marketing and branding

on fragrance being too subjective and other epic fails

Today’ s picture shows you an illustration that I did with photoshop, emulating pencil and watercolor, having a closer look at my left hand, painting with the right hand,  while waiting until the time was right to make a phone call to the US, about trade mark protection. That actually fits with a link further down this post.  I am glad I did this illustration as there will be not much time to sketch today: Another pick-up day in the factory; so I will be down there, taking some “creative” work with me, like musing about notes that should be communicated with gardenia, the upcoming scent from the sotto la luna®  line. One more word about that in an instance.

I will sit in the factory with shorter hair, after a visit (finally!) at my super friendly, super competent and super young hair dresser. We were talking about hair loss, and I mentioned that it is no issue for me (anymore), that I got used to the idea of loosing my hair. Simple enough: Mirrors don’t lie. So my hair dressers tries to cheer me up, going like “oh, I totally love bold men. They look gorgeous, the problems is just old men with bold heads, like in their forties or fifties. ” Fail, total epic communication fail.

But when you are around on this planet for half a century, like I am, almost, then you know how to deal with communication fails >smile.

So, yes, words can make a difference, and I will use my time in the factory to fill some samples, maybe pack this or that perfume, making use of hands that -as the sketch shows- are in existance since 50 years and show some degenerative defects that ask for anti inflamation drugs. To be honest: I know the formula of my gardenia scent, but to communicate notes is not easy. I do not want to head into sweet and sickly territory, these “über” words in all aspects. It is all too subjective. And still, … we will see.

Ah, yes, I need to come up with these lines, and a bit more text as I have this GANTT file, where my design buddy has the task of coming up with the labels and visuals and at the same time I have to come up with the words and the two lines come together in the near future. Arrgh.

Words and perfume: They don’t go well together, for me.

Here’s a few more words that are worth reading. The first link points to Victoria’s blog, Bois de Jasmin, where  she writes about a topic that sounds more boring than it actually is: Copyright protection and court  decisions there, in France, on fragrances. One of the punch lines there, in court: FRAGRANCE IS TOO SUBJECTIVE TO BE CLEARLY DEFINED. Hallelujah!   It is worth your 5 minutes, and the following 10 minutes for a thorough read of the comments section. I do not want to bring that discussion to this post here, thus I invite you to comment there.

And then, there ‘s a lovely review over there, on Now Smell This, by Robin, about PHI-une rose de Kandahar. One of the aspects that I loved most about her review: How she came back to a scent that ended on the “not sure whether I like this” list. Here’s the thing: Quite often, love needs time. Love on first sight happens, but usually a fragrance like a person needs time.

Sometimes, I feel that we do not give us this time anymore. Be it perfumes or guys or whatever: maybe we don’t because the next guy is around the corner, and like the other guy he promises flowers and all the good stuff. But wait: The first guy, wasn’t there something special?