Mostly economics. Niche houses typically produce far smaller volumes at higher margins aimed at a smaller, dedicated audience, and the cost of TV advertising simply doesn’t make sense against that scale of sales the way it does for a mass-market designer brand selling millions of bottles.

How the business model differs

A big designer fragrance launch is often backed by a huge marketing budget precisely because it needs to sell an enormous volume to be profitable, and TV or celebrity-fronted campaigns are built for exactly that kind of reach. Niche brands generally rely on word of mouth, specialist retailers, fragrance communities and reputation built slowly over years, a different, often more sustainable, growth model that doesn’t need the same scale of spend to work.

What this means as a shopper

A lack of TV advertising says nothing about a fragrance’s quality, if anything it’s often a sign the brand is putting its money into the actual ingredients and composition rather than a marketing campaign. Our guide to luxury, niche and designer fragrance explains these categories properly, alongside the complete guide to perfume.