Scent Marketing Strategy – Matching Products With Settings

To activate the impulse to buy within the fickle heart of the modern consumer, a scent must have contextual meaning and correspond both to the product and the environment in which it is sold.

The aroma of cookies baking in the oven for example is a perfect scent for a ‘Got’ campaign, but when it was diffused in ads at bus stops recently, scent marketers ultimately had to remove the ads. Scent marketers must understand that in order for a scent to work, it must be more than pleasant; it must also be congruent with the shopping environment.

The best scents are those that are simple. Washington State University and Switzerland’s University of St. Gallen conducted a joint study about scent, which concluded that it is the basic aromas that create “a shopping state of mind.”

A simple scent of orange for example, is not only easier for the mind to process than a more complex orange-basil and green tea aroma, it also helps consumers focus on the goal at hand; namely, shopping.