Perfume and personality
- manondesousa
- Nov 15, 2020
- 3 min read
Updated: Nov 30, 2020
Brand image and perception: in which way it has an impact on consumer behavior?
Perfume smells good, yes! Well, most of them… haha!
And we wear them to have a good smell on our skin, to cover up the human body odor, which is not always the most pleasant. But, is this really the only reason why we continue buying perfume? Why are we choosing some perfume, some brands in particular?
When we buy a perfume, we are also buying a certain experience. We buy perfume to respond to a need: have a good smell, this is the first reason why, but also to respond to an unmet need. The experience, the sensation that it will give us: feeling strong, feeling confident, feeling desire… It is finally all about feelings and desire.
Perfumes got the power to seduce and captivate. And what will give us those feelings? The perfume brand of course. This can explain the reason why it exists a huge number of perfume in the world, but a few one of them from a few brands are leading the market.
As consumer, we are always influenced by brands, and this is particularly true on perfume, where brands are an important factor considered in the buying process.
We tend to choose a perfume that will fit our personality. In fact, according to a study conducted by Le Journal des femmes and CCM benchmark institute, more than 9 women out of 10 consider their perfume to be a part of their identity. The smell of the perfume will be a factor in that, but also the brand of the perfume. If we associate a perfume from a certain brand to our personality, of course we will relate the brand personality to our own. Associate a brand to our own image is called in marketing “self-image”, the image that people have of themselves when they are wearing a certain brand. This aspect is also part of the brand identity.
The perfume will be a part of your personality and people will even associate the smell of your perfume to your person. Don’t you have some smells associated with a place, a memory, a person? I have! Last time I felt an odor reminding me of my grandmother and I totally wanted to be with her.
As I said earlier, when we buy perfume, we buy an experience, a feeling, a state of mind… If you look at the advertisement, in none of them you will find a description of the perfume, of even the perfume itself sometimes. What you will see is the desire of individuals in subtle ways. A male perfume advertisement will stage a strong man, making women fall at his feet. And men will want to buy the perfume to have the same experience!
(Source : https://www.buzzwebzine.fr/the-weeknd-signe-musique-de-la-pub-boss-the-scent/)
When people wants to buy a perfume, the first step of the purchase decision will be done even before smelling the perfume. And brands are totally aware of that. This is why they do not hesitate to spend a lot on advertising and celebrity endorsement to have a good and strong image. Those celebrities will add their personality to the advertisement and thus on the perfume. Brands will then use different celebrities for its different perfumes so that each perfume can have its own personality.
Brands also know that they can play with emotions, show people what they want to see, what they want to feel, what they want to be...
If the message sent is something positive, that will make the consumer happy or that will show him what he wants, the ad and the brand will be memorize. But, be careful brands! The consumer must not be conscious of it otherwise it is doomed to fail!
Perfume brands are often related to luxury, and if luxury is part on the brand image, social valorization will also be sought in the purchase of the perfume for some people, those who value other’s opinions.
Luxury perfumes tend to travel through time, they are timeless. And this is due to their product and brand image. Channel n°5 is a really good example of that!
But if you want luxury, you need to pay. Perfume price are generally high, and the brand image included in the perfume is the main elements that justifies it, the scent represents only 5% of the perfume price (according to Mark Tungate, 2011).
Written by: De Sousa Manon
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