Scent Branding: What do you smell like?

As mentioned by both Leigh Durst and Linda Tischler, scent is becoming more and more the most popular and innovative key attribute among brands. 

‘Scent Branding is a discipline of sensory or experiential marketing. It has been promoted by Gerald Zaltman and many others including the Scent Marketing Institute and has become a 14 billion dollar global market for retailers and marketers looking to enhance brand experience.
Some may think “scent marketing” and identify with a company like Yankee Candle . Yankee understands the power of scent – but today’s technology goes beyond melted wax, potpourri and fragranced oils. Consumers can now purchase small scent dispensing machines from the grocery store. Check out Febreeze’s Scent Stories Machine uses fragrance discs to disperse scents like “Mountain Trail” and “Tropical Island” in the home. But most significantly, scent technology today reaches far beyond the home.

While you may not realize it, you have probably been exposed to scent technology sometime within the last 60 days. Scent branding is being broadly deployed in major retail, boutique stores, airlines, museums and marketing venues across the globe, and in a neighborhood near you. This is not a new field and the science of smell has been leveraged in product development for years.

So why all the commotion (see articles in Forbes, USA Today, Washington Times,Ad Age,) over Scent Marketing now? It’s simple: The sense of smell is one of the strongest and most powerful triggers of emotional memory. ‘ (…)

Used in the right way, scent branding can enhance customer (or personal) experience in a pleasurable manner. The use of scent branding in consumer purchasing environments has been shown to be influential in driving consumer purchasing, as well. And why not, scent branding can add a new dimension to what you want to say about yourself through your purchases.

As explained by Durst, here are some things to consider when leveraging scent branding in the experiential environment:

As for the last point, here at Scent Sciences we are extremely lucky as our great team managed to solve the problem related to health-related issues.

So what brand would you like to smell first? And what would it smell like? Get some ideas at FastCompany!

by Carlotta Zorzi