Why do spa, restaurant, and luxury hotel chains across the country smell alike?

— An Educational Article by Conscious Living Aromas (CLA)

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People remember 35% of what they smell, compared with only 5% of what they see, 2% of what they hear, and 1% of what they touch (Eroglu and Machleit, 1990; Hirsch, 1995). Scent branding/marketing is not a new-age concept and has been around for as long as the people of the world have had noses (another name for the perfumers in the industry). It is a strategic use of a signature scent that is diffused at various customer touchpoints to create a brand identity over time and results in a unique customer experience followed by brand loyalty and increased revenue. You will be surprised to know that some of the entities after incorporating this strategy reported an 8% improvement in food quality satisfaction scores without making any changes to the food served.

If you were to search ‘History of scent marketing’, almost all the results will point you to the year 1970 when the scent marketing systems won their first group of clients — The casinos from Las Vegas who installed the very first scent diffusers to mask the smell of cigarette smoke. But let me take you further back in time. To a time when we had to get up, dress up and walk to the theatres to watch a movie. 1960, when Smell-O-Vision was invented by Mike Todd Jr., son of the Hollywood movie mogul Mike Todd and stepson to Elizabeth Taylor. The Smell-O-Vision was used in his 1960 film Scent of Mystery. The movie theater seats were outfitted with a system that piped smells directly to the viewers’ noses as and when the relevant scenes appeared on the screen to enhance the multi-sensory experience. Fast forward, six decades later here we are inching closer to the multiverse but the olfactory sensory experience is here to stay with the technological advancements in the VR world. ( more on this in our subsequent articles).

Now, let’s talk about some real-life examples. You know right off the bat that there is a Cookie Man store, not any other, around the corner without even spotting it. The H&M store smells different than the Marks and spencer even though they are physically located in the same building next to each other. As soon as you entered your favorite spa it felt like traveling back in time and so relaxing. You opened the door to your hotel suite and smelled those clean white sheets and lay flat. Or wait even better — Close your eyes and SMELL the restaurant “Domino’s”. I know you did. But the surprising fact is that it is not just the smell of the food or the products. It is because aroma delivery devices are pumping the scent of tempting goodies into the air. Almost all of the food aromas you are baited with in public places come from a machine, not a kitchen!

Another classic case in point is the research study conducted by Mr. Shuvam Chatterjee at the ITC Sonar, Kolkata. The researcher took a sample size of around 200 guests who visited and stayed in the hotel during a period of two months using a random sampling method. The result was surprisingly encouraging. More than 41% of the guests agreed to the fact that scent was a very key factor that enhanced their ‘in-stay’ experience during their period of stay. They felt much more relaxed and rejuvenated. More than 85% of the customers committed to making a repeat visit to the ITC Sonar Luxury Hotel in Kolkata. More than 43% of the customers told that ITC Sonar is the first name that hits their mind when they think about staying at a star category hotel. 52% of guests suggested that scent within the hotel premises took more attention than any other sensory attributes present.

Now we all know What is Scent branding but do we understand How it works and the science behind it?

The Odor-emotion association and conditioning is the reason all of this is possible. Not only do odors trigger emotions, but they can also become emotions. Odors can literally be transformed into emotions through association and then act as proxies for emotions themselves, influencing how we feel, how we think, and how we act. Over a period of time, we perceive and associate specific odors as good or bad not solely on their own but along with other factors or objects present in the given circumstances (Food, clothing, services, environment etc) In one of the studies conducted by Rachel Sarah, children who experienced an odor that had formerly been associated with trying to complete a frustrating maze showed less motivation and did more poorly on a simple test when exposed to that odor than children who had suffered through the frustrating maze but were exposed to a different odor or no odor during the test. I hope you now understand that positive associations with odors can lead to positive emotional conditioning and vice versa. We can all harness its potential by using it to our advantage consciously.

Link to the ITC Sonar research article published here