How The Media Influences the Fragrance Market
- by KissMeGoodnight.com

How did you acquire your current fragrance? Did you just happen to wander around the fragrance counter of a department store or did you receive some perfume as a gift? Chances are good that you probably saw an ad somewhere for your fragrance. And there is also a good probability that because of that ad you saw, you remembered it enough to check it out the next time you were at the mall. See how the media works? Thanks to some advertising via various forms of media, you remembered the perfume, checked it out, and purchased it. Sure, you might have stumbled onto it on your own or someone could have recommended it by word of mouth. It was the ad, however, that reeled you in.

We are bombarded by advertisements through various forms of media every day. From large layouts in magazines or newspapers to thirty second spots on television to sexy sounding commercials on the radio to billboards up and down the highways, we cannot help but see these marketing ads and assimilate it into our brains. How much do these advertisements play a part in shaping our likes and dislikes? Even if we have not tried a product, many of us will form an opinion, usually based on word of mouth from another person or from the advertisements we see every day.

Think about your current fragrance. You obviously bought it because you liked the smell, but how did you come to discover it in the first place? The answer is in the advertisements. The media, in all forms, guide unsuspecting consumers through mazes of information and expectations. The media controls what we see, how we see it and when we see it. Retailers spend big bucks on market research and knowing who to target with certain advertisements. They also use demographics to determine when their target audience is most likely watching television as well as the particular shows.

Celebrity spokespeople are also big draws when it comes to advertising, especially in the fragrance market. Sometimes, the personality or public image of a celebrity embodies what the perfume manufacturers want to portray to the public. So if a perfume is created with teenagers in mind and the scent is a light floral, the celebrity spokesperson is likely to be someone that the teenage demographic will relate to. They could be a popular actress in teen movies, a singer or even a teenage athlete that many people look up to or identify with.

Whether someone likes a fragrance or not depends heavily on the olfactory senses obviously. However, the scents also depend greatly on memory. Maybe the hint of roses brings back a happy day playing in grandma’s garden or a clean linen scent reminds you of a peaceful time in a country cottage. Our memories play a powerful part in choosing a new fragrance. And if advertisements in the television or print mediums can invoke those same memories without smelling the fragrance first, the media will have done its job.

Think about a time when you were watching television or reading a magazine. At some point in time, there was probably an instance where you wished you could transport yourself to a particular scene. You could have seen a picture of a white sandy beach with crystal blue waters lapping at the shore with a balmy ocean breeze gently blowing the palm trees. Or it could have been a green, open meadow with bursts of color from the abundance of wildflowers blooming. For many people, viewing the ocean scene invokes the memories of salty air and tropical, laid back days. The meadow, on the other hand, invokes an energetic, vibrant beauty. By just portraying these scenes in fragrance advertisements, the media is, in essence, translating what the particular scents will be once you try them in the stores.

The power of advertising is staggering and the media plays a huge part in our perceptions of world events and products on the market. When the media plays in the fragrance market, they can only do so much to influence people’s perceptions of a particular product. They will have done their job if their advertisements got you as far as the department stores or wherever their fragrances are sold. Once you walk in those store doors however, the power is all yours.

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KissMeGoodnight.com : 2006

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