Synesthetics - Profile

mission

Synesthetics, Inc. provides innovative sensory science for the development and marketing of consumer products. Our core expertise is odor perception and the multisensory impact of fragrance on impressions of sight, sound, touch and taste. We help our clients measure and optimize the multisensory impact of fragrance on consumer perception. We use proprietary consumer test methods as well as custom-designed research protocols. Synesthetics offers fast, focused and quantitative research consulting. We put sensory science in the service of marketing.

history

The company was founded in 1995 by Avery N. Gilbert, Ph.D. after spending 15 years investigating human odor perception as a vice president for Sensory Psychology at Givaudan Roure Fragrances, and as a faculty member at the Monell Chemical Senses Center.

clients

Our client list client list includes manufacturers of leading brands in the air care, personal care, and fine fragrance markets:

Amway Corporation
Aromafloria/California Fragrance Company
Colgate-Palmolive Company
S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc.
Kraft Foods
The Procter & Gamble Company
Revlon
Riviera Concepts
Shiseido Cosmetics

Synesthetics works with many of the leading fragrance and flavor companies in the United State and Europe. Synesthetics has consulted on smell-related issues in legal cases for law firms representing both plaintiffs and defendants.

commercial experience

Dr. Avery Gilbert is highly experienced in the commercial process of fragrance design and evaluation. Previously, as Vice President, Sensory Psychology, for Givaudan Roure Fragrances, he dealt with consumer trends, marketing and regulatory issues, and consumer test protocols in the fine fragrance, consumer, and household product areas. He has developed rapid and consumer-friendly applications for measuring multisensory responses to fragrance. He holds an MA in biology and a PhD in psychology from the University of Pennsylvania. Before joining the private sector, Dr. Gilbert was a faculty member at the Monell Chemical Senses Center.

He is fluent in advanced statistical techniques, and has published 29 technical scientific papers and five book chapters. In addition, he has written for the popular press (National Geographic, GQ), the trade press (Perfumer & Flavorist, Parfümerie und Kosmetik) and edited the Compendium of Olfactory Research (Kendall/Hunt, 1995). He is the author of What the Nose Knows: The Science of Scent in Everyday Life (Crown, 2008).

Dr. Gilbert is a member of the Association for Chemoreception Sciences, the European Chemoreception Research Organization, and the Association for Psychological Science. He is also Chief Scientist at the Scent Marketing Institute.