The rise of aroma marketing

Scents and sensibility

Steven Semoff, acting co-president of the Scent Marketing Institute (SMI) and technical director at US-based Belmay Fragrances, says that while the industry is still in its infancy, it is growing. Founder of the SMI, the late Harald Vogt, told the LA Times in 2006 he expected the market could grow into a $1bn business by 2014.

And grow it has. The Annual Scent World Expo, held in Miami in December last year, saw more than 200 delegates from 19 different countries come together to discuss the potential of the nose – specifically, how best to enhance brand recognition using scent.

“If you look at the way brands promote, it is all about sight and sound,” says Semoff. “So many neglect the second-most important sense – smell – which is directly hardwired into the right side of the brain and allows you to develop an emotional connection to the brand.” 

In a casino, he says, marketers might opt for an “invigorating” scent to keep people alert, while in a hotel, smells that are “calming, soothing and comforting” are preferred.

Researchers from Gloucestershire University in the UK say smell is a very powerful element of unwritten communication, and capable, along with other carefully chosen ambient cues, of creating a strong sense of place.

Semoff believes getting scent right is all about understanding the demographics of a brand’s target audience. You may even have noticed variations of scent in your own shopping patterns – for example, the smell inside a mainstream clothing retailer is vastly different to that inside a luxury car dealership.

Scent palettes range from the fresh – think linen and lavender – to the earthy notes of cedar wood and sagebrush, and the more obscure aromas of burning rubber and even “dinosaur dung”. 

Semoff, who was once asked to create the smell of Shrek for a product exhibition aimed at children, says there is no off-the-shelf aroma suitable across the board.

Drew Schlesinger is the general manager of hotels at Sydney’s Star Casino. Having presided over the opening of a string of luxury international hotels, Schlesinger believes ambient scent plays an important role in the consumer decision-making process. White tea was chosen for the lobby at the Star’s newest hotel, the Darling, for its perceived associations with sophistication and relaxation, with citrus notes for the pool and eucalyptus for the spa. (Interestingly, fresh air is the pleasant odour diffused through the Star’s gambling rooms, rather than a specialised fragrance.)

Arriving at these exact formulations wasn’t easy for Schlesinger. He says he sampled about 15 slightly different scents before deciding what to use for the Darling. “The aim is to not only create a pleasant odour, but also to make an association with the property or the hotel,” he says. And it is this association Schlesinger believes draws the punters back, time and time again. Over at the Starwood hotels (Sheraton, Westin, St Regis), enriching guest experience and enhancing the brand are key aims of their scent marketing.

Terry Jacobson, business development director at Australian company ScentAir, says that given the oversaturation of audio and visual marketing, more and more modern stores are designed to maximise the impact of scent and create a multisensory experience. “At most major department stores, the perfumes and cosmetics department is always at the entrance or ground level to meet you on arrival,” he says. “So too for most supermarkets – the bakery is positioned close to the entrance to greet shoppers with a welcoming aroma of baked goods.”

Do some scents work better than others at getting Australians to reach for their wallets? Jacobson says the scent of sunscreen – or Coconut Beach as it is known in the Scent Air catalogue – is popular because of cultural sentiment. Tea-based oils – green, white and even Japanese flavours – and the sweet smell of fresh figs are also big hits with brands at the moment, according to Cosic.

Is there anything wrong with scent marketing?

While Australian consumers are generally savvy and able to recognise much of the marketing spin that surrounds us, this sort of subconscious manipulation goes beyond the generic definition of advertising. So, just how ethical is it for brands to infiltrate not only what we hear when we enter their space, but also what we breathe? 

“We’re not putting a drug into the air, just making the environment more pleasant,” argues Semoff. “The amount is so small – from a concentration standpoint, it is only one part per million of fragrance present in the air.”

Cosic says that, like the colour theme of a store or the font displayed on its signage, scent is an important aspect of branding – and itlooks like it’s here to stay.