1The Challenge
What was the challenge?
AXA's business is built on understanding people: what they need, what they value and what they're trying to protect. The brief was to bring a customer-first mindset to life in a way that felt nothing like a training session — with participants experiencing the full journey of creating something for a customer: understanding them, breaking down what they want, building a solution quickly and refining it until it's right.
The programme also had to work at two very different scales: a large session of 130 participants in Gurgaon on 12 December, and a more intimate group of 40 in Bangalore on 20 December. Both needed to deliver the same experience and the same message, with a clear framework and something tangible that participants could take back to their desks.
2Our Solution
What solution did we design?
The Thought Bulb designed the Scent Symphony Challenge — a team perfume-making experience in which every fragrance had to be created for a specific customer persona. The activity was paired with a debrief built on AXA's CARE model (Customer First, Analyse the Problem, Rapid Solution Prototyping, Evaluate & Enhance).
Each team was randomly handed a persona card: The Adventurer, The Romantic, The Urban Sophisticate, The Visionary, or The Free Spirit. Teams researched their persona, selected fragrance notes, blended their scent, and presented their creation — explaining how every ingredient reflected the customer they were designing for. Every participant left with a personalised CARE action card connecting the perfume experience to their work.
3How We Did It
How was the programme delivered?
In Gurgaon, 130 participants were split across teams at circular tables, each with a fragrance kit, a persona card and a facilitator nearby. In Bangalore, the smaller group of 40 ran the same format with a more intimate feel. Both sessions opened with a brief on the customer personas and the CARE model, so participants understood not just what they were doing but why.
The perfume-making itself ran in three phases: research (understanding the persona), creation (selecting and blending the fragrance notes), and presentation (pitching the fragrance back to the room with their customer rationale). The session closed with each team sharing their blend and the debrief drawing the thread from fragrance to everyday customer work.
4Key Outcomes
What were the results?
Across both cities, the Scent Symphony Challenge turned an abstract business principle into a hands-on creative experience that participants remembered. Teams left having genuinely practised the customer journey — from insight to solution — in an environment that felt nothing like a workshop.
The CARE action cards gave participants a personal takeaway that connected directly to their roles at AXA. And the two-city format showed that the experience scaled and adapted: as intimate with 40 as it was energetic with 130, delivering the same message across two very different rooms.
