Impact not to be sniffed at: How one study changed the global culture of fragrance

Katell Maguet and Oliver Sweet

IFF, the fragrance solutions company, used ethnography to transform its culture in the US and create the Scent Styler, the company’s first internally developed consumer product and technology.

The impact

The Real Women of America study enabled IFF and Ipsos to explore how women in the US consider and use fragrances in their lives and in their homes. The insights generated have transformed the organisation's culture, putting consumer-centricity at the heart of everything they do, and has resulted in the launch of a revolutionary universal fragrance product, providing IFF with an opportunity potentially worth €10 million.

Both perfumers and technical experts are now inspired by consumer needs for innovation. The new product, Scent Styler™, a multi-purpose scent booster, is a first for a company whose remit...

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