It’s vital for brands to create a bond with their audience and convey their message in a unique, distinctive way. Capturing the attention no longer involves only the rational mind but also, and above all, the five senses.
One of the most innovative branches of the sensory marketing is the scent marketing and, going one step further, we find the olfactory branding, which revolutionises the idea of communicating the brand’s identity and values.
From the sensory marketing to the olfactory branding
Smell is one of the most powerful senses, and its relationship with brain activity is incredibly direct, profound and powerful. Scent marketing is rooted in the latest research in neuro marketing, psychology, human biology and chemistry; it’s this scientific innovation which enables professionals to devise incredibly effective sensory marketing strategies. Research from Rockefeller University indicates that we remember 35% of what we smell, compared with 5% of what we see and 2% of what we hear.
That’s why nowadays, commercial locations (retail stores, spas, hotels, shopping malls, event venues and so on) are often enriched with fragrances designed specifically to have a powerful impact on the emotions of whoever experiences them. Moreover, diffusing targeted perfumes can also have an extremely significant impact on corporate KPIs such as the amount of time spent in store, customer loyalty, average transaction value and a high quality perception of the instore experience.
Olfactory branding is the most customised, creative and revolutionary branch of sensory marketing. But what does olfactory branding mean? The ability of the perfume to integrate with the brand identity, to generate in the minds of consumers an inseparable link between the brand and its exclusive fragrance. The olfactory signature must therefore be specifically designed to fully represent the personality and vision of the brand.
Examples of olfactory branding in the luxury sector
The very concept of “luxury” often includes emotional and exclusive experiences.
Every day, the Fragrance Specialists at Scent Company work on projects in this sector: here are some of our most successful case studies.
Luxury hotels and scent marketing
The Pan Pacific London, in the heart of the City, is a fantastic example of how olfactory branding can meet the most refined, sophisticated requirements in the hotel sector. Having entrusted the hotel’s architecture to PLP Architecture and interior design to the creative genius of Glenn Pushelberg and George Yabu, the Pan Pacific Hotels Group chose Scent Company to give its guests a valuable multi-sensory experience.
The distinguishing feature of Pan Pacific London is a sophisticated scent that conveys the brand’s international philosophy through green, fruity notes, and enhances the hotel’s spaces with a modern sense of luxury.
Sensory marketing for retail
Also choosing olfactory marketing is SKP, one of the largest luxury shopping malls in China.
The Asian luxury leader decided to turn to Scent Company for a complete rebranding project, which included the creation of a bespoke olfactory signature and the design of a dedicated olfactory journey for its Beijing and Xi’an department stores.
While a precious olfactory signature, with woody and musky notes, welcomes visitors at the mall entrances, several bespoke fragrances enrich the shopping areas, guiding the guest into a truly unique multi-sensory journey.
Sensory marketing, lifestyle and Made In Italy
Experiencing the power of olfactory marketing are also numerous Italian brands, such as Bagno Cesare in Forte dei Marmi,
Luxurious, elegant and the icon of an Italian dream, Bagno Cesare’s Versilia is the perfect location for an exclusive olfactory experience. After a total restyling, which revolutionised the design of the entire bathing establishment, Bagno Cesare went a step further, asking the Scent Company experts to create a customised fragrance.
It was the distinctive notes of the fragrance Aramara CULTI Milano, combined with the scents of the fragrance Tessuto, that represented perfectly the olfactory stimuli typical of a seaside resort: an olfactory bouquet of saltiness, bitter orange, crisp cotton and typical scents of the refined Tuscan land.
Examples of scent marketing for sophisticated events
The scent marketing also meets the needs of the events sector. That’s what happened, for example, at MAP, the Music Art Perfume project staged at Milan’s historic Palazzo Crespi, a joint project between the Quartet Society and the olfactory branding experts at Scent Company.
This is a remarkably complete example of sensory marketing: the rooms of the palazzo were filled with a mixture of music, perfume and art, for a 360° sensory experience. For the occasion, our specialists designed a special scent with red berries, vanilla and vetiver, which guided visitors through a multisensory experience among paintings, music and gourmet delights.
Sensory branding for experiencing wellness
Our historic collaboration with the QC Terme Spas and Resort brand allowed us to capture the luxury brand’s DNA and adapt it to the different characteristics of its locations, all situated in charming and prestigious places.
So, we created a fragrance for each destination that reflects the mood of the location.
With each bespoke scent, our goal was to amplify the sense of wellbeing that guests feel during their relaxing stay. They can also take a little piece of it home with them, thanks to our olfactory collections of scented designer objects (candles, diffusers, sprays…), that include the exclusive QC Terme fragrance. The olfactory signature thus becomes a moment of well-being to be relived whenever one wishes.
Nowadays, appealing to the rational mind is no longer enough to build loyalty in your customers: step into the universe of sensory marketing, and combine your values with our specialist know-how!
