The Role of Fragrance in Consumers’ Lives

Fragrance Forward Panel (l to r): Heather Muir Maffei, beauty director, Real Simple and beauty editor-at-large, Dotdash Meredith; Alessandra Giansanti Zorlas, VP-marketing & public relations, Euroitalia USA; Caroline Fabrigas, CEO, Scent Marketing Inc.; Gabi Maretti, senior marketing manager, IFF; and Mara Dumski, chief fragrance experience officer, Pura.

Beauty partnerships are proliferating; community building and brand aesthetics are supporting their growth. Fashion Group International (FGI) explored this phenomenon, and more, at its Beauty U Beauty Symposium, at the Fashion Institute of Technology’s (FIT) Katie Murphy Amphitheater last month. The event examined what drives innovation in beauty and what supports its staying power in a changing environment. Speakers demonstrated that passion, drive and vision are integral to success, but elements of surprise and ingenuity keep it exciting.

Moderator, Heather Muir Maffei, beauty director, Real Simple and beauty editor-at-large, Dotdash Meredith, introduced fragrance panelists, Alessandra Giansanti Zorlas, VP-marketing & public relations, Euroitalia USA; Caroline Fabrigas, CEO, Scent Marketing Inc.; Gabi Maretti, senior marketing manager, International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF); and Mara Dumski, chief fragrance experience officer, Pura.

Sharing perspectives on what fragrance-forward means, Maretti of IFF, said, “Fragrance moves us beyond emotion to what we want to evoke. It plays a key role in a consumer’s life.”

Fragrance Forward

Dumski called Pura a change agent.

“It means pushing boundaries to bring about change.”

Pura, based in Utah, offers app-controlled, premium home and environment fragrances, collaborations with partners, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Nest and Anthropologie.

“We are not a mass market air care fragrance. We’re a technology company and a fragrance company, with hardware, marketing, and engineering all under one roof,” said Dumski.

She noted the strong connection between emotion and scent, and how people want to have a clean scent in their homes. “Pura offers the essence of air care,” she said.

Maretti took a global approach, saying, “We look at our core consumers, and consider the fragrance category and geographic aspects. Each demographic is different. Clean aldehydic notes are appearing in more fragrance trends now, creating the feeling of sanctuaries in the home.”

She said clean aspects bring reassurance to consumers, creating a safe space, while others crave a warmer oud scent. Maretti observed how vanilla has moved from a dusky aspect to a tactility aspect.

“I wouldn’t put it in gourmand, since it has moved from instant pleasure to slow pleasure. It is now more sensorial,” she said, describing it as having one of the most core molecules going back to nostalgia, nursing and childhood.

Fabrigas, Scent Marketing Inc., emphasized the invisible influence of scent, describing how scents diffused into the air evoke oneness with the environment. Its newest creation, a fragrance for the One Hotel, captures the oneness of a nature-inspired environment.

“It has become a cult favorite,” said Fabrigas. Scent Marketing’s “The Perfect Weekend,” which was created for Wayfair, smells like Belgian linen and fresh cut grass. “It not only distinguishes the store’s scent, but is a candle, too,” she said.

Capturing Consumers’ Feelings

Regardless of delivery, capturing the feelings sought by consumers is essential in order to achieve something resonant.

“One of the differentiators for Pura is playing in the fine fragrance space. It’s about the total scenting experience,” said Dumski. “Working with the best perfumers and fragrance houses has created the unexpected.”

She noted how she has taken on the role of a facilitator, providing opportunities for partnerships to ultimately create fragrances you can wear on your skin as well as fragrance the air. Dumski recently collaborated with the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, to create the scent which fragrances the John Singer Sargent exhibition gallery, as well as the bottled scent, for The Met; and the Nest fragranced candle, Sunlit Yuzu & Neroli, which won the Candle & Home Collection of the Year Award at the Fragrance Foundation Awards.  

The company offers standard plug-ins as well as tabletop devices, like Pura Plus, which not only dispense fragrance, but are also pieces of art for your room. Pura is also working on wearables, in keeping with the freshness trend.

From Air to Skin

Shifting from the air to the skin, Alessandra Giansanti Zorlas, Euroitalia USA, insisted “there’s nothing like smelling a fragrance and putting it on your skin.”

She cited the importance of personalized experience, and credited Leonard Lauder and his role as Chief Teaching Officer, for providing advice on sampling, educating and in-store experience.

Fabrigas emphasized understanding the ethos, goals, and mission in guiding the output.

“Getting the input from your team, learning to evaluate, picking out several scents, creating mood boards, and then sniffing are integral to seeing what people respond to. The output is as good as the input,” she said.

Maretti insisted AI will not replace the core of fragrance creation. She acknowledged its potential for supporting creation, vis-à-vis technical aspects, i.e., creating higher performance in less time, but said it would not replace the core fragrance creation process.

Fragrance, panelists agreed, retains the power to create mood and stir memories, whether pushing the envelope through collaborative partnerships, spreading social awareness, or emphasizing a brand message.

The panelists provided a look at what is next for them in the fragrance world, with Dumski citing Pura’s new scent created for the Temple of Dendur at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The fragrance is based on Egyptian Sandalwood and Blue Lotus. Pura collaborated with National Geographic to create a rain forest scent to feel the humidity in the air.  Zorlas said Euroitalia USA’s recent acquisition of Moschino, extended its fragrance reach. Fabrigas highlighted the importance of driving brand awareness with pop-ups. Key takeaways were that personalization, special events, experiential marketing and partnerships are on the horizon for fragrance.