Here’s another picture from the Pitti for you: This time the sun set over the river Arno, almost black and white, with hints of blue and yellowish orange. After yesterday’s post where I wanted to briefly give you a little piece of food for thought on communication, and where I was sort of reflecting what perfume communication actually means for me: today I would to talk packaging again.

It is quite enlightening, when walking the Pitti hall of fame: Perfume business is packaging business, too. Very much so. Maybe this is, besides the communication, the most important part in the perfume business.  It is quite amazing what you see there, at the Pitti. It is the perfect showcase. There is no effort big enough to pack perfume. The packaging comes in gold and silver and white and black and colors, and a few, very few come in something unique, like styrofoam. I like to think in boxes, as simple categorizations help my simple mind, and thus here are my packaging color codes: Gold-Russia, silver-middle East, white-neutral, black-luxury, colors-for all of us, styrofoam-new concept. Although: White is quite difficult. I guess we could do the same game for fonts. Forgive me my simple packaging design assumptions. Anyhow, I guess my metal box would fit the middle East and maybe this is why I got a few visitors from this area, too.

Thus, the possibilities for packaging perfume seems endless and this is nice. There are so many things you can do with an open packaging mind.

When walking Pitti, I always want to get another brand for myself and come up with a new super cool packaging and bottle. It is almost infectious. I guess I can be glad that money is sort of limiting here. Otherwise, I would end up with  a multitude of brands. Although, I have to admit, building a brand is a wonderful adventure. I discussed this with a perfumer friend. We both agreed, that building a brand, choosing a packaging, a bottle, labels, and all that goes with it, all this is actually as fun as creating a perfume. Well….almost.

If you “have” a perfume brand yourself, you walk through Pitti with different eyes, I guess. I tend to compare. And, also in light of the past 4 years, there is no “new modesty” when it comes to packaging. You might guess that in times of economical crisis you see a lot of simple straightforward packaging. Nope. The same is true for prices: Going up and it looks to me as if niche sells more in the 150 EURO to 200 EURO range these than below. I looks as if the worse the economy is, the higher the prices go. And there were a lot of luxurious specials presented, such as extraits, perfume super strength, for a super price. I wonder how successful these will be in times where money is tight.

Thus, bottomline: Perfume business is packaging business. This is why I will visit this year’s Luxepack in Monaco.