Find the market first

I actually created a whole new world of perfume and get no credit, but when I walk around Tokyo, I am fully rewarded.

What happened?  In the early 1980s a 50 year old fellow was introduced to me and he hired me for consulting.  It was a simple consulting project. 

The gentleman had been an employee, what the Japanese call a 'salary-man', in the perfume business.  At the time very few Japanese women wore perfume because it was all Western and alien to native taste. Western perfume is a combination of musk and floral fragrances (rose, Camellia, citrus..).

My client said the Japanese would respond to a range of essences from trees and herbs such as sandalwood.  Herb and tree bark smells have been a staple in Japan for centuries.  Traditional 16th Century parties were focused on guessing the subtle ingredients in incense.

I suggested the gentleman package 100 bottles in an appropriate shape and design and ask his friends at the highest status department store to see how customers reacted.  

The department store turned out to be Odakyu in Shinjuku and the new perfume became the basis for the entire modern Japanese perfume business.