Have you tapped into your brand’s fullest potential? If you’re anything less than sure, it’s time to look into multi-sensory experiences. Scenting is an underutilised branding tool when it comes to target marketing. Our team explains why scenting is important, which scents appeal to which age groups and how to roll out an enticing brand experience.

Nail your target marketing: start by understanding the senses

Even though it is considered one of the most powerful senses, scent truly has yet to be fully understood and applied. Scent not only informs about 80% of what we taste, but it is also a powerful tool in human evolution and recently, target marketing.

Taste has about four to nine distinct flavour profiles. These include the commonly known sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami. But there is a push to also add profiles like fat, soapy and metallic. As for that spicy heat sensation? It is listed as a type of chemical thermal detector and not so much as a taste.

As for smell, it can be identified and detected by thousands of distinct aromas, a single molecule can trigger up to a hundred olfactory receptors. Not to mention our memories are linked to these olfactory elements thanks to the limbic system. This includes things like:

• Processing and regulating emotions
• The formation and storage of memories
• Sexual arousal
• Learning

Sweet, sweet senses

The common understanding is that sweet smells and tastes appeal to younger generations. Why? Evolution-wise, children and youths have associated sweet smells with calorie-rich foods that provide energy for growth. Plus, kids just love the stuff.

A good example of this was found in Lush’s sweet sensory experience. It specialises in body products like bath bombs, lotions, soaps and other scented goods. Younger consumers run to the store, while older passersby keep on walking. The sensory overload is appealing for the kids and teens attracted to sweetness, but older groups find it overwhelming.

More than meets the nose

A lot of likability and appeal of a scent comes from cultural elements like exposure, motivation and interest in a particular scent or aroma. Taste and scent aversions can be overcome by becoming familiar with them.

Taste buds also stop regenerating with age. At age 40, flavours begin to taste bland and for some at age 80, the sense of smell may already be nonexistent. The ability to detect which types of smells varies for individuals. Detecting vanilla may be long gone for one person, whereas for others, the ability to sense rose-scented items may suffer.

Age groups and scent/ taste preferences

Depending on your brand, product and target marketing audience, olfactory profiles will be better suited for different age groups. S.O.H Group’s scent solutions ranges in themes that appeal to general audiences and can be used to hone in on specific consumers.

Some scent preference groups include:

Children – Enjoy sweet profiles like vanilla, cherry, candy, strawberry, orange, and apple (with an aversion to bitter tastes and smells)

Adolescents – Crave sweet foods and baked goods

Adults – Attracted to florals, spices, musky and fresh scents

Seniors – Fond of cucumber, nutty, ginger and mint (aversion to sweet things, but also deteriorated ability to sense them)

What can you take from this for your brand? Use scent to attract the right audience to you, effortlessly. With the power of scent marketing, you can establish an immersive brand experience with products, store or installation ambiance and more.

Best practices also include tapping into your consumer target market associations by matching these sensory characteristics throughout your visual marketing using:

• Packaging 
• Labels
• Advertising
• Association clouds

Winning ways to use scenting

If your brand is similar to Lush’s scented product offering, make sure to play on those notes. Have your products readily accessible for consumers to interact with them. Showcase images of sweet associations and have a steady airflow and open doors to invite interested visitors. 

If your offering is more subtle or lacks a scent, you can choose a scent for your brand, or opt for a bespoke scenting experience. We also assist in engineering the optimal scented experience with our multisensory technology. No matter your space dimensions, use and function, we can provide a scented experience to boost brand attraction with the right audience, interaction and recall – and ultimately better sales.

Track down the scent to success

To have a personalised strategy to attract your audience through scented target marketing, book an appointment.