With a theme of ‘Fragrance Matters’ the 2014 Fragrance Forum, the 4th annual event of its kind, was again held at the Royal Society in London.
Opening the event was a moving talk from Duncan Boak, founder of the eating and smell disorders charity which he has launched, called Fifth Sense. He spoke about Smell and Emotion - the reality behind fragrance marketing.
He addressed what he described as: “a bizarre conundrum about marketing. Perfume is sold wholly on the relationship between sense of smell and emotion” he said, citing love, joy, lust and envy in the names of various fine fragrance products.
Dr Logan from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute took as his topic ‘Do you smell what I smell?’. No-one else knows what your nose knows. According to Dr Darren Logan, an expert in genetics and the effects of smell, there may be much greater diversity between humans than was previously thought to be. In fact, there is no ‘true’ smell for any given odour at all.
He likened his research to conducting a colour blindness test demonstrating to the audience how, whilst colour blindness is obvious , there may be something similar but far less obviously detected happening in the olfactory system.
The final session of the day turned to fragrances and fragrance marketing. Lisa Hipgrave, director of IFRA UK, introduced Emmanuelle Moeglin Global Fragrance and Personal Care Analyst at Mintel, who discussed fragrance and technology.
“Over half of European mobile phone users own a smartphone; however only 6% of consumers are interested in using a mobile app to determine the right fragrance for them”. She gave a fascinating and detailed account of just how manufacturers can bring technology and scent experiences together to bridge the gap. She believes that technology devices, digital tools and innovations such as ‘fragrance from within’ will in future enhance our sensory smell experiences and affect our moods.
