My new fragrance is evolving -- more personal notes (#2)

The beginning of this story can be found here.

    Picking up from where I left off (see above), I had a scent and I had a theme and working name but they didn't go together, or so I thought. Then, looking harder, I began to see how the name and the scent could go nicely together. The name actually had a double meaning but I had only been looking at one side of it. Now I began to see that, with this fragrance, I could go in two directions, but not at the same time. One version will get worked out now. The other may make an appearance some time in the future.

    I mentioned in my last message that I was planning to use a big picture in my ad for this new perfume and the picture had to harmonize with both the scent, the name of the fragrance, and the "story" behind the fragrance. For a picture I turned to my archive of photos for which I own all the rights. I wasn't exactly sure what I was looking for; I just hoped to get some ideas and find some inspiration.

    Browsing through hundreds of images collected over a period of twenty years or more, I began to spot pictures that could fit my theme -- not a lot of them but some. Images can tell a story. Sometimes a single image can make a stronger point than a video or even a feature film. While any image is always subject to interpretation by the viewer based on their own experiences and world view, certain images almost transcend subjectivity and lead people to a common thought. These images have great impact. I can't say that any of mine claim that distinction, but a few were leaning in that direction.

    Out of all the images I viewed, I selected three that seemed to work for my new perfume. Each, as I viewed it, shared a common theme but each would give me a slightly different slant when it got down to my writing a "story" with it. Of the three images I selected, one was chosen as my starting point. The other two, quite different than the one I selected, are being held in reserve, perhaps for future use.

    With the image selected, I can now bring the working name of the fragrance into focus and create my story. This story will harmonize with the scent and the image, each reinforcing the other, making the promotional material more powerful.

The ad

    Now it's time to get started on the ad, with the photo for my inspiration. The "big" ad will be a web page at my pglightyears.com. If done nicely, it will lend itself to "little" ads being extracted from it for use elsewhere, perhaps on Facebook, or Twitter, or an email, or as a mention on other websites. In the process of developing the "big" ad, I'll also review the working name for this fragrance and see if I can improve on it. You never know.

The scent

    I had taken my basic scent in two directions. Besides the basic scent, I was working on a simple accord that could "decorate" each version, taking them, for the most part, toward the meaning of the name I was not going to push. Still it might, I was thinking, work for both.

    So now I have to polish up this "decoration," and polish up the two versions of my basic fragrance. Then I can see how my decoration works with each of them. I might need to make modifications to the basic scent. I might need to add a bit of something or change a bit of something. Here's where multiple trials come in. The aroma materials I needed arrived yesterday (4/27/20) and so I'm ready to go at it.

Going forward

    Now that I have my photo, I'll work on both the scent and the ad. This will take a few weeks and, during that time, not only will I get this work done but I'll probably get some ideas for another scent ... or another ad.

    Be patient and, in three to five weeks, I'll give you the next installment of this story.