In our image-conscious society, your choice of fragrance says as much about you as the clothes you wear.
In the past, people would find a fragance that they liked and stick with it, which is why classic such as Chanel No 5, Lancóme's Trésor and, for him, Dior's Fahrenheit still feature in the top 10 best- seller lists. Nowadays, however, the vast majority of consumers like to change their scent as often as their hairstyle, and buy fragances os a whim, lured as much by the fragances's image as by the scent itself.
Capturing a consumer's attention through advertising and packaging is nothing new, but creating an image for a fragance is. Take Ralph Lauren's latest fragance, Polo Explorer. From the ad campaign, featuring a rugged model getting out of his 4 x 4, to the hipflask-shaped botte, created from green enamel with a stopper cap molded out of blanck rubber, it is such a clever concept that men are likely to be sold by before they've even had a sniff. Millions of men aspire to its rugged, outdoorsy image in their everyday lives. Similarly, Cacharel's Liberté – which translates as Freedom- for women and Diesel's two new fragances, Fuel for Life, for him and her, both tap into a spirit of adventure, of freedom and of enjoying life to the max.
Bottle desingns are becoming more inventive and ad campaigns more aspirational, to attract the spontaneous buyer: Deseo by Jennifer Lopez is just the kind of fragance that jet-set travelers will pick up on their vacations, lured by its jewel-like pacaging and ad featuring a bronzed J Lo perched on a hammock. What holidaymaker doesn't want to be reminded of summer days every time they spritz on their scent? Kenzo's two latest launches have also been created specifically to appeal to travelers. Tokyo by Kenzo for men evokes the energey of the Japanese capital, while 7.15am in Bali is supposed to capture that languorous moment when you've just woken up on your exotic vacation.
Fashion-conscious consumers might think they're not easily won over by a fragrance's image, but recent launches, such as Burberry The Beat, blend ultra-cool packaging with hip ad campaingns to capture the attention of trendy types. Chanel's Coco Mademoiselle has catapulted back up the coolometer recently thanks to a sassy new ad campaing featuring Keira Knightley.
Dreamy types will love the latest launches from Nina Ricci, Esteé Lauder, Marc Jacobs and Tommy Hilfiger-their cute packaging and whimsical ad campaigns are targeted at pretty young things who like their scent to be light and bright without making too much of a statement. And their nemesis, people who love to be noticed, will love the latest interpretations of popular scents. Their names- Z Zegna Extreme, Dior Midnight poison, CK Euphoria Intense for men- tell you exactly what you need to know: that these powerful fragrances are guaranteed to attract attention.
The next time you're buying a new fragrance, ask yourself: are you buying it based on its smell or have you been swayed by how it looks and, more importantly, how it will make you look?
The answer, in this image-conscious era, is most likely a bit of both.
People are lured by a scent's image as much as by the scent itself.