A Fresh New Signature Scent for the Bronx

Summertime in the South Bronx could be a lot sweeter this year if Majora Carter has anything to say about it. The green guru and MacArthur Genius Award winner wants to pump the essence of “grain, rain and citrus” into a Hunts Point apartment building to replace the structure’s current signature scent of sewage and exhaust.

The celebrated founder of Sustainable South Bronx partnered with Parisian perfumers Pascal Gaurin and Bruno Jovanovic to create L’Eau Verte du Bronx du Sud - or Green Water of the South Bronx - which Carter hopes will infuse the occupants of the Sister Thomas Apartments with a sense of optimism and happiness. “The part of your brain that senses scent can allow you to feel really bad about what you see in front of you—or really good—depending on what it is,” explains Carter. The nonprofit South East Bronx Community Organization (SEBCO) hopes to release the perfume into a rooftop air unit at the building where it will waft into the hallways and common areas - but not into the 103 apartment units - as soon as the complex’s 200 residents give them the nod.

Most residents of the low-income building in Longwood, which is well within range of both a noxious sewage treatment plant and a trash transfer station, are more than willing to give the idea a shot. “Anything to make the Bronx smell better,” says Yolanda Rivera, who can smell sewage from her seventh-floor apartment.

Building manager Sal Gigante concurs believes tenants will definitely prefer the “nice outdoorsy aroma” of L’Eau Verte du Bronx du Sud to the more traditional borough bouquet of “decaying rat carcass.”

Olfactory Fact #207: Sniffers Buy More Snifters!

When Finnish scent marketer Ideair tested five restaurants and bars using scented ads for specific liquor brands against five using identical but unscented ads, the result was an astounding 79% boost in sales at the scented locations.

Scents and the City

From Mystery Methane Scents to Decidedly Good Scents to Inexplicable Maple Syrup Scents to city cops with Absolutely No Scents, New York City has provided a wealth of olfactory fodder for the Whiff-Guys over the years. And, as it turns out, we’re by no means the only entity to stick our noses into the diverse aromas of this diverse city.
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The Great Pumpkin Scent

Research at the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation which found that a pumpkin pie-based mixture increased male sexual arousal by 40% appears to not have been lost on Tilda Swinton. The unconventional Scottish beauty has just launched her signature fragrance, Like This, and it smells just like Thanksgiving!

It was not the sexual side effects, however, but the longing to carry a reminder of her Scotland home while traveling which inspired the fragrance, according to the actress. “I thought about how great it would be if I could have a smell that would keep me at home wherever I was. So I started to think about my home smells, and the principal ingredients became ginger, baby carrot, pumpkin,” Swinton told New York Magazine. “I’m a November child—a pumpkin child—so this whole idea of orange is there.”

Olfactory Fact #415: Natural Gas Smells Unnatural

When we say, “I smell gas!” - what we are actually referring to is a manufactured sulfur compound called ethyl mercaptan, which is deliberately added to odorless natural gas as an olfactory warning trigger.

Wanted: Noses - No Experience Necessary

“You know that metaphor when people say something ‘doesn’t pass the smell test’?” MSNBC host Rachel Maddow asked her viewers last Friday evening. “Well now, in the BP oil disaster era, it’s no longer a metaphor. Smell tests - for real. Trained smell-testers monitoring America’s seafood supply.”

In a admittedly bizarre effort to detect oil-tainted seafood before it hits the open market, about sixty “sniffers” have been trained so far in “seafood sensory testing” by the International Food Protection Training Institute and NOAA Fishery Service at the National Seafood Inspection Lab in Pascagoula, Mississippi.

Gerald Wojtala, director of the IFPTI, acknowledged that the method may sound silly, but said it’s nonetheless a time-proven technique. “The human nose has been used on a lot of spill response. There are a lot of sophisticated tests, but when you think about it, do you want to run a test that takes seven days and costs thousands of dollars?”

Although Wojtala verified that his agency is not seeking out people with supernatural smelling abilities to put on the case, but is rather training regular folks to be able to detect contamination, he does acknowledge that they occasionally run across what Maddow called “star noses,” people with a much more natural affinity for the work. The first level of training produces only “screeners,” but some move on through the ranks to become “assessors or even experts,” says Wojtala. “It all depends on how good their God-given talents are.”

It may not be the failsafe 21st century technology Americans might expect to see at work, but as a first response, says Wojtala, “it puts more eyes and noses at different points in the system.”

Joe Jenkins, owner of the Crystal Seas Seafood Company, agrees. “Here, we don’t have inspectors on any level so we have to inspect our ownseafood products to make sure they’re safe and oil-free and good to eat.”

Others, like Mississippian Mike Triana, have their doubts. “No way. How they gonna know? I ain’t eating any of it. I don’t trust the nose.”

(Maddow’s full interview with Gerald Wojtala can be found HERE.)

SMI Launches Scent Marketing Digest!

Congratulations to our friends at the Scent Marketing Institute on the official launch of the Scent Marketing Digest, the essential blog for scent marketing resources, industry experts, scent developers and scent solution providers!

“We are glad to be able to offer an additional platform for the exchange of opinions and information and to further contribute to building a solid, educated Scent Marketing community,” says founder and chief marketer Harald Vogt. “We invite you to participate, to make your thoughts and opinions known and to engage in a fruitful conversation that will bring the subject of Scent Marketing forward.”

Shape the Future at Shopper Insights in Action 2010!

Registration is open for this year’s Shoppers Insights In Action Conference on July 11 - 14 in Chicago, which will feature over 50 educational sessions and 75 speakers from such best-in-class brand and retail leaders as Procter & Gamble, Walgreens, JCPenney, Staples, Home Depot, Kraft Foods, The Coca-Cola Company and many more! Tracy Pepe, Founder & CEO of Nose Knows Consulting will kick things off with an interactive keynote session in which attendees will learn how a scent trail - or “silage” - drastically impacts shoppers’ behavior!

For more information or to register for this exciting event, just follow your nose to the conference website at www.shopperinsightsevent.com.

The Fresh New Holiday Inn Launches in Portsmouth

It’s been about six months since the Whiff-Guys told you about the Fresh New Holiday Inn, $1-billion global re-launch aiming to makeover some 3,200 properties of the iconic chain by the end of 2010 with a spiffy new logo, higher-end room amenities, and the hotel’s very own White Tea and Citrus Signature Fragrance.

This month, after four years of renovation, the U.K.’s Holiday Inn Portsmouth has completed its transformation, and General Manager Kevin Israel couldn’t be happier. “The visible changes at the hotel include new signage, entrance music and even a signature scent in the lobby.”

But the real emphasis in this latest incarnation of the hotel chain that began its franchise in America in the 1950s, says Israel, is that of customer service. The staff, consisting of over 100 local people, have all completed a training program called “Stay Real” which focuses on a positive approach and efficient response to all guest requests.

Despite concerns over the economic climate, Holiday Inn is seizing the opportunity to take full advantage of its fresh new look with a Stay You global television advertising campaign, billboards, and extensive internet presence on popular websites such as Youtube. The company even hired British dance troupe Diversity - who won last year’s Britain’s Got Talent - to do a promotional video for the relaunch that has received over 70,000 online hits to date.

“Over the past few years it has felt like we have always been planning for, in the middle of or anticipating the next stage of refurbishment, but we are all truly delighted and very proud of both ourselves and our property at Holiday Inn Portsmouth,” adds Israel. “It takes an enormous amount of effort from a great many people, but everyone is incredibly enthused to be in a position to deliver a great hotel and service that our guests love.”

Olfactory Fact #48: You Can’t Pick Your Nose Woes

Specific Anosmia, the inability to perceive a specific odor, explains why some people are unable to smell freesias while others are unable to smell skunks…and, no, they don’t get to choose.

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