You must have heard about scent marketing by now. Have you pondered over what it is, its usefulness and who would use it? A variety of stores, brands and products are affiliated with a bespoke and personalised scent.
We’ve identified 6 companies that use scent marketing. Here’s a brief breakdown of scent marketing:
What is scent marketing and is it useful?
Our sense of smell is possibly the most powerful and emotional sense we have. A scent can evoke a variety of intense emotions in an individual. Transporting you back to a distant memory.
By using scent marketing, brands are able to connect with consumers on a deeper emotional level, resulting in a more memorable experience. Scent can attract new customers, increase sales, heighten value perception and expand brand recognition and customer satisfaction.
Scent marketing is definitely useful. It ensures that a customer retains brand recognition and becomes accustomed to associating a particular scent with your company or brand. This creates an emotional bond between the customer and your brand.
There are many brands that are taking full advantage of using scent marketing for their products or in their stores. We’ve highlighted 6 of these international companies.
Who uses scent marketing?
1. Abercrombie & Fitch
Abercrombie & Fitch is an American based retail giant that sells upscale casual apparel for teens. It uses very strong and overpowering scents in their shops. This strategy is based on their target population.
The clothing company uses their very own fragrance (originally it was Fierce but has recently changed to Ellwood). Some companies prefer to have a signature scent created for them. In this case, they have a scent associated with their own brand. By using their own scent, they immediately create customer recognition.
2. Starbucks
The invigorating scent of coffee is a familiar scent even if you aren’t a coffee fan. This scent is incredibly tantalising. The aroma of freshly-made coffee wafts through Starbucks outlets and their surrounds. The coffee shop uses this delicious scent to lure its customers in.
A few years ago, by some slip-up, the scent of the food Starbucks makes overpowered the coffee scent. This resulted in a drop in sales and less foot traffic in the stores. An international scent marketing company approached Starbucks; helping them get their coffee scent back.
3. Pandora
Jewellery brand Pandora introduced ambient scenting in its stores. The object is to enhance the shopping experience and create a great atmosphere.
Pandora exec was quoted saying, “we’ve created a relaxed and comfortable shopping experience. [We] believe that our scenting programme has helped us stand out from competitors.”
4. Samsung
Turning the preconception that tech has no smell around, the electronics giant has long used scent in its flagship stores. One signature scent used has been ‘Intimate Blue’, which the brand calls ‘crisp, sharp and evocative’… reinforcing the exceptional and unique qualities of the brand. The scent is gender neutral to appeal to a variety of consumers.
5. Caesar’s Palace Casino
Originally, casinos added scent to their space only to mask the odour of cigarette smoke. Recently this has changed.
Caesar’s Palace, for example, uses a beautiful, light, rose scent with hints of green woods and citrus and reports have shown that scents entice gamblers to stay, play and completely relax.
We are the local leaders in scenting casinos (among other spaces). We pride ourselves on creating an immersive environment where guests can completely lose themselves in the fast-paced, energetic casino environment and stay for many hours.
6. Cinnabon
Often companies or brands use an actual scent marketing team to create a signature scent that sets them apart. Some companies have the ability to create the scent themselves.
Cinnabon’s well-known scent is a deliberate and methodical plan to convince you to buy cinnamon rolls. Anyone walking past Cinnabon never fails to notice the smell of the delicious cinnamon buns.
The bakery chain really wants to lure customers in with the smell. They employ many tactics to ensure their customers are enticed by the delicious aroma. Stores are intentionally located in malls and airports so that the “smells can linger”. Cinnamon rolls are baked every 30 minutes! Some stores even warm up sheets of cinnamon and brown sugar to keep the scent in the air.
These are just a few companies that have found the benefit of using scent marketing. A vast majority of companies and brands add scent marketing to their marketing budgets. This is in order to create a long-lasting effect and keep customers coming back. Contact us to find out more about this innovative marketing technique.