olfactory

The comments on my article, Revealed: How Steve Jobs Turns Customers into Fanatics showed several tendencies. First, they proved my point about fanaticism, as many of the comments were knee-jerk reactions from Apple fans who assumed (incorrectly) that I was attacking Apple’s products. (Did they even read the post?) The reaction was comparable to whacking a hornet nest with a stick.

Finnish scent marketing firm Ideair used ten restaurants and bars to conduct an interesting test of the effect of scent on product sales. As reported by Reuters, five locations used only visual ads for a specific liquor brands while the other five used the same ads but added scent diffusers. The aroma being broadcast were that of the advertised liquor.

Would you prefer a scented pencil? How about a tennis ball? Tires? You might not care, or even prefer to avoid the olfactory assault altogether, but research shows you’ll remember the product better if it has a scent.

In yet another indication that human olfactory responses can completely bypass our conscious thought process, a study at Florida State University has shown that the natural scent of an ovulating woman can boost the testosterone levels of men exposed to that scent. In research published in Psychological Science, FSU scientists Saul L. Miller and Jon K. Maner showed that humans still process olfactory cues:

Over the years, movie-makers have tried to go beyond what’s on the screen to scare theatergoers. In the 1950s, director William Castle startled those viewing his horror films, notably The Tingler, with gimmicks like vibrators installed under some theater seats. When the creature escapes into a theater in the movie, Vincent Price’s voice warns the viewers that the Tingler is loose and tells them to scream. At this moment, the theater projectionist would activate buzzers under the seats of a few people in the audience, often eliciting the desired screams.

by: Roger Dooley

South Korean researchers have conducted an fMRI study that shows that perfume can arouse some men. Shocking news, eh?

by: Roger Dooley

It’s no big surprise that our brains can process odors without the intervention of our conscious minds, but a study published earlier this year showed just how sophisticated that process can be. Specifically, brain scans showed that women responded differently when they smelled the sweat of sexually aroused males, even though almost none of the women were consciously able to identify the smell as sweat.

by: Roger Dooley

I applaud companies that employ a signature aroma in their retail locations that is distinctive and immediately evocative of the product or service. In the fast food arena, Burger King’s use of flame broiling puts its olfactory marketing a step ahead of its competitors, who mostly use conventional frying equipment.

Now, Burger King breaks new olfactory marketing ground with Eau de Whopper:

by: Roger Dooley

Does a better-smelling product work better? Probably not, but people will THINK it does.

by: Roger Dooley

Continuing our survey of neuromarketing books, we recently finished Brand Sense - Build Powerful Brands through Touch, Taste, Smell, Sight, and Sound, by Martin Lindstrom. This data-packed volume was published in 2005, and is based in part on a global research project by Millward Brown which studied the relationship between branding and sensory awareness.