A corporate identity is a tangible part of your organisation. It’s manifested in your logo, branding, symbols, behaviour and communication. So where do you even begin to start attaching something as intangible as scent to your unique corporate identity? Your corporate scent should differentiate you from your competition, increase recognition and promote brand preference. We know – this all sounds great, but where do you even begin to decide what scent defines your company?
A unique corporate aura
If you follow us on either Instagram or Facebook you’ll notice we make quite a bit of reference to corporate aura. We’d like to break this down a little before we explain the process of discovering yours.
An aura is defined as: “the distinctive atmosphere or quality that seems to surround and be generated by a person, thing, or place”. Your corporate aura is therefore the unique atmosphere of your organisation – in this case, created by the power of scent.
Whether you are a bubbly, fun and innovative company or a cool, calm and collected corporate – there is a scent that can set the mood and truly define your company’s aura.
The process of discovering your corporate scent
When it comes to fragrances, your options are endless. To give you an idea of the exciting journey you’re starting, here area few examples of what you can expect as scent options:
- Citrus
- Fruits, Vegetables & Nuts
- Flowers
- Greens & Herbs
- Spices
- Sweets & Gourmand
- Woods & Mosses
- Resins & Balsams
Exciting, right? We know that it can also be quite overwhelming which is why we recommend deciding on a few things before jumping right into choosing your unique corporate scent.
Questions to ask yourself
- What is your business? Are you a big corporate? Small family business or even a young and innovative start up?
- Do you want the scent tied to your company or to a product?You may, for example be a chocolate manufacturer and want chocolate to be your defining corporate scent, or you may want your entire organisation to have a unique smell.
- Who is your target market?
- What are your corporate colours? Are they warm and homey or cool and clean?
- What aura (atmosphere and feeling) are you trying to evoke in your customers and staff?
If you’re struggling with deciding exactly how to answer the above questions, your scent specialist can help. If you’ve done okay by yourself then the next step is to get hold of the experts!
During the first meeting, you will provide a brief detailing your scent requirements (pretty much consisting of the above points). After that it’s off to the library of scent ingredients to make some preliminary choices. Scent experts will mix and blend a first round of samples for you to smell and ‘sample’. After your feedback, they’ll tweak the scent concoction until it a perfect match for your unique corporate identity.
We take into consideration that sample smell can be vastly different when diffused in a larger area. This is due to elements in the environment that may affect the scent (the same way your natural PH balance affects the smell of a certain fragrance).
The process of choosing your corporate scent doesn’t have to be daunting or over-complicated. A scent specialist can help you every step of the way.
Ready to get started on setting your corporate aura? Book a consult with us!