Lancome & Napoleon Studio
Creative & Experience
Insight
By Jaishree Davatwal
3rd Sep 2024
Fragrance has long been tied to emotions – be that tapping into how a wearer is already feeling, how the brand intends the wearer to feel, or used as the wearer’s own form of self expression & signature scent. In the last 6 months, the fragrance industry has continued to grow and with that has come a boom in prestigious fragrance houses such as Louis Vuitton, bottling up somewhat intangible emotions and conveying them through the power of scent. From “Imagination” to the rush of going for an “Afternoon swim” on a hot summer’s day. The progression of tapping into intangible feelings through fragrance poses limitless possibilities for connecting with consumers through experiential events.
Earlier this year, Charlotte Tilbury launched into the world of fragrance with its “Collection of Emotions” specifically asking consumers “how do you want to feel today?” with scents ranging from JOYPHORIA promising euphoric happiness, to MAGIC ENERGY leaving wearers feeling grounded and reawakened. Each of the 6 fragrances were brought to life at Protein Studios, with a small but transformative space for each perfume, immersing guests through sound, lighting and video and crucially engaging guests with scents and emotions they may not have tried outside of the experience. Greeted by Charlotte’s iconic voice and walking through an arch outline of the perfume bottle on entry, the overall experience showcased the immense opportunity for brands to transport consumers to a specific feeling and to challenge consumers to explore fragrances beyond those they typically resonate with.
The relationship between self expression and perfume continues to take on new forms. Cosmetics Business reports that ‘How to smell expensive’ has reached 28.3 million views and counting on TikTok, with consumers associating the specific feeling of the wealth they want to feel through purchasing a brand, and the trend further branching out to specific aesthetics such as “clean girl”, “strawberry girl” & “brat”. In a climate buzzing with new brand experiences each week, tapping into specific aesthetics particular to a fragrances’ notes crucially creates one of a kind brand experiences that cannot be duped.
A brand particularly notorious for conveying its fragrance notes through events is Kayali. Kayali’s recent “Vacay in a Bottle” edit acts as a passport to the fragrant destinations of Marrakesh, Capri, Maui & Maldives. Against a backdrop of edible gourmand notes, a key fragrance trend for 2024 (Cosmetics Business), Kayali has also launched Vanilla Candy described as “sugary, delightful and tempting,” inspired by the founders’ “love for candy and mouth watering notes”. The press tour featured pinky-purple hued scent labs where Kayali fans could taste the notes of glazed candied pear and bubble gum. Both collections offer a rich playground for creative exploration, with the latter tapping into luxury fashion houses transcending into the world of food with luxury cafes, bakeries & baked goods giveaways, and extending to consumers fitting into particular aesthetics, places and lifestyles.
Beyond tapping into inhouse visual and auditory expertise to elevate a fragrance experience, at Marble Creative Studios we challenge brands beyond the norm to look at creative challenges through the lens of creative optimism. The possibilities to bring to life intangible elements of perfumes are particularly rich. This could be curating environments beyond cafes and retail stores to tap into specific aesthetics, transporting guests during exclusive fragrance discovery experiences, to exploring how consumers connect with the first spray of a fragrance that bottles a particular emotion.
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