Aside from actual fragrance formulation, my favorite part of the process has to be writing the fragrance brief. The brief is the blueprint, the story you expect your scent to tell. A good brief not only outlines the olfactive notes, but also supplies the inspirational materials a perfumer and creative team can draw from when shaping ideas. Without a coherent brief, a fragrance has no structure, no point of view. The brief gives the work direction and purpose.
Manufacturer vs. Creative: Two Types of Briefs
There are two main types of fragrance briefs: manufacturer and creative. The manufacturer’s brief comes from a brand’s marketing team, such as Estée Lauder or Elizabeth Arden. It usually includes a fragrance profile, suggested notes, estimated raw materials cost, a development schedule, and supporting marketing materials like packaging or communication strategy. This document guides fragrance houses in meeting client expectations.
The creative brief, sometimes called a “Blue Sky” brief, is internal. There is no client, no commercial limitation. Instead, it is a space to explore inspiration freely. In many ways, this is the haute couture of fragrance development, meant to push boundaries and ignite ideas. Some themes may later appear as ready-to-wear scents, while others remain tucked away in a perfumer’s library, inhabiting an olfactive purgatory sometimes called The Wall of Lost Dreams.
Over the years, I have written thousands of briefs of both types. What excites me most is the central role the brief plays in shaping the scent’s story. If the fragrance is the star actor, the brief is the director, orchestrating performance, set, and cinematography under the strictures of a budget. The brief is also like a conductor’s score, setting tempo and mood for the olfactive orchestra. Get it wrong, and the story falls flat. Get it right, and a lasting, ethereal memory is created, embedded forever in the hearts of those who experience it.
Perfume has the power to persuade that is more convincing than words, than appearances, sentiment or willpower. You cannot say no to the persuasive Power of Perfume..."
—Patrick Suskind, Perfume