Any woman can tell you the color and scent of a Victoria’s Secret store. Branding a business by color has been around forever, branding a business by scent deliberately is a rather new practice.
We have become inundated with never ending commercials, advertisements, pop-ups and infomercials, smart, progressive businesses realize that the use of scent is another way to make their business or brand not only stand out, but be remembered and associated with a certain positive experience or product.
While color may be an easy branding tool and will surely distinguish you from your competitors, such as that yummy, chocolate brown trademarked as "UPS Brown", scent can be a little touchier. Scent can either turn someone away or reel them in. It's a scientific fact that women are attracted to an ever so slight smell of skunk. Too much, and they are repulsed. Repulsion can be a good thing if your an international airport and you need to clear a building fast. Scents of danger need no interpretation. The scent of coffee can calm people, the new car smell increases sales of vehicles, Victoria’s Secret puts you in the mood the minute you walk into their store with the scent of a woman (or a man in drag) that remind you of romance and desire. Pierce Mattie's Media Oasis has a branded scent, complete with a high tech scent delivery system. Scents that relax you and put you in the mood to shop can increase a businesses bottom line.
Scents can also linger with you to remind you of places and times that can either conger up good memories or bad. For me, the scent of Grapefruit reminds me of my childhood summers spent at the beach on Prudence Island, while for Steve the scent of Grapefruit reminds him of a trip to France in 1999.
I asked a few fellow Bloggers how scent affects them:
Erika from The Makeup Bag said, “I have a soft spot in my heart for Honeysuckle and I am totally in love with Jo Malone’s Honeysuckle and Jasmine Cologne. There is something so alluring about perfume, almost like you can transform yourself with one little spray. I find myself applying makeup or dressing a different way with each different scent I wear. Right now I probably have 15 bottles on my countertop, so I can be 15 different people.”
Ellen from Lipstick, Powder n’ Paint said, “I love the smell of lavender. Whether it is a French milled bar of soap or a luxurious body cream. It makes me feel like I am in France in the summer in a lavender field - fabulous!
I also Love my Allure Sensual perfume and wear it almost everyday. It makes me feel very feminine. I have had my husband and many men say that they find it to be quite a sexy fragrance.”
Steve from Pierce Mattie said, “Whenever I travel abroad I use to run over to Kiehl’s to pick up a scented lotion before the trip. To this day when I smell grapefruit I think of a trip to France I took in 99. Cucumber makes me think of Italy, and cedar make me think of an adventure I took 7 days after 9/11 flying out to Barcelona. I strongly recommend getting a scent for your travels."
Lucy, blog owner of Indie Perfumes, gave more detail, "Men have been tested on this and it turns out they really like vanilla.
But both men and women have very complex tastes, I personally like spicey woody smells, recently I got Caron's Poivre, it really makes you feel very rich when you wear it. It has pepper and wood/spice with floral notes, very punchy at first, then dries down to a very mellow rich deep feeling.
Men's scents have usually been deep, like leather, or the woods, like sandalwood, spicey, or citrus/herbal, some resinous and balsam-y notes. In the past, the rose was considered a masculine scent, also gardenia, which is often used in men's scents.
Women are traditionally been floral with all the other scents combined.
Unisex has been mostly gourmand: fruity and heavily citrus for the past few years, chocolate notes, or bergamot, grapefruit, pomegranate, berry, peach and melon.
I agree it's good to have many scents so you can wear what you really like for the mood you are in, and for the season. Right now I am liking Habanita by Molinard, it has a light tobacco mixed with dried apricot scent that dries down to a very clean powdery smell on my skin that seems
good for the colder darker season..."
If you are looking to trademark you brand with color or scent, it is important to be choosy in picking the right one. It can mean the difference between eating Happy Meals or tasting the menu at Le Bec Fin.
Does scent influence you with a certain brand? What are some businesses that you automatically think of when you see a certain color?
Posted by Shannon Nelson on November 10, 2006 1:28 PM
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