In a third and final entry about scent branding, also called “aroma branding” or “olfactory branding”…

You can build brand loyalty with fragrance, but you can’t just slap a scent to a product:

–Match the scent with the product, customers

–Fit into the environment; smell authentic. Ex: Landor works with P&G and helps them to decide on a fragrance for a detergent from a branding standpoint. Is the fragrance right according to the positioning of the detergent?”

–Is it a masculine or a feminine brand? This distinction can lead to different fragrances. A masculine character will require building around leather, musk, tobacco, wood, amber or chocolate. A feminine one to leads to more floral, fruity, sweet, or spicy.

But you have to be careful. Long-term exposure to a particular scent lessens its effectiveness, and you need “cultural sense”—smells have different associations in different cultures.

The smell of nature after the first rain creates positive associations, especially in the Middle East and Southeast Asia, where people look for rain. However, how do you think people from the United Kingdom who have rains for a good part of the year feel about the smell of rain?

The smell of shisha, curry, and coconut, might be yummy for some parts of the world, but it may not appeal to other cultures.

Curcuma is a common cooking spice in India but it can be something exotic and different in other parts of the world.

What to do? Stick to smells that are “international.”

Christine Babick is a marketing strategist and linguist specializing in marketing language, website text, “emo copy,” and cause and relationship marketing. More…

Article Tags: Babick | brand | Branding | experiential | marketing | Scent
Filed under: Branding, Experiential Marketing, Marketing Innovation, Marketing Trends