Belleville, IL – In a bold departure from traditional scent descriptions, local artisan soap makers at Waterfall Glen Soap Company are captivating customers by using evocative, romantic, steampunk, and fantasy imagery to portray the complex aromas of their handcrafted bars. Eschewing simple notes like lavender or citrus, Waterfall Glen Soap is tapping into the powerful link between scent and memory, painting vivid sensory landscapes with their product descriptions.
"We believe that scent is more than just a pleasant sensation," explains Doug Coggeshall, founder of Waterfall Glen Soap Company.
"It's a key that unlocks forgotten memories, sparks imagination, and transports us to other worlds. Why simply say 'rose' when you can evoke the memory of a stolen kiss in a moonlit garden?"
Coggeshall's unique approach is evident in the descriptions accompanying his popular "The Alchemist" bar. Instead of dryly listing ingredients, the product page describes the aroma with a fantasy image of a nondescript figure wearing a long sweeping hooded robe in a natural wooden setting. "The Alchemist sought not only to create gold, but also to discover the elixer of life, and achieve personal and spiritual enlightenment through transformation."
It speaks of alchemists in their smoky workshops, grinding herbs with pestles of polished bronze, of intricate mechanisms powered by steam and ingenuity, releasing their subtle, grounding essence into the air."
In a chance encounter in the Tower Grove Farmers' Market last summer, fragrance expert, Robert Brown; owner of Lebermuth, commented on Waterfall Glen's marketing strategy. "The olfactory bulb has direct connections to the amygdala, the brain's emotional center, and the hippocampus, which plays a key role in memory formation." By using such rich and evocative language, Waterfall Glen Soap Company is effectively bypassing the purely analytical and tapping directly into the emotional and mnemonic power of scent. It's a brilliant way to create a deeper connection with the consumer.
"For me, personally, meeting Robert Brown was like meeting an aroma rockstar and I deeply appreciated what he shared and reconfirmed with me," said Coggeshall.
Customers have responded enthusiastically to the poetic descriptions. "We brought in the 'The Alchemist' bar purely based on the description," says Tim Woods, local store owner of Green Earth Art Company in St. Louis. "I was intrigued by the imagery, and when I finally smelled it, I understood exactly what they meant. It wasn't just the aroma; it was a feeling, a memory I didn't even know I had."
Waterfall Glen Soap Company has seen a significant increase in online engagement and sales since implementing these imaginative descriptions. Coggeshall and team at Waterfall Glen Soap are deeply engaged in expanding this storytelling approach to their entire line of natural soaps, promising more olfactory journeys into realms of forgotten romance, intricate contraptions, and mythical landscapes.
For those seeking more than just a clean wash, Waterfall Glen Soap Company offers an aromatic escape, one bar of soap at a time.