The Greatest Gift to Loved Ones might be the Shirt Off Your Back

There was an almost terrible beauty to that most memorable scene in the film Brokeback Mountain, that single moment when the gruff cowboy veneer of the Heath Ledger character cracked beneath the weight of his grief as he buried his face in the plaid shirt of his dead lover, desperate to catch his scent. (I’m by no means alone in thinking so–that shirt, worn by Jake Gyllenhaal, sold on eBay in February of 2006 for $101,100.00.)
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Paladino’s Unintentionally Apropos Signature Scent

If you thought Carl Paladino’s emails stunk (he’s the guy, you might recall, who forwarded offensive offerings ranging from Riverdancing monkeys as “Proof the Irish discovered Africa” to beastiality videos involving women and horses), wait until you catch a whiff of his snail mail.

The Tea Party-favorite gubernatorial candidate filled about 200,000 New Yorkers’ mailboxes last week with campaign mailers picturing various Democratic lawmakers and asserting that “Something Stinks in Albany.” Just in case that’s too subtle for the average voter, the flyer has a little something extra - a stench of garbage.
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Scent Strategy: Not a Roll of the Dice

The Palms in Las Vegas has enjoyed a certain Not-Your-Father’s-Resort ever since it hosted MTV’s The Real World series back in 2002. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the signature scent chosen in the hotel’s recent excursion into Vegas’ ambient scenting trend, an earthy-leathery aroma very much reminiscent of your father’s cologne.

The Palms scent, called Teakwood, began pumping throughout the resort’s lobby and casino in late-May and, after numerous complaints from both patrons and staff, was discontinued less than a month later. “The place literally stinks. I’d almost rather smell the smoke,” noted one visitor in his online review.
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Making Scents of Immigration Reform

In his his first speech dedicated solely to the mounting problem of immigration reform, President Obama this morning stated that the problem is too big to be fixed “only with fences and border patrols,” and reiterated his support for creation and issuance of a tamper-proof identification card. Such an unforgeable document would be a crucial tool for American employers who may find themselves tasked with stemming the tide of illegal immigrants by refusing to hire them - which means, minimally, the ability to reliably identify them. But, in an age where any child with access to PhotoShop can convincingly forge virtually any document, is a “tamper-proof” identification system realistic?
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The Use of Scents to Influence Consumers

There is perhaps no more compelling proof of the effectiveness of scent marketing than the ongoing controversy over whether the practice gives marketers an unfair edge by working - in effect - too well.

In The Use of Scents to Influence Consumers: The Sense of Using Scents to Make Cents, published in the Journal of Business Ethics, authors Kevin D Bradford and Debra M Desrochers analyze the ethical issues associated with scent marketing, arguing that the practice raises troubling issues because of the subliminal, unobserved, and “unstoppable” nature of the sense of smell.
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Do Different Ethnicities Smell Different?

Angie Lowe: I don’t believe a dog can smell Indians. I mean, as different from anyone else. You and me, for instance.
Hondo Lane: Well they can. As a matter of fact, Indians can smell white people.
Angie Lowe: I don’t believe it.
Hondo Lane: Well it’s true. I’m part Indian and I can smell you when I’m downwind of you.
Angie Lowe: That’s impossible.
Hondo Lane: No, it isn’t impossible, Mrs. Lowe. You baked today. I can smell fresh bread on you. Sometime today, you cooked with salt pork. Smell that on you, too. You smell all over like soap: you took a bath. And, on top of that, you smell all over like a woman. I could find you in the dark, Mrs. Lowe, and I’m only part Indian.

It’s a memorable exchange, from the 1953 John Wayne classic, and an intriguing point: Do different ethnic groups have characteristically different body odors?
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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!

Everything Smells…and that’s a GOOD Thing!

Scent is a biological mechanism used for recognition, communication, and signaling. Some scents alert us to danger. Other aromas contribute to our sexual arousal. Applied correctly, under the right conditions, scent also promotes health and improves cognitive functions, like memory, learning, and alertness.
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Joy Junkies!

The rush of adrenaline is a powerful condition that offers the fleeting, manufactured, simulation of real joy. Along with the release of endorphins, it is the chemical relative to the condition of joy. The adrenaline rush is not the result of joy, but merely a condition that is experienced while in the midst of an APS event.
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Traditions Make Long Standing Brands

Where rights are about joining the club, and rituals are about belonging to the club, traditions are more about the rules of the club. Tradition is about attitude, culture, ethics, opinion, legend, even myth. Tradition of a brand doesn’t have to really have a basis, other than it is a tradition that is respected. Politics is a good example. Why is one person a Democrat? Very likely he came from a long line of Democrats, and even though he votes a straight ticket, he may not be able to articulate his reasons very well, because he is a Democrat out of tradition. Another man might be a Chevy man. He has always bought Chevrolets, and his father was a Chevy man. These people do exist, but they are slowly becoming extinct.
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