It is not unfamiliar for organisations to have their logos and advertisement jingles as ways of allowing the public to recognise their brand. But, how about pigeonholing brands with their unique smell? Ripple Fragrances, the perfume arm of N Ranga Rao group — better known for their Cycle brand agarbathis — are aiming to add smell to sight and sound of the brand image of an organisation.
Through its IRIS brand of fragrances, the company is planning to offer ‘Signature fragrances’ to corporate houses and organisations. Kiran Ranga, Managing Director of Ripple Fragrances, says the company is offering the service following a successful case study.
More to smell
Kiran insists that there is more to smell than we care to notice. He points to various researches done on the way people react to various kinds of smell. “It is actually are an important factor in building trust,” Kiran points out. “The smell of coffee or a particular food item, for instance, is capable of stirring memories. It can actually make you feel comfortable and help calm your nerves.”
As someone who has specialised in perfumery, Kiran perfectly knows what he is talking about. Besides hailing from a family that has created thousands of unique fragrances for its agarbathi business in the last six decades, he has also studied perfumery in some of the prestigious colleges abroad.
Among other things,  Kiran reveals that the course he pursued abroad had a daily ‘smelling session’ to create and identify fragrances and the kind of experiences people get out of it.
“Along with the interiors of an organisation, the smell that wafts around goes with its characteristics,” Kiran explains. “So, when an organisation agrees to sign up with us, we study them closely to learn about certain unique features — things it stands for and remembered for. We then create fragrances based on things we gather through our interactions with them.”
Exclusive fragrance
The smell then becomes part of the organisation's image and will therefore be exclusive. It will be present in all its offices, home or abroad. “Of course, the organisation will be part of the process to evolve the fragrance,” Kiran interjects. “They will be consulted throughout the process and we will keep all their suggestions in mind while working on the fragrance.”
Though normally it would take a long time to create unique fragrances, Kiran says the experience he brings to the table and the vast library of fragrances the N R group has, will help speed the process.
He calls fragrance making ‘an art, much similar to cooking’.
Like a chef preparing each unique dish with a bit of proportion and a sense of personal touch, fragrance making involves the science (of mixing different materials), the art of blending them, guided by expertise and years of experience.
“We've decided to offer this now because home fragrance is becoming popular in India and is something international perfume brands are keen to tap.
“This also gives us the chance to extend our expertise to domains other than agarbathis, in which we are the market leaders,” Kiran says.
So the next time you want a particular brand of fragrance for your offices, try customising it with your own signature preferences!