US Army Wants to Smell Better

The Pentagon has been angling for a biosensors that can smell fear or nervousness in a person’s bodily emanations for some years, but the Army now wants something more: The ability to “uniquely identify an individual based on scent” from a distance or even days after the person has left the scene.

Human odor is a mélange of molecules that can be incredibly tricky to identify, but the army thinks that by doing so it could smell a threat coming and even sniff out an offending person who long since fled the scene of a crime. In Iraq, the Army has several cooperative methods of collecting biometric data on citizens at checkpoints – facial images, fingerprints, iris scans, etc. – but no real means of identifying those people operating outside of the law. The Identification Based on Individual Scent (IBIS) program aims to develop improved methods for identifying people from a distance with or without their cooperation.

The idea rests upon research that has shown that unique genetics create particular volatile organic compounds unique to each individual. Current technologies like the E-Nose developed under a DARPA biosensor initiative can distinguish between two different people but require a dose of smell from each person’s armpit. The Army wants something that can tap into that unique molecular signature before potential threats get close enough to harm troops.

It all sounds a bit clandestine and Big Brother-ish, but the Army sees it as a means to profile and bio-tag a prospective suicide bomber before he or she gets close to a checkpoint or hunt down insurgents using the scents they leave behind in safe houses. Not to mention, such a magic wand could have vast implications for conventional crime fighting - just wave it over the scene of a crime and you get the unique identifying molecular signature of anyone who was in the room.

Something Stinks in Tampa Bay

From Mystery Maple Syrup Scents to Mystery Methane Scents to Mystery Maple Syrup Scents combined with Mystery Methane Scents, the Whiff-Guys have been the olfactory storm chasers of inexplicable regional stink clouds. Imagine our surprise when one materialized right in our own back yard!

It all started yesterday (Monday, April 27), when Tampa Bay residents on both the Pinellas and Hillsborough side began reporting a chemical scent, describing it as smelling like everything from “oil and kerosene-like” to burnt rubber to roach spray.

“We’re trying to figure out what it is and where it is coming from,” said Peter Hessling, air quality division manager for Pinellas County Environmental Control, whose offices in downtown Clearwater got a whiff of the baffling odor too. “We’re a bit mystified.”

One theory is that fumes wafted in from last week’s Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico. It’s a possibility, according to Hessling, depending on the size and location of the oil plume — although, as of Monday, nothing was visible on satellite imaging.

West-northwest winds at about 25 mph came in to shore from the gulf Monday. Today and Wednesday are also expected to be breezy, with winds flowing the same direction, said Bay News 9 chief meteorologist Mike Clay, who believes without a doubt that the oil spill is the culprit. “I grew up in Texas and I know what oil smells like. And that’s oil.”

Amsterdam Scent Marketing Class Registration Open!

How does a brand get into a customer’s head? That’s the subject of the Scent Marketing Master Class on May 27, 2010 in Amsterdam! Your registration fee for this exciting event includes a complimentary one-year membership in the Scent Marketing Institute - a $450 value - so tarry not!

Olfactory Fact #35: Noses are Smarter than Eyes

While 50% of people can remember something they saw three months later, 65% can recall something they smelled a year later.

Scentator Al Franken, Circa 1976

So, how does a former Saturday Night Live writer make the leap from late-night comedian to state senator (for argument’s sake, we’ll allow that this is actually a leap)? For Al Franken, the answer might lie in an olfactory tip he gleaned from a pal about thirty years earlier: “Don’t worry about your breath and your armpits, Al. It’s your personality that stinks!”

Enter “Heavy Changes Ego Spray,” which “comes in fifteen different personality types including Little Boy, Rock Star, Aggressive, and Petulant.”

Okay, okay. Early-Endorphin-Branding™-in-an-Aerosol-Can may not have really garnered the votes - or even the girl - for Franken, but this clip from the 1976 film Tunnel Vision is still a click-worthy giggle for Franken fans…for the hair alone!

Olfactory Fact #342: In Gay Paris, Even Smoke Smelled Sweet

In the Roaring Twenties, cigarettes were made fashionable for Parisienne women with a spritz of Habanita, a sweet scent which became known as “le parfum pour cigarettes.”

Pharmaceutical Scents

With the time to develop a drug taking 10 to 15 years, and the cost to create it soaring more than 300 percent since 1987, the pharmaceutical industry is a competitive landscape. According to Exhibitor Online, that’s why Purdue Pharma L.P., manufacturer of analgesics and other drugs, likes to create a sense of ease in its trade show exhibits and capture attendees’ attention by prescribing a bit of aromatherapy. For years, the pharmaceutical company baked cookies in its booth. But, with the 2002 tightening of the health-care industry’s “Pharma Code” that governs pharmaceutical companies’ marketing efforts and activities, Purdue decided to discontinue serving cookies. When it started looking to reintroduce scent back into the booth, it wanted an approach that would be soothing, comforting, and warm.

A small in-house group tested 20 various scents, such as fresh-cut grass and lavender, on staff and customers. The favorite that emerged was a spa-like scent that suggested the ocean, orchids, and aloe vera.

Purdue introduced the scent into its 30-by-40-foot booth at the American Academy of Pain Medicine annual meeting. Evoking thoughts of azure seas and exquisite flowers, the scent helped put visitors at ease. Staff also used it as an icebreaker, asking visitors to tell them what they thought of the scent, and how they reacted to it. The scent strategy proved so successful, Purdue has continued using the balmy bouquet in its exhibits to this day.

Natural scents like the one Purdue used can extend dwell time by as much as 40 percent, according to Whiff-Guy C. Russell Brumfield, especially since the older demographic among the show’s audience — specifically attendees age 40 and older — are most likely to find such organic scents appealing. It’s likely that the average American has visited the ocean at some point and therefore may have formed pleasant associations about it when young — a key component in scent marketing.

Sixth Scents for Willis?

Have you always dreamed of smelling just like Bruce Willis? This is your lucky year! According to Women’s Wear Daily, the rough-and-tumble star of such iconic hits as Die Hard and Armageddon has struck a bargain with German cosmetics maker LR Health & Beauty Systems to endorphin brand™ himself with his very own men’s fragrance. Scheduled for release in North, Latin and South America as well as China, Japan and India on July 1, Willis’s signature scent has the internet and twitterverse buzzing with speculation as to how it will smell and numerous-humorous suggestions as to what it should be called.

NIDCD Investigates the Olfactory Impact of 9/11

Attendees of this year’s NIDCD Annual Meeting of the Association for Chemoreception Sciences Conference (April 21-25 at St. Petersburg’s Tradewinds Grand Isle Resort) are in for some unusually fascinating topics. Among the headliners slated for discussion are a newly discovered area of the brain where smell and sound converge (see the Whiff-Guys’ look into Smound) and a study into the long-term olfactory effects of toxic exposure on responders to the 9/11 terrorist attack.
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Scent Marketing Seminars & Certifications

Did you know that he Scent Marketing Institute offers 1 to 3 day seminars and, in the near future, will add certification programs for professionals who want to deepen their understanding and expertise in the use of scent?
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