The year is 1977; the place, New York City. The American perfumers, creators of fragrances, are gathered for their 23rd annual summit conference. There is an apparent problem with the direction of the men’s fragrance market. 1977 should he different from 1967 and 1957— and, hopefully, from 1987. But will it be? Will it be business as usual this year, or will someone plant seeds of doubt, question the usual, suggest the non or un-usual? Will someone seek out the new trends as well as dusting off the old patterns? Will someone, perhaps, see where we have been? Where we are? And, where we are going?
Assume it’s the mid-1950s, and the men’s fragrance marketing band is playing “We’ve Onlv Just Begun.”
There was a tendency to spend money on grooming products for hair and hair removal such as shaving cream, razor blades, grooms, tonics, and aftershave. A sign of market explosion in this era was the development of gift sets—a talc, cologne, and aftershave—all under one pretty roof.
