Here is the sweet-smelling anatomy of one of Delhi?s upmarket malls, Select City, which even the most frequent of visitors may have missed to observe. Depending on where you enter the mall, the smell of right-out-of-the-oven-cookies, freshly brewed coffee, of caramalised pear and toasted pecan ice cream, of cheese melting over sun-dried tomatoes would just get you in the mood to indulge?without you even suspecting anything. How? Well, the first entrance to the mall has Cookie Man, the second has The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, the third has Haagen Dazs and the back entrance has Chicago Pizza. Not just that, one of the central atriums of the mall has Forest Essentials and the other has Lancome. ?That?s what any intelligent mall will do-put the right brands in the right zone. You?d never find a perfume store next to a bakery. The idea is to have a distinctive smell in each zone,? explains Rajiv Duggal, CEO, Select City Walk. Possibly, this is why Select, despite two other malls right next to it, is the one enjoying the sweet smell of success with heavy footfalls.
A popular concept internationally, fragrance marketing is increasingly finding acceptance in India, with not just hotels, but also retail stores and realty developers trying to mix the right notes to enhance shoppers? perceptions and maximise returns. ?Visual merchandising apart, we play the signature s.Oliver music at a standard decibel level, the temperature and humidity levels in all the stores is controlled. What most brands don?t pay attention to and we did was the store fragrance. After many trials, we settled for a fragrance by a UK-based company, Technical Concept,? says Kunal Pant, Design and Buying Head, s.Oliver India. With lemon and cactus as its key notes, the fragrance has definitely worked for the brand. ?At a sub-conscious level, it does work,? says Pant.
Radisson Hotel in Delhi, for instance, banks on lemon grass. Hope, confidence, self esteem and relaxation are some of the words Marie Nandkarni uses to describe the fragrance. There are more reasons why the hotel chose it. ?The fragrance of lemon grass also elevates the cleanliness and hygiene practices and curbs the bacterial and microbial growth in the cloak room,? says Nandkarni, Director of Housekeeping in the Radisson.
Consider the realty sector. The fully-furnished model flat of Suncity Projects in Gurgaon ?makes you feel at home?. ?Our standards of construction are global, but the soul of our project is very much Indian. We keep rose petals dipped in water and incense sticks in our show flats,? says Anant Jain, DGM, Marketing & Brand Management, Suncity Projects. The bottomline is to sell a home and not a house. ?The overall experience of the customer visiting a sample flat helps them in their final decision of buying that property. So, we try to bring them closer to the lifestyle they?ll experience in our residential project,? he adds.
Choosing a fragrance has also become an vital element of the branding exercise. After much deliberation, Zuri settled for a combination of citronella, lemon grass and lavender for its entire chain of resorts. ?Fragrance was an important part of the branding exercise and it began 18 months before the launch. As much as 80% of the brand decisions made by human beings are based on smell. It is the only sense directly connected to the brain?s centres of memory and emotions. So, the moment our guests enter, they can identify that its one of Zuri?s properties through the fragrance,? says Priti Chand, Director, Communications, Zuri Group Global.
While internationally, the experiments happening are big, India has just begun to sniff this strategy. Earlier this month, Unilever put up a 394-foot-long billboard next to a mall in Tel Aviv to advertise Pinuk, its latest shampoo. It wasn?t the regular billboard though?it happened to be the largest outdoor fragrance project in the world with systems capable of covering over 1,10,000 sq ft area. The aroma strategy is already known to have helped Lee Myung-bak win the presidential race in South Korea. ?Great Korea?, a perfume representing hope, victory and passion, was specially created for the election and sprayed at public gatherings, and also at the polling booths to trigger the voters? memory. UK Travel firms use holiday aromas to sell trips, like coconut for tropical vacations!
Dr Avery Gilbert, a sensory psychologist with specialisation is olfaction, wonders why India has still not tapped its potential. ?Casinos in Las Vega?the Mirage, the Mandalay Bay and Bellagio?use ambient scents in gaming areas. Several hotel chains, including Westin Hotels & Resorts, have developed signature corporate logo scents. Germany just issued a set of scented postage stamps,? he adds. He also has a word of caution. ?Consumer?s response to scent is cognitive. It?s not all about emotion. We interpret scents based on the surrounding context. A scent that is consistent with other cues, lights, colour etc, creates a more compelling consumer experience. The correct intensity is also important.?
Possibly why the guests at One&Only, Le Saint G?ran, Mauritius, can not only choose a scent, but also its intensity. The property uses the signature Mauritian fragrance, frangipani, around the hotel. But the fragrance selection in the suites is niche: calm (ylang ylang fragrance for its soothing and calming effects); moments (vanilla for euphoria and laughter), and so on, explains Olivia Descroizilles, Communications Manager for the property.
?There are no proven numbers on the return on investment, which make many marketers hesitant. But, like often in life, there are no guarantees,? Harald H Vogt, Founder and Chief Marketer, Scent Marketing Institute, NY, aptly sums up. Little reasons to doubt a man who has created the scent of Las Vegas to be used in airport, taxis, convention centres, souvenirs, printed advertising, mailings…a whole range of scent marketing. Wonder what India might smell like!
