For all their proud claims of being
marketing-free, the overwhelming majority of new niche brands are all about
concept (and therefore, marketing), whether said concept is blood types or
sticking every note known to man into cologne. Beyond providing brand identity
and an easily-memorized 10-second sales pitch, these concepts are ultimately
about legitimacy, a major concern for niche perfumery, since once you unmoor
fragrance from its century-long coupling with fashion, you’ve got to justify
somehow why you, of all people, feel entitled to put out a brand.
Launched with huge fanfare (and the attendant
budget) at the Cannes film festival this year with a film by Bruno Aveillan (the
multi-award winning ad film director of Cartier and Shalimar fame) and a
cocktail party attended by the likes of Orlando Bloom and Heidi Klum The Harmonist barely qualifies as a
niche brand. But it’s got a concept. Namely,
finding your fragrance through a blend of Chinese astrology and feng shui.
Composed by Guillaume Flavigny (Givaudan)
advised by a feng shui master, the collection comprises yin and yang versions
of the five “fundamental energies”:
water, wood, fire, earth and metal. A piece of software into which you enter your
date, hour, year and place of birth determines your “personal element” (it seems that
as “Yin Wood”’, I’m “seductive, flexible, a survivor”, “as charming and
graceful as a flower” – I wish.) Then, according to what you are seeking (socializing,
creativity, prosperity, status and seduction, wisdom), you are offered a scent
reflecting one of the five elements, which is meant to help you in your quest.
Conversely, you can blind-sniff all ten and based on which one(s) appeals the
most, you’ll find out what aspect of your life you need to focus on.
Skeptics may dismiss The Harmonist’s pitch as fruitloopery, a gimmick solely aimed at
moving bottles off the shelves. Still, as far as themes go, this one is well
chosen. Just like the tarot, Chinese astrology
is a strong symbolic system, sufficiently complex and ambivalent to allow you
to project unformulated desires and unconscious thoughts into your reading. It
works particularly well in choosing a fragrance, a process that requires you to
tell yourself a story about the fragrance in order to bond with it (if only “I
dig everything Prada stands for” or “I’m a Serge whore”).
The Harmonist provides a system that enables that – though there
are just 10 perfumes, the principle is actually semi-bespoke, since each one
means a different thing for every customer.
For instance, my blind-picking
“Hypnotizing Fire” means I’m seeking to develop my creativity, while for Ms.
Yin Earth, it would mean she aspires to more wisdom. And since the placebo
effect is a thing, if you believe it works, it probably will.
The Harmonist’s approach is most effective in
the live, one-to-one consultations provided in the brand’s L.A. and Paris
boutiques. Who doesn’t want to talk about herself? Connecting olfactory notes
with emotions, qualities or aspirations helps the customer make sense of a
particularly abstract, ungraspable medium. Not to mention that picking one
fragrance out of ten for a reason –
“this isn’t just a luxury, it’s spiritual healing” – rather than wading through
the thousands on offer, must feel like a blessing for non-perfumistas.
I’m still treating my yin and yang to the whole
range so it’s too early to post a review – for all I know, once my creativity,
seduction, prosperity, wisdom and social life are enhanced, I may just
spontaneously combust into a higher plane of consciousness… Watch this space.
Illustration drawn from Bruno Aveillan's short feature for The Harmonist, "Meet the Harmony". To view, click here.
Hm, I don't know. Clever marketing concept, it will for sure work out well for the brand for the reasons you mention (spiritual, people talking about themselves...) but I would really be interested in the perfumes' quality. I fear they won't live up to their marketing strategy and that it's all more about the astro experience than about scent.
RépondreSupprimerHi Marie. Actually, the perfumes are pretty good -- I'd say they're just as good as those of many high-profile niche brands. But the selling point is definitely the astro experience.
SupprimerThe rigamarole reminds me somewhat of the JAR ritual. I look forward to hearing more about the scents.
RépondreSupprimerI know what you mean. That's actually the reason I never pushed the door of the Jar boutique in Paris... Though in this case, it does help with the consultation because there's a starting point that's not "what kind of fragrances do you usually wear".
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