Scent marketing

Scent marketing itself is nothing new. Bakers have intentionally spread the scent of fresh baked breads and buns in their stores, coffee shops have opened coffee bags to spread the aromas of coffee and realtors have baked cookies in a house they're about to show, to make them feel more like a home. The reason why scent marketing is such a hot topic at the moment is partly because the new technology lets us use scents more effectively and now we can control them much better than before.

The sense of smell is one of our strongest senses. The smell registers in the limbic system of the brain where the sensorial information is elaborated. Because the distance, which the smell has to travel from the nose to this specific part of the brain, is remarkably short, the smell is processed more quickly than other senses. We also have a great capacity to remember them: we can recall smells with around 65 percent accuracy after a year. In comparison, our recall of images is a lot lower, at around 50 percent after only three months.
Scent marketing is a fast growing trend in advertising. Studies have shown that a scented environment leads consumers to stay longer and spend more something.

Scent facts

- There are about 100 000 scents in the world of which 1000 are primary scents and the rest are countless combinations of various scents (Lindstrom, 2005).

- Can only the presence of a scent affect us in so many ways as just described? When exploring the subject based on the human anatomy, what is known is that the human body has between 6 and 10 million receptor cells located in the air passages of the nose and by using these cells humans are capable of distinguishing some 2000 to 4000 different aromas (Strugnell and Jones, 1999).

- Just to compare, a sheepdog's nose contains about 220 million cells so the human sense of smell is in comparison very poor, but still surprisingly acute. The smell registers in the limbic system of the brain where the sensorial information is elaborated. Because the distance, which the smell has to travel from the nose to this specific part of the brain, is remarkably short, the smell is processed more quickly than other senses. We also have a great capacity to remember them: we can recall smells with around 65 percent accuracy after a year. In comparison, our recall of images is a lot lower, at around 50 percent after only three months (Bell and Bell, 2007).

- This ability for smells to stay in our memory means we form an emotional attachment to them (Lindstrom, 2005).

- When comparing our five senses according to their importance when evaluating, it is interesting to notice that scent is in a surprisingly important position. According to Lindstrom (2005:69), the most important sense is vision with 58 percent which is also most often applied, smell is the second most important with 45 percent, hearing with 41 percent as the third most important followed by taste 31 percent and touch 25 percent.

What can you do with scents?

Boost sales with scents!
Hershey's Chocolate significantly spurred sales at point of purchase with scent delivery technology installed in vending machines in California tourist locations. Hersey's reigned supreme over the other three brand choices as the company sold 300 percent more chocolate than the others.

Scents influence moods!
Scents influence people in different ways. They activate or passivate, they can regulate the feeling of temperature. For instance when lemon oil was diffused throughout a Japanese office building, productivity among data entry operators increased by 54%!

Sell more with scents!
In 2005, when Exxon On The Run convenience stores in North Carolina highlighted a new brewing system with coffee scents from a scent marketing company, coffee sales perked up by a healthy 55%.

Tasty Smells Trigger Impulse Sells
A recent (7/2008) Singapore study showed that shoppers exposed to the aroma of fresh cookies were inclined to seek a "quick fix" through an impulse purchase-such as a new sweater or lottery ticket-even after being reminded that their budget was tight!