marketing and branding

völlig losgelöst

Today’s picture shows you the complete lavender twig that I scanned the other day, and did a cut out for my post on Friday. And today’s title is German and hard to translate. It means something like “completely detached”, far off. I picked it as it fits perfectly to a couple of observations made the last few days.

Like me not imagining that people really want to pay through paypal on my website. I got maybe two or three requests for it in total. That’s like nothing, compared to requests for other things that I get regularly, like larger bottles, smaller bottles, old bottle style, different colors of bottles, old packaging, ribbons, you name it. I get a lot of requests, sometimes also in the form of ” I would buy if you offer a larger bottle, but if you do not introduce it now you loose a client”, probably because I am approachable. In general, I think, getting  input is ok. It tells me a lot. You know: in a sense, as creator of a scent, brand, image, box,… , you are completely detached. Seriously.

So, I never imagined that my perfume loving clients wished to pay their samples or full bottles through paypal, because I do not shop through paypal. But guess what!

Thank you again, to my readers, for commenting, and for bringing this up.

I read in the newspaper this morning that Robert Redford mentioned in an interview (in the German Focus) referring to Hollywood that “„Als Künstler ist man Leuten ausgeliefert, denen es nur ums Geld geht“ (as an artist (in Hollywood) you are completely at the mercy of people who only care about money). Thus, from time to time, Redford needs to flee from this monster Hollywood. In all clarity, Redford realizes the irony that his fleeing from Hollywood, in a sense, is only made possible by the money he earns in Hollywood.

Here, the same is true. One hundred percent.

And like in the film industry, where there is Hollywood and the growing power of independent studios and one man shows, in perfumery, there is a handful of houses and the growing independent studios. And like in Hollywood, you find out, if you want to find it out, working as perfumer in one of the handful houses, means death to one’s own ideas and trying to express yourself as creator of scents.  Thus, “scent and chemistry” on Facebook wrote(*) :

“And people easily forget that a perfumer’s job is to win a brief, not to create his own personal fragrance, or express him- or herself. So as a famous perfumer told me yesterday, the last time he really could work on his very own idea was in perfumery school decades ago.”

How cool’s that?

(*) Scent and Chemistry is actually a book. But the facebook site is maintained by one of the authors, and it provides some insight into the world of industry, perfume Hollywood, molecules- Givaudan’s molecules mostly- and everything you need to get disillusioned about perfume.

Finally, the lavender twig sits on my desk, smells heavenly, and I love the long twig, that presents the little blue flowers like a little green scent lamp;  the green facets, the herbaceous and rough quality that complements the bright flowers. And I feel that not being able to work on own ideas as creator for decades is close to being dead as creator.