A Partnership Heaven-Scent!
October 29, 2008
Congratulations from the Whiff-Guys to our friends at ScentAir and EnviroScent on their merger, effective today, which brings together two pioneers in the ever-expanding world of scent marketing!
“This merger reinforces our leadership position and increases our ability to meet customers’ growing needs to use scent as a critical part of the marketing mix,” said Tom Conroy, CEO of ScentAir. “EnviroScent brings a full line of complementary products and technologies serving world-class customers in many industries including hospitality, retail, real estate and gaming. Together we expect to create enhanced value for our customers, employees and shareholders.”
The admiration is mutual, according to Jeff Sherwood, CEO of EnviroScent. “We are very pleased to join forces with ScentAir. With ScentAir’s strength in commercial scent solutions, our in-demand specialty products and a combined 25 years of technical innovations in the scenting industry, we are positioned to take advantage of the growing market opportunities. In addition, this merger reflects the joining of two companies with shared corporate cultures and an entrepreneurial spirit that will continue to drive growth for the combined company.”
For the short term, ScentAir and EnviroScent will operate under their respective brand names, with Conroy serving as CEO of the combined company and Sherwood as a member of the ScentAir senior management team.
The Swede Smell of Success
October 27, 2008
Earlier this year, with an eye toward capturing the attention of visually-overloaded consumers, a Swedish fashion label turned to smell to create a strong brand image and increase sales. The Odeur line, including t-shirts, jeans, and scarfs, is embedded with a clean citrus fragrance designed to last for up to thirteen washes. Petter Hollstrom, managing director of Odeur, believes the distinctive scent will establish consumer loyalty for the brand. “It’s about putting a brand in people’s minds so that they relate to it. The aim is to build a more personal relationship with the consumer.”
Hollstrom is not alone in his thinking. According to the School of Business at Stockholm University, scent marketing is a fast-growing trend in Sweden. In August, laundry detergent company Persil, as part of their “Dirt is Good” campaign, placed sidewalk billboards around the city inviting pedestrians press a button and enjoy a whiff of clean, fresh laundry. More recently, Malmo grocery store ICA supplemented the allure of their fruit stand with a scent dispenser that wafts the enticing aromas of apricot and mango.
Beyond Scratch ‘n’ Sniff: Edible Advertising?
October 23, 2008
Welch’s took multisensory advertising one step beyond Scratch ‘n’ Sniff with its full-page ads, which appeared in the February 20 issue of People Magazine. The front of the advertisement showed a huge bottle of Welch’s grape juice, while the back had a strip that peeled up and off, with text that read: “For a TASTY fact, remove & LICK.”
Since magazines are frequently passed from reader to reader, as in waiting rooms and salons, the “ick factor” has always been a significant hurdle for Lickable Ads. It’s a dilemma which was faced by CBS last fall, when the network added flavor strips to ads in Rolling Stone magazine, giving readers a taste of lime-flavored mojitos, the fictional rum brand central to the plot of the CBS series, Cane. “We struggled with the concept,” says Greg Castronuovo, senior vice president of Initiative, the media-buying firm that created the ad. “There is a lot of pass-along in magazines. I had a little bit of aversion to it, it’s a little unsanitary, perhaps.”
First Flavor, the company that developed the technology for the Welch’s ad, resolved this issue by using a one-time-only dissolvable strip, and many thanks to Tamar Silberberg, First Flavor’s Director of Business Development, for the clarification (see comment below). “You are not supposed to lick the ad or the tamper evident pouch in which the flavor strip is encased. You are actually supposed to peel open the pouch, remove the strip, place it on your tongue, let it dissolve and enjoy!”
In some lickable ads, including Welch’s, essence of the actual product is added to the strip. In others, the strip is made up of unrelated flavors, both natural and artificial.
Nora Roberts’ Multisensory Dream House
October 21, 2008
Eight months after a four-alarm fire derailed restoration of a historic landmark in Boonsboro, Maryland, best-selling author Nora Roberts’ labor of love is back on track. Now slated to open in late-December, Roberts’ unique bed and breakfast, Inn Boonsboro (formerly the Boone Hotel), will feature six guest rooms elaborately themed “in the style of great romantic fictional couples,” complete with its own corresponding signature scent. And, if you happen to fall in love with the flashy style of your Nick and Nora Charles room, or the gothic mystery of your Jane Eyre and Edward Rochester room, or the old-world charm of your Elizabeth and Darcy room, don’t worry about how to capture the essence with a postcard. Roberts’ gift shop across the street, the “Gifts Inn Boonsboro,” offers all six signature scents so that guests can trigger their nostalgic vacation memories at a whim. Forevermore.
A Whiff of Old World Charm at the New Plaza Hotel
October 17, 2008
Global French skincare brand Caudalie, known for tapping the therapeutic restorative power of grapes and grapevine polyphenois, will this week launch its fourth international Vinotherapie Spa at New York City’s freshly renovated Plaza Hotel.
With an eye toward bringing “the vineyard experience to an urban setting,” the spacious new facility’s impressive list of accoutrements will include an 800 square foot wine lounge, an on-site sommelier, “small plates” of favorite foods indigenous to European vineyard regions, and its own signature scent, Bois Grille. Literally translated as Wood Roasts, the fragrance was created by founder Mathilde and perfumer Olivia Giacobetti, and is designed to reflect her family cooperage, where wine barrels are still hand-crafted in their ancient tradition. “White oak staves are charred or toasted and emit sensual wafts of toasted bread, almond, vanilla and grounding, warm wood aromas.”
Scentsational Greetings: Sniffing for a Cure
October 16, 2008
Greeting card company Scentsational Greetings, in observance of National Breast Cancer Awareness month, has released its Ocean Breeze scented cards, designed to evoke peace and serenity and lift the spirits of those most in need. Partnering with non-profit organization The City of Hope and the Susan G. Komen Foundation, Scentsational Greetings will donate a portion of the proceeds from each wholesale purchase to breast cancer research throughout the months of October and November.
Founded by entrepreneur and scent-lover April Seals-Partner, the innovative company utilizes rub ‘n’ sniff micro-encapsulation technology to combine the science of scent with the personal connection of a greeting card. The Scentcology line, which includes such olfactory delights as chocolate, rose, lemon, and gingerbread or pine for holiday well-wishers, includes a scent definition on the back of each beautifully illustrated card explaining the positive effects of each individual scent.
“Americans have a passion for scented products,” says Seals-Partner, who came up with the idea of a scented greeting card company following the success of her chocolate fountain rental company in Southern California. “My clients always raved about the scent of our Belgian chocolate. I thought about how nice it would be to send them a thank you card with the same scent.” When a search of existing greeting card racks bore no results, she took on the task herself, and a new company was born.
Scentsational Greetings was recently selected to participate in the 2008 National Stationery Shows Best New Product Display, and Seals-Partner couldn’t be more pleased. “I am extremely happy with the reception Scentsational Greetings has received so far by consumers and the industry. We look forward to an extremely successful charity campaign.”
Whiff ‘n’ Win: Endorphin Branding™ the Lottery
October 6, 2008
“I’m down to my last lottery ticket,” frets Fry of Comedy Central’s animated hit Futurama, before scratching a panel of his “Whiff-n-Win” ticket and taking a sniff. “Cherry!” Another scratch, another jubilant sniff. “Cherry!” Then the final scratch and final sniff. “Mule. Crud!”
We don’t have to wait for 31st Century technology to smell our winnings (or losses). Scented lottery tickets are actually one of the more popular applications for scratch-off and scratch-and-sniff coatings. As the Whiff-Guys have preached for some time, endorphin branding™ is the use of scent as a means of imprinting a highly emotional, positive experience in tandem with a targeted signature scent, which can be reintroduced at a later time to trigger and recreate the desired response. And, as lottery officials and casino owners have known all along, few experiences in life are more emotionally charged than the sudden highs (and lows) of gambling.
Iowa was among the first to introduce scent marketing into its state lottery with its “Easy as Pie” scratch off tickets in November of 2000, treating players to the warm and fuzzy Thanksgiving scent of pumpkin pie. The success of that endeavor led to their chocolate-scented “Sweet Rewards” tickets. More recently, New Mexico hopped on board with the 2007 Christmas launch of their peppermint-scented “Candy Cane Magic” game and, just last summer, Colorado lottery officials spiced up their popular “Crossword” lottery series with “Crossword Bouquet,” “Chocolate Crossword,” and “Coffee Crossword.”
The benefits of scent technology for state lotteries are not limited to the obvious impact on consumer sales. Consider this passage from Chapter 1 of Whiff!, A Whiff of Authenticity:
“One can buy a ream of paper, a laminating machine, and a color copier most anywhere in the world. Yet reproducing a distinctly scented paper or plastic document would add a layer of difficulty to the process, and can be much more easily traceable. Where RFIDs (radio frequency identification devices) can assist in the detection of counterfeits whenever a scanner is at hand, anyone with a nose can detect the scent of deception.”
Ageless Fantasy: The Bouquet of Youth
October 1, 2008
Whiff!-devotees have known for some time that certain scents, notably pink grapefruit, have the power to shave years from a woman’s perceived age. Inspired by such clinical trials and the writings of New York Times perfume critic Chandler Burr, fragrance maker Harvey Prince has released Ageless Fantasy.
Billed as “prescription-free youth in a bottle,” the fresh invigorating elixir blends top notes of pink grapefruit and mango with middle notes of jasmine and musky end notes to create a fragrance which, according to the manufacturers, has proven to make women appear at least 8 years younger to the men in their midst.
The Scent of Leadership
September 28, 2008
The Whiff-Guys aren’t the only ones <"http://askthewhiffguys.com/off-the-cuff/endorphin-branding™-the-scent-of-a-winner/">thinking outside the ballot box during this historic election year. West Virginia publicist and entrepreneur April Cline’s Presidential Perfumes are inspired by–although not formally endorsed by–the personalities and platforms of the candidates. The Barack Obama fragrance has “an appealing freshness and youthful energy, it is complimented by a strong dose of determination,” while the essence of John McCain is “aged with experience, accentuated with non-partisanship and military strength.”
Six other available scents include Hillary (”a delicate floral with notes of jasmine, violet, rose and musk) and VP contendees Palin and Biden (a free 1-oz bottle of corresponding veep fragrance is offered with each presidential purchase).
Scent Marketing with DVDs
September 25, 2008
Advertisers looking to combine the efficiency of the CD and DVD with the effectiveness of scent marketing, look no further. CD Digital Card’s new Rub & Smell Discs are coated with a transparent varnish which releases any scent “from fresh fruit and flowers to coffee and pizza,” allowing marketers to give consumers a tantalizing sniff of the product being pitched on the disk.
Through a vastly superior version of the Scratch ‘n’ Sniff technology of the 1970s known as micro-encapsulation, the disk surface remains dormant until rubbed, then releases a scent which dissipates in seconds and waits to be rubbed again (readers of Whiff! who have rubbed the book’s cover and taken a sniff have experienced micro-encapsulation–the Whiff-Guys practice what they preach!).
A lengthy list of Stock Scents and suggested uses covers the bases from apple for Mac retailers and leather for car dealerships to gingerbread for bakeries and peaches for fruit stands, but retailers who don’t find the perfect signature scent for their product’s marketing CD/DVD are invited to either supply their own or request a custom blend.
