ESSENTIAL BRAND MEANING
Fragrance and self image
Evaluating scents against the self image of consumers
Marc Gilles
Abstract
A fragrance can be considered and said to be attractive, nice to wear and nice-smelling. However, it might not be in line with the personal expectations of the consumer in terms of expressing one’s personality and projecting a “self-image”.
The fragrance market being everyday more fragmented and more precisely segmented, it has become essential to draw a line between the fragrance features and the specific sensibility of the consumer targets.
In this context, we have developed and experienced a methodology aiming at evaluating the ability of the scent to convey the self-image that the targeted users wish to project, thus creating a link between:
- key attitudes and behaviours regarding fragrance,
- expectations of each target in terms of “self-image” projected by the fragrance,
- and the key features the fragrance needs to have to deliver that image.
This new approach to fragrance measurement gives the opportunity to focus on the most strategic features of a fragrance for each specific target (powerful, sensual, original, discrete, fresh…).
Marc Gilles
Marc Gilles et Associés, France
Marc Gilles founded the Marc Gilles & Associés institute in 1976, after working as a marketing innovation consultant in the Bernard Julhiet Group. He has worked on a wide range of projects for international companies, local authorities and on assignments for the European Community. Marc has a Masters degree in Social Sciences.
Marc GILLES is a member of the Board of Syntec (Syndicat des Instituts d’Etudes Marketing): the French Market Research Professional Union.
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