Speaker Interview: Medha Tawde Bhagat, Keva Fragrances

CONFERENCE & WORKSHOP

Q: For people who may not know you yet, what are you most looking forward to about taking part in Cleaning Products Europe for the first time?

I am really looking forward to engaging with a community that is actively shaping the future of laundry and home care in Europe. Cleaning Products Europe brings together formulation science, technology, brand thinking, and real operational aspects in one place, enabling meaningful and forward-looking dialogue.

For Keva, this is an important opportunity to listen, exchange perspectives, and contribute our experience around fragrance & performance design, and consumer understanding, particularly how both product & fragrance innovation can deliver strong functional credibility while also making every day cleaning more intuitive, efficient, and experiential for consumers.

Q: Your pre conference workshop will combine a presentation with interactive smelling. What do you hope delegates will take away from that hour that they can apply in their own laundry and home care projects?

Our aim is for delegates to leave both inspired and practically equipped. Through live smelling and discussion, we want to demonstrate how fragrance can be engineered as an active performance tool, especially in today’s realities of dish & hard Surface cleaning, cold wash, quick cycles, and lower dosages.

We hope participants take away practical frameworks on how fragrance design, delivery technologies, and sensory cues can elevate perceived cleanliness, reinforce brand identity, and deliver reassurance. When performance signals are clear and convincing, cleaning becomes more intuitive and less effortful, transforming routine chores into a smoother, more satisfying experience while remaining mindful of sustainability and cost- in- use.

Q: Looking at the overall agenda, which themes or sessions do you think will have the biggest impact on how the industry thinks about freshness, malodour and consumer experience over the next few years?

What stands out to me is how strongly the agenda reflects a structural shift in the industry. The focus on cold and quick wash performance, advanced malodour management, and sustainable innovation is redefining what freshness and cleanliness need to deliver, beyond the basic functionality.

Equally important is the increasing integration of science, technology, sensory understanding, and consumer insight. This convergence will shape solutions that are not only more efficient and responsible, but also easier to trust and more reassuring for consumers allowing cleaning to feel simpler, joyful, and more rewarding.

COMPANY & IDENTITY

Q: Keva often says that “every fragrance must resonate”. In practical terms, what does that mean for the way you work with customers in fabric and home care?

For us, resonance means relevance, performance, and endurance. A fragrance must perform reliably under real usage conditions, communicate effectiveness clearly, and remain aligned with the brand’s promise over time.

In practice, this means deep collaboration with our key strategic partners, understanding consumers’ cleaning habits, formulation constraints, and market realities and then designing fragrances that are intuitive, purposeful, and distinctive. When fragrance clearly signals cleanliness and care, it builds trust and removes uncertainty, making the cleaning process feel easier and more convincing.

Fragrance is a key driver of differentiation and identity for brands and it’s promise if designed thoughtfully and also to be evolved over a period of time for the brand to remain relevant for changing olfactive preferences of the consumers.

Q: You describe “crafting the essence of India” while serving global brands. How does that heritage influence the way you approach fragrance design for European or global laundry and home care markets?

Our heritage gives us a strong respect for craftsmanship, ingredients, and sensory intelligence. In India, scent has always been part of everyday care, which naturally trains us to think holistically, combining performance, emotion, and context rather than treating them separately.

Speaking about Europe it’s no longer new to Keva with our strategic acquisitions and organic expansions in the European and UK markets.

When designing fragrances, we can really combine best of both worlds, this perspective allows us to pair thoughtful creativity with robust technical understanding. The result is fragrance solutions that are globally relevant, locally sensitive, and engineered to make everyday care routines feel efficient, comforting, and authentic, keeping up with the trends, yet being purpose-driven, adapted to the market.

Q: From your perspective, what makes Keva’s approach to fabric and home care fragrance different from that of more established European fragrance houses?

Keva brings deep consumer intuition at scale, enabling holistic solutions that perform reliably under real conditions. This is reinforced by a strong culture of frugal innovation and efficiency thinking, where lower dosage, resource optimisation, and “doing more with less” align naturally with Europe’s priorities around sustainability, shortened and energy-efficient wash cycles, and cost-in-use optimisation. 

Keva also contributes rich sensory and cultural intelligence, speed, agility, and creative adaptability, along with deep ingredient heritage rooted in natural materials and traditional knowledge, while Europe complements these strengths with modern science, advanced technologies, sensory measurement, regulatory rigour, and scalable innovation frameworks. 

Together, Keva’s heritage and Europe’s scientific precision, sustainability structures, and execution excellence enable solutions that are not only technically robust and responsible, being on trend and future ready.

MARKET & CONSUMERS

Q: When you look at consumers today, what are they really asking for from laundry and home care fragrances beyond “it smells nice” – how are expectations changing?

European fragrance trends in laundry and cleaning are evolving beyond basic freshness toward a more sophisticated, lifestyle-driven sensorial experience. 

Consumers increasingly prefer nature-inspired botanicals, wellness-oriented scents, transforming routine cleaning into a comforting ritual. 

Formulations using biodegradable and bio-based ingredients reinforce perceptions of safety and responsibility. Importantly, fine fragrance and body care are strongly influencing this space. Longer-lasting scents supported by technologies and delivery systems, and as a result, home and fabric fragrances are increasingly designed to feel less functional and more like an extension of experiential scent, blurring category boundaries, helping cleaning feel less draining and more supportive of everyday wellbeing.

Q: There is a lot of discussion about cold and quick wash cycles. How is this shift changing what “clean” and “fresh” need to smell like on fabrics and in the home?

Cold and quick wash cycles are fundamentally changing the sensory cues consumers rely on to judge cleanliness. With reduced heat and shorter contact time, fragrance must now communicate cleanliness more efficiently and immediately.

As a result, “clean” is becoming clearer, more modern, and more precise, while freshness needs to persist in a subtle, comfortable way rather than through intensity. When these cues are designed well, they help consumers feel confident, making cleaning feel simpler, and most importantly resonating with product claim.

Q: Many brands are working hard on malodour removal in laundry. How do you see the balance between removing bad smells and creating a positive, memorable scent signature that supports brand identity?

Malodour removal is now a baseline expectation, but it is not the end point. True differentiation begins once unwanted odours are eliminated.

A thoughtfully designed scent signature builds emotional connection and reinforces brand trust, transforming functional performance into a recognisable experience. This balance helps reduce the mental load associated with cleaning and creates a lasting sense of confidence, care, and brand identity.

Q: Do you see clear differences between regions (for example India vs. Europe) in how people define a “clean” smell, and what should global brands keep in mind when they design fragrances for multiple markets?

Yes, definitions of a “clean” smell are strongly influenced by culture, climate, and daily habits. While the emotional need for cleanliness is universal, its olfactive expression varies significantly across regions.

For global brands, the key is to establish a strong core fragrance identity that can be adapted intelligently to local preferences. When done well, this ensures consistency at a global level while allowing products to feel emotionally comfortable and relevant in everyday use.

Q: You have shared ideas on aromatherapy and workplace scent. How far is this “sensory wellness” mindset influencing what consumers expect from everyday detergents and household cleaners?

Sensory wellness is increasingly influencing expectations, even in everyday categories like laundry and home care. Consumers now see these routines as part of their overall comfort and balance, not just functional tasks.

Fragrance plays a critical role by delivering reassurance, emotional ease, and a sense of care. When products feel supportive rather than demanding, they help reduce everyday stress and make routine cleaning more pleasant without compromising performance.

Q: Looking ahead three to five years, what is one big change you expect in the laundry and home care fragrance market – whether in consumer behaviour, regulation, claims or product formats?

We expect fragrance to become far more integrated into how performance, efficiency, and responsibility are communicated. Rather than being treated as a commoditized formulation ingredient or an added sensory layer, scent will increasingly act as a performance cue that supports claims around cleanliness, care, and sustainability.

This shift will drive more intentional fragrance design, where creativity, science, and technology work together to make the cleaning process effortless, delivering solutions that are both functionally convincing and emotionally supportive.

TECHNOLOGY, SUSTAINABILITY & PARTNERSHIPS

Q: New delivery systems like encapsulation and structuring ingredients are changing how freshness is delivered on fabric. From a fragrance house viewpoint, which technologies are most exciting for combining performance, sustainability and cost in use?

Technologies that enable precise and efficient fragrance delivery are particularly exciting. Advances in encapsulation and structuring systems allow freshness to be released exactly where and when it is needed.

This improves performance while reducing material usage and cost in use allowing products to work efficiently in the background while making the cleaning experience simpler and more reliable for consumers. Keva offers fully biodegradable encapsulation and is also open for collaborative customisation through its joint development program.

Q: Keva talks about working closely with farming communities and investing in solar and clean energy. How do you see sustainable sourcing and responsible operations shaping the stories that laundry and home care brands can tell their consumers?

Sustainable sourcing and responsible operations are becoming central to brand credibility. Consumers increasingly want to understand not just how a product performs, but how it is made and the values behind it.

By investing in ethical sourcing and clean energy, brands cannot just tell stories rooted in transparency, but actually deliver care for environment, and long-term responsibility, strengthening trust and helping everyday products feel positive, responsible, and reassuring.

Q: You emphasise research and immersion to understand consumers. How are tools like data, AI or new testing methods changing the way you design fragrances for fabric and home care, and where does human creativity remain irreplaceable?

Data, AI, and new testing tools are enabling deeper, faster understanding of consumer behaviour and performance needs, leading to smarter and more efficient fragrance design.

At the same time, human creativity remains irreplaceable in interpreting insight, shaping emotion, and creating fragrances that truly resonate. Technology enhances precision and speed, people bring meaning, judgement, and the ability to turn everyday cleaning into a more intuitive and enjoyable experience.