In an attempt to be the first people to say it this year, it’s only 9 weeks to Christmas.  So we just thought we’d kick off a timely debate about perfume ads.  Can anyone explain them to us?  We’re really intrigued to speak to someone who can talk us through the creative development process.  Is there an art to making them so obscure?  How do you sell the idea when there often doesn’t seem to be an idea?  I saw this ad today which was little more than a black and white picture of a bloke wearing a pair of glasses.  There was another one in the window of Debenhams and I can’t even remember what it was for – but I knew it was for perfume cos there was a woman with loads of swirling hair photographed in super-saturated colour and stood next to a phallic shaped glass bottle.  And Alistair has just described a TV commercial where a woman is bursting through loads of doors being chased by a large cat.  (That might have been his favourite dream, but it sounds like a plausible perfume commercial). Clearly it works otherwise the perfume industry wouldn’t roll out the same approach every year. And who writes these campaigns?  I’ve honestly never met any creative who claims to have written a campaign for perfume.  Where do they come from?  Where do the perfume creatives live? Italy? Is there a creative agency called ‘the perfumery’ that does it all?  Please help.  This is clearly something we need to get to the bottom of.