Wonder Room, Selfridges, 400 Oxford Street, London W1A 1AB

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The Fragrance Lab ran in Selfridge's permanent pop up space the Wonder Room from May to July 2014

The Fragrance Lab ran in Selfridge's permanent pop up space the Wonder Room from May to July 2014

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Playful design from Campaign

Playful design from Campaign

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Your chosen fragrance contains your own character analysis and a sample tester

Your chosen fragrance contains your own character analysis and a sample tester

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Unique packaging turns this product into a cherished possession

Unique packaging turns this product into a cherished possession

Photography courtesy of Selfridges, Campaign and Hufton + Crow

Selfridge’s Fragrance Lab, London


Location:

Wonder Room, Selfridges, 400 Oxford Street, London W1A 1AB

selfridges.com

Design Credit:

The Future Laboratory & Campaign
thefuturelaboratory.com
campaigndesign.co.uk

In a world of online saturation, where department stores are under threat from the very brands they stock, world class retailers such as Selfridges understand that the key to survival is offering unique retail experiences; the more immersive, creative and personalised the better.

Fragrance Lab is an innovative pop up concept in the Wonder Room, conceived by trend agency The Future Laboratory and designed by Campaign. It offers a personalised journey to a fragrance that represents your character.

The project builds on a 2011 installation created by The Future Laboratory and Campaign for London Design Festival, titled Sweet Shoppe, where visitors were asked to complete a series of seemingly random tasks before being given one of 27 treats based on their responses.

At Fragrance Lab, there are dozens of possible perfume combinations, each created by Givaudan, and the choice of scent given to customers depends on their behaviour at each stage of the experience.

Apparently it’s all based on a complex profiling and segmentation matrix that took around four years to build.

The full ‘immersive’ experience costs £65 including a bottle of fragrance. The journey begins with a check in at a deliberately clinical reception desk, where staff are kitted out in lab coats.

A team of four parfumeurs from Givaudan; Louise Turner, Nadege Legarlantezec, Shyamala Maisondieu and Antoine Maisondieu, created this collection of fragrances exclusively for Selfridges.

An iPad questionnaire asks questions about shopping habits, perfume tastes and deeper personality traits.

Shoppers are then given an iPhone with headphones and guided by voiceover into a series of rooms.

Each has a different sensory experience. Customers are invited to touch, sniff and interact.

At the end of the experience, a member of staff in a white room, offers them smells from vials holding variations of their signature fragrance.

The end result is a personal ‘prescription’ detailing their character and the key ingredients in their selected perfume.

The Express Lab is a quicker and free option. Follow the 22 point ‘image questionnaire’ on an iPad and at the end you are given a fragrance number. Your personality is explained at the express checkout and you can try a sample. Fragrances are £65 for 50ml.

Great creative from Campaign and the Future Laboratory, and further proof that Selfridge’s is the world’s leading department store innovator.

 


Words by Matthew Brown


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