Harness your sense of smell and create a signature scent. Before you know it, your brand will reign supreme in your customers' minds, and the aroma you'll detect from then on will be the sweet scent of success!
Logos are a concept familiar not only to marketers. They represent a brand's visual identifier. Some logos, such as Coca-Cola, Disney, Apple, or Nike, are so iconic that exposure to them influences our behavior. Such large companies with colossal marketing budgets easily reach their target audiences. As a result, brand recognition among the world's goods is almost 100%.
But what about small and medium-sized businesses? The average person is exposed to nearly 5,000 ads a day.
How can you, amidst all this advertising clutter, influence customers to remember your brand? You can do it through
their sense of smell .
The effectiveness of smell
The sense of smell is the only one of our five senses that is directly connected to the part of the brain that processes emotions, memory, and knowledge. In fact, we're more likely to remember what we've felt than what we've seen, heard, or touched. And we can do it 100 times!
Olfactory logo
Savvy marketers have long since capitalized on this fact and developed olfactory logos for their businesses. An olfactory logo is a special scent that embodies the brand's unique characteristics. Like a graphic logo, an olfactory logo is used wherever the brand is present. Often, presenting an olfactory logo unites the scent with the brand.
Attributes of an olfactory calling card
A personalized fragrance will achieve its intended effect if it aligns with the image and emotions your brand represents. Think about
your brand's personality . Is it solid, credible, and trustworthy? Or lively and fun? Is it meant to relax or invigorate? Also, consider your target market. Are you targeting young, middle-aged, or older consumers? Will it be predominantly men or women? Will your buyers be those with larger or smaller wallets?
You can successfully match these parameters to various fragrance elements, creating a fragrance that expresses your brand.
Displaying the fragrance logo
Once you've created your signature scent, display it in every possible customer contact area. This will create an inextricable connection between the scent and your brand in their minds. If you run a hotel, retail store, beauty salon, or other establishment, you can use a fragrance diffuser to disperse the scent into the air. To encourage repeat purchases or visits, use the scent in direct mail. You'll remind consumers of their positive experiences with your brand.
Scent success
The brand that has turned fragrance into a resounding success is
Abercombie & Fitch . Their signature scent,
Fierce , is carried throughout their locations. The aroma is strong, boldly innovative, and appeals to young, affluent consumers.
Fierce (which is also sold as a perfume) is the number one men's fragrance in the US and Europe. And teenage and young shoppers easily identify A&F jeans solely by their scent.
Most major hotel chains also have their own olfactory logos. Westin, for example, boasts a cool and relaxing white tea scent, while St. Regis boasts an elegant blend of rose, sweet pea, and pipe tobacco.
