Are you just making perfume or are you creating an experience?

    Much is being written about shoppers no longer content to buy products. When shopping, they look for an "experience." How prepared are you, as you work on a new perfume, to provide an "experience"?

    Here's a simple example of an "experience" I've created for a fragrance --

Mimosa perfume

    The perfume, Mimosa, can be purchased directly from its web page. But you can also meditate on the quiet garden visual. Then (you have to go to the page to hear it) I've added music -- a "Mimosa Ringtone" which you can download and use in your mobile, iPhone, Android, Blackberry or whatever. Sure, the music here is simple and short but it suggests a path that can be explored. Together on this web page we have a musical, visual, and scent presentation -- ears, eyes, and nose are all engaged. I've created a small "experience," something more than just a perfume.

    How do you get started creating a perfume experience? Experimentation helps. Currently I have one visual theme in my head that, while strong in my imagination and only just beginning to gel as a scent, poses some problems for an "experience." The working title will turn women off UNLESS I can skillfully communicate the beauty I saw in what others might see as a common, or even ugly, sight. I'm pretty sure I can get the music right (it will be longer than a ringtone), I'm sure I can pull the scent together, but I'm not sure I can pull off the graphics -- which will be the key to making this "experience" right. This project will be months in development.

    Would you like a challenge? I have a visual you can use as a student exercise, to get you thinking how you might create a fragrance and music to go with it. The visual is a moving sculpture I call a "twirligig" as it was inspired by the 2015 Whirligig Festival in Shelburne, Nova Scotia (Canada).

    You're welcome to "steal" my twirligig video if, after putting together your fragrance and music, you can't find a better visual on your own.

    Have fun with it. Experiment. Create a perfume "experience."

    To see some real whirligigs and the festival, you can watch this video -- again, for fun.