Industry expert day gave me so much to think about part 1

So yesterday we were given the chance of taking part in an industry showcase day relating to are current brief, we had three experts that gave us three very different talks that in some form or another had a direct relation to either the fragrance industry and parts of are brief.

The information that I was given on this day was really informative and useful both for this current brief and looking into the future. I will share with you my experiences from this day over 3 separate post.

The first talk for the day was given by Michelle Hoine-White, before I go into too much detail about her talk I’ll give you a little background information. In 2008 Michelle along with her business partner Liz Wilkinson launched a beauty cosmetics brand ‘Frontcover’, the idea for the brand originated from a key gap in the market (now this is something important that I will come back to later) and from this it lead them to their idea to create something that would make life easier for their target consumer. One of the reasons behind the success for their idea was the beginning of the fast fashion trend that was seen in 2007.

One of the key points that Michelle spoke about was having a really passion and belief in their idea, Michelle and Liz both had a shared love for make-up they found this sector of the cosmetic industry extremely interesting, and this goes to say that it is important no matter what your brief maybe or your idea that you show a passion for it, there is no point in doing something that you can’t fully commit to.

A key driving factor that made their idea different to other cosmetics brands was they wanted to make it seasonal, in a sector that does not follow seasonal trends this would make them stand out, I’m going to refer back to the gap in the market this is a perfect example; a gap in the market basically means an area that other brands/ products don’t cover. Although following seasonal trends is not an original concept (it has been used in the fashion industry for decades) it was a new concept to the cosmetics industry. When it comes to idea generation what I have learnt to understand it that there is never a thing as a ‘new idea’ instead you take another existing idea and make it better, out a twist on it to make it seem original.

All the way through her presentation Michelle could not reiterate enough how important primary research is, now this is something I personally struggled with when it came to my last hand in it is the background for every idea.

“you can’t make the consumer research tell you something that you want to hear”

Yes, primary and consumer research can mean that you have to alter an idea that you feel strongly towards but in the end it will affect its overall performance. It give you key information to develop your further.

Throughout her talk there are some key points that really stood out for me; Find the gap in the market, find opportunity, have passion, tell a story, take risk, get to know the consumer, development gets the right outcome and go with your gut feeling. These are all things that my lectures have been saying over and over all year, and in relation to this project they really do matter because that are the foundations of a strong idea.