadian creation, owned by fusion brands, which is owned by mr. melnyk from biovail-- - oh, yeah, so he was in pharmaceuticals. - yes, and the inspiration was the everyday smell of laundry, of bed sheets... and so there was a range of products that was created. - really? that's interesting. we're getting close to, like, hotdog, hamburger, all these other... a whole bunch of fragrances could be worked on. well, jacques pérusse, thank you so much. it was quite enlightening.

- thank you very much, bob. - thank you and good luck. - that was great. thank you. - jacques pérusse on entrepreneurs: the dobson series of the world show. that's our program for this week. i'm bob scully. have a great week. thanks. closed captioning by sette inc.