Karen Gilbert

Karen Gilbert is another guest lecturer we have had recently. She has worked in international Flavours and Fragrances.

" Fragrance is a way of communicating without words, fragrance can make us think, feel or react without ever knowing why " - I understood what this meant as only last week I bought a new lip balm and the smell just brought me back to when I was about 6 years old and I got a Barbie lip gloss set which had the identical smell this this lip balm, it was really strange how I straight away remembered and associated these scents.

" Fragrance is a major factor is the development of a new product or even an environment " - It triggers memories, creates emotions, and emotions cause reactions. Hopefully then for the brand this creates an emotional attachment between the consumer and the product.

Karen gave a brief time line of the fragrance market from the 1920s which I thought was quite helpful towards our particular project as our group are concentrating on creating a vintage style perfume.

1920s- Emancipation, Coco Chanel, the First fragrance to be launched by a clothing designer.

1930s - 1940s - Hollywood Glamour

1950s - 1970s - Establishing Mass Market, Este Lauder created 'Youth Dew' a bath oil
                         which was seen as less wasteful as a bottle of perfume so women             could purchase the product without guilt.
Revlon was responsible for creating the Mass Market, which Charlie contributed to with cheap perfume which made it affordable for everyone.

1980s - Money and Power, Poison Dior released

1990s - Zen and Spirituality, new era for fashion and fragrance

2000s - Cult and Celebrity, Niche and High end Luxe.


One thing Karen said in the Lecture was that if our brand was a flavour of ice cream would it be Vanilla or Pistachio?

Vanilla is excepted and loved by many as it isn't too offensive or out there

Pistachio is more niche, those who love it really love it and would stay loyal but many will not fancy it at all.

As our brand is targeted at a certain type of consumer - those who buy into the vintage life style I strongly feel that our brand is Pistachio. I'm aware that when we give our presentation there will be many who will not like our brand, or maybe not relate to our ideas however there will be some people who like it (she says hopefully) . 

Niche brands have more focus on ingredients rather than fancy packaging as the brand will have a smaller reach, more of a cult following as it is more creative than versatile.