Customers can't smell on a screen, so they buy the story and the bottle.
Perfume sells memory and the feeling of owning something. Sinh Vũ makes the scent name, the bottle and the story stand together, so a Vietnamese brand is remembered and chosen.
Three things first: a real scent story, a bottle and cap worth keeping, and a way for customers to try the scent before buying. Together they stand in for the smelling customers can't yet do.
The place, moment or memory the scent calls up, told in a few short lines.
The shape, the weight and the sound of the cap closing make customers want the bottle on their desk after it is empty.
A small sample, a discovery set or a tester counter: somewhere customers can smell before they decide.
All are scent, but the buyers and the occasions differ, so each group needs its own way of telling.
Their customersCustomers buy for themselves or receive it as a gift, and usually choose by story and bottle shape.
Brand challengeA scent with its own name and image, and a beautiful bottle that doesn't copy a famous shape.
Their customersMale customers often choose quickly, on the advice of someone they know or the seller.
Brand challengeA short story, a bottle that feels solid in the hand, and an easy-to-remember scent name so customers can find it again.
Their customersBought for the home, as housewarming gifts and holiday gifts.
Brand challengeA product that looks good in the home, with packaging that is both a gift box and a display piece.
These are the places where Vietnamese perfume brands tend to lose customers even when the scent was made with great care.
The box lists top, middle and base notes like every brand; customers remember the list, not the feeling.
Choose one central image for the scent, tell it in three or four lines, then use it on the box, in photos and in the name.
Start from this problemA light bottle, a loose cap, a crooked label; pick it up and it lacks the feel of a premium bottle.
Choose bottle, cap, label and box as one set, and make a real sample to hold and compare with bottles of the same tier.
Start from this problemSelling online, customers fear buying the wrong scent, abandon the cart or choose a known brand.
Design a sample set and a card on how to try the scent, nice enough that customers keep it and give it on.
Start from this problemThree launched scents look like three different brands.
Keep the bottle, layout and mark fixed; each scent changes only its own color and theme image.
Start from this problemAt Researching. Customers can't smell yet, so they have to trust the story and the images. If the telling isn't clear, they choose a brand with a name.
Touchpoints are where customers look, hold or smell. You don't need to do everything at once. These five decide most of whether customers keep your perfume in their hands.
The first thing customers pick up and the longest thing left on the desk.
Opening the box is the moment customers decide whether this bottle suits them or the person receiving the gift.
Stands in for smelling when customers buy online.
The only way for customers to smell before paying for a full bottle.
Helps customers use it well and remember the scent name to buy again.
Listed in the order to do them. A newly launched brand can stop at step three; a brand with many scents goes all the way.
Scent names and how to tell them, the base for every line and image afterward.
Name, mark, color and type for the whole brand.
Bottle, cap, box and sample set.
A set of bottle photos and the mood of the scent, usable on every sales channel.
Guidelines so a newly launched scent stays one house.
Sinh Vũ has not published a perfume project. The two below solve the two closest problems: the premium look of an object worth keeping, and many lines with one face.
2009LiuGems sells natural-stone jewellery to people who believe minerals carry energy, a trade where beauty tends to arrive improvised and promises tend to run ahead of proof…
Eight product lines, one shared face; a small object worth keeping, like a perfume bottle, needs that same premium look.
Callidora, a skincare cosmetics brand, had Sinh Vũ build a feminine, premium identity system that keeps its promise of beauty from healthy skin from the very first glance.
Feminine and premium without cliché: a visual direction for a cosmetics brand.
The principles behind it
From the story of the scent and the feel of holding the bottle, and only then the shape. Make a real sample and hold it, comparing with bottles of the same tier, before you sign off the tooling.
It should, but not first. Customers remember an image and a feeling more easily than a list of notes. Put the note pyramid on the back of the box or on the detail page.
A small box, each sample with a scent name and a color mark, plus a card on how to try the scents. The set should be nice enough for customers to keep or give on.
They should, if they share a scent or a story. Keep the name, mark and color shared; let each item have its own packaging material to suit how it is used.
A few lines about the scent, the user and what is holding you back is enough. Sinh Vũ will read it and reply within one working day.