THE CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS - IFEAT

WHY FRAGRANCE PRODUCTS?There is only so much smelling that can be done before people needed a break. Tony Curtis provided afragrance free interlude before the first coffee break by reviewing the place of fragrance in themarketing of perfumed products. Products are complex and just as perfumers classify odour materialsto make complexity manageable and provide structure the ‘Plymouth’ model of products provides aframework to analyse the contribution of the various elements of a product to the total user experience.IntegrationIntangible BenefitAttributesTangible BenefitFeature AttributesProduct[Benefits]Signal AttributesLegal ConformanceAccount ConformanceTechnicalSafetyEnvironmental/ Life cyclePerformanceComplementary ProductsRangeObjectivesExtensionRange & DepthDepthFeedbackServiceStandardize / AdaptFigure 4 The ‘Plymouth model of product’A brief overview of the total model was given with the main focus on the specific parts that fragranceplays in the total marketing concept of product. The first and key issue is to unlearn the word‘product’. Formulators create ‘products’ but consumers want to experience ‘benefits’. This can besummed up by the old industry saying ‘In the factory we make cosmetics. In the shop we sell hope!’This quotation introduces a second key concept. Much of the role of fragrances in a product isassociated with ‘intangible’ ‘benefits’. All shampoos clean hair, at least we would hope so! Theconsumer buys product A rather than product B as they perceive it has a better value and set ofbenefits. These include benefits such as freshness and wellbeing. The label intangible is given as thesebenefits may not be measured. It is not possible to buy 2 litres of well being. One may be able todevise a protocol to measure the shininess of hair for a conditioning shampoo but not the sense ofwellbeing that its use may confer on the user.317