FCP: Industry Showcase

As part of Industry Showcase day I attended three lectures delivered by guest lecturers with experience in brand development, which relates to my fragrance project of the second module of my fashion communication and promotion course at Nottingham Trent. I found the lectures very helpful and provided me with insight into the industry and how they have built their successful brands from once being in my position as a student. Each lecture provided me with different information and insights leaving me with a broader understanding and a breadth of knowledge that I can use when developing a fragrance brand during this project.

The first lecture was delivered by Michelle Hoines-White, the co-founder of 'FRONTCOVER' - a brand that has developed various makeup kits that followed fashion trends from season to season. Michelle started by telling us how her and her business partner identified that the gap in the market was that there wasn't a brand that produced makeup according to the trends in fashion and broader beauty culture. This was due to the time it took to create makeup. Therefore, 'FRONTCOVER' was created and aimed to release two different makeup kits, with all the essentials included, per year following the seasons - spring/summer , autumn/winter. This idea came from their observations of consumers and the market, which is something I have done in my fragrance project in order to identify a gap in the fragrance market. Michelle's lecture also gave some good advice for this project including to not be afraid and have the confidence to speak to anyone and everyone from your neighbour to beauty consultants. It is important to have a wide range of inputs and opinions.

The next guest of industry showcase day was Eli Ankutse, the editor of Joshua Magazine - a premium and luxury lifestyle magazine, as well as the editor of Samson magazine - a sports magazine. Eli is also the creator of Niven and Joshua - a mens grooming/skincare brand. Like Michelle, Eli also found a gap in the market of a luxury yet affordable mens skincare brand. Eli and his team's aim was not to create a premium brand but to make an ordinary brand more premium. His lecture was full of useful brands to take a look at in relation to my fragrance project such as Japanese brand retaW and Blaise Mautin, a specialist in personal fragrance. Eli's lecture was also incredibly useful for my project as it helped me to understand how to develop a gap in the market that we find. This will be useful for my big idea/creative concept stage of my project.

The final guest lecturer of the day was Nick Gilbert. Nick is a creative with multiple different experiences in the fragrance industry such as close work with Penhaligons and their niche fragrances. Nick based his lecture on storytelling and developing a brand. He covered varous case studies of different brands and their most successful fragrance launches, which all held a story close to the product. From this information came the conclusion that storytelling is an important brand element that connects the consumer to the brand and holds the potential to keep the consumer interested and following the brand. Nick also emphasised the importance of good visual communication and this can be the unexpected. Do something that doesn't typically say fragrance and capture the consumer's attention.

All three of these lectures provided me with further insight into the industry and helped with my fragrance project by sharing their experience of brand development. I will use their words of wisdom to carry me through the project at various stages.

#FCP #Fragrance