Delight: Translating the pleasure of flavours into fragrances
Using the combined knowledge of our expert flavourists and perfumers, we have explored the factors that make flavours so deliciously satisfying, and harnessed these to make our fragrances more intense and irresistible than ever before.
Imagine your favourite flavour and the great feeling you get when you taste it: a powerful physical and emotional reaction that makes you crave more. Now imagine if we could bring that same level of desirability and moreishness to fragrances... That’s exactly what Givaudan has been doing as part of a new global initiative called Project Delight.
An innovative new approach
The work began with a close collaboration between our flavourists and perfumers in Paris, New York, São Paulo, Dubai and Singapore. The collaboration also included the input of a non-verbal communications specialist, resulting in a dialogue that has brought both creative and technical benefits, with dramatic results.
The sweet spot of perfumery
The team worked hard to identify the facets of pleasure that are typically associated with flavours, such as fruitiness, sweetness, juiciness and tanginess as well as delicate savoury tastes or intoxicating alcoholic notes. These were then translated to new fragrance palettes, creating fragrances that don’t just smell delicious, but evoke other senses too – that mouth-watering sense of moreishness. Welcome to fragrances in 3D, with new depths of sensorial experience.
In a ground-breaking new move, we also carried out a consumer study to assess non-verbal responses (such as salivation, surprise or swallowing) to different fragrances. This is the first time this type of methodology has been used in fragrance development. The research enabled our perfumers to develop a new range of special Delight fragrance bases which, in further tests, triggered higher levels of pleasure and craving than other bases currently available.
“To observe consumers’ unbiased responses through their body language changed my perception of the power of our flavours’ bases. The idea that they can be visually measured through unspoken language is incredible.”
Linda, Perfumer
As a starting point, we focused on those moments where lip-smackingly good flavours collide with equally delicious aromas, and created evocative fragrance bases inspired by these scenarios. We looked to the spun sugar notes of a classic fun fair, the buttery, croissanty moods of a Parisian breakfast, the smoky-creamy mingling of a Brooklyn brunch and the glittery, heady mixology of a sparkling night out. The result is a revolutionary and exclusive set of bases for perfumers to work with… scents that are both aromatic… and appetising.
Arnaud, Senior Flavourist, said: “As a flavourist, I work in a realistic, true to life way, while a perfumer works in the world of abstract and interpretation. In our collaboration on Project Delight, we wanted to mix these two strengths and add a realistic touch to our fragrance palette.”
The journey continues
Project Delight marks an exciting new era for fragrance creation. We have begun a voyage of discovery and will continue to explore further, opening up new possibilities for perfumers to entice consumers with new fragrances that spark pure pleasure.