The smell of success

We see that the effects of smell are not limited to fragrance-linked industries. When incorporated as part of the overall brand experience, scent provides a valuable marketing opportunity for automotive manufacturers, hoteliers and jewellers alike.

The idea that brands should engage with consumers on multiple touch points is nothing new. With so many marketing messages in an increasingly cluttered media environment, it's becoming difficult for companies to reach consumers. Marketers are looking for a way to make their brands stand out from the competition and smell offers another opportunity to do this.

Connecting with the consumer

According to Procter & Gamble, shoppers make up their minds about a product in three to seven seconds, just the time it takes to note a product on a store shelf. They refer to this time lapse as the “first moment of truth” and it's considered the most important marketing opportunity for a brand.

Visual and auditory cues are already well used by marketers. However, using fragrance as a brand identifier is a much more recent idea. Our research, carried out for Martin Lindstrom's book BRAND sense, revealed that most people rank sight as the sense they are most aware of. When the same people were asked to recall sensory impressions for specific brands, the answers were far less biased towards sight.

While vision is unquestionably our most powerful sense, when it comes to producing an emotional response, scent is a much more powerful trigger. Smell is detected by the olfactory region in the nose, which is wired to an ancient part of the brain responsible for motivation, emotion and certain types of memory. A single scent can instantly transport you back in time, evoking a host of images, sensations, memories and associations. Unlike the other four senses, smell is an involuntary response and cannot be turned off. It also activates the brain more quickly than the other senses.

Building loyalty

Procter & Gamble's 2002 Chairman stated “The second moment of truth occurs two million times a day when consumers use P&G brands. Every usage experience is our chance to delight consumers”. Therefore, while the first moment of truth is an opportunity to encourage trial, it is the second moment of truth which determines brand loyalty.

Smell is particularly valuable in building brand loyalty because, when combined with a positive experience, it creates a longer lasting memory than the other senses. People can recall smells with 65% accuracy after a year, while visual recall of photos drops to 50% after only three months. Companies that incorporate a signature scent into their brand will build a deeper emotional connection with the consumer that is remembered for longer. However, it's a tough challenge because our memories don't work in a nice, logical fashion that is easy to understand.

Scent can also help to improve other non-fragrance related perceptions of a product. In a blind (unbranded), monadic (each product tested alone) survey, we tested two variants of cleansing wipes. The wipes were identical except that one variant was fragranced. However, a quarter more of those testing the fragranced product said it cleansed effectively and made the skin feel smooth compared to those testing the unscented.

A distinct advantage

Analysis of our BRAND sense research consistently showed that intent to purchase was highest if the sensory impression of the brand was positive and distinctive.

Just as with sight and sound, the fragrance of the brand must be compatible with the product or environment it is being used to enhance. For example, using a fresh, grass scent in Starbucks won't help to boost sales.

It's important to understand your customer and select a scent that makes a positive emotional connection to enhance their relationship with the brand. However, it's difficult to produce a scent with broad appeal because there are distinct geographic, cultural and gender related preferences for certain scents. For example, a vanilla fragrance used in a U.S. clothing store doubled sales amongst women, but on average caused men to spend less.

The more senses that come to mind, the greater loyalty the consumer will have with the brand. However, are people more loyal because the senses come to mind or do the senses come to mind because people are more loyal?

We used Sequential Equation Modelling (SEM) in our research to answer this question. The analysis showed that the senses do drive brand loyalty, but the link is not a direct one. The model suggests that the senses impact through three intervening variables: perceptions of great experience, leadership and clarity.

For some brands, the senses effect perceptions of great experience directly, but in others they work through creating distinctive properties, like leadership and clarity, that support perceptions of a great experience. This confirms that it is the interaction of expectations and experience that create true brand success.

As we have already seen, the senses can help increase sales. However, they can also affect the perceived value of a product. As part of the BRAND sense research, people were asked to inspect two identical pairs of Nike sports shoes in two separate rooms. The only difference was that a floral scent was piped into one of the rooms. Results revealed that 84% preferred the shoes in the room with the added scent. Surprisingly, people estimated the value of the shoes in the scented room to be, on average, double that of the unscented pair.

Conclusion

The senses offer more than just a means to satisfy basic needs. They offer one of the most compelling ways to create competitive advantage. They provide an opportunity to:
• Create a unique brand experience
• Support a distinctive brand identity
• Create a strong emotional bond
• Create a compelling reason to buy the brand

Article courtesy of MillwardBrown