Archive for January, 2008
Reebok makes Kool-Aid scented shoes
Mmm, what foot fetishist wouldn’t want a pair of sneakers that smelled like grape Kool-Aid? Soon you’ll be able to have your very own. The scent is delivered via scented sock liners in grape, cherry and strawberry flavors. There will be a matching clothing line, too. All available on February 1 at retailers everywhere. More in the Cleveland Leader
Add comment January 30, 2008
Office scenting can increase productivity
FM World, a British magazine for facilities managers, is making a case for management of workplace aromas. The article cites Takasago’s research into the impact of various essential oils on office productivity, which found that workers make fewer typing errors when their environment is scented with lavender, jasmine or lemon. Also mentioned are surveys that indicate workers growing annoyance at various unwanted workplace aromas, including the scents of hot food preparation, perfumes, and body odor.
Related links:
The introduction of scents to an office area can increase productivity, FM World
More about Takasago’s research can be found in The Smell Culture Reader, by Jim Drobnick
Add comment January 29, 2008
Fusing fashion and olfaction with "Smart Fabric"
Feeling uninspired by stories about scent marketing and scented products? Get inspired by “Scentsory Design.” Imagine a dress that’s like a second skin, containing sensors that keep track of what’s happening in your body. Now, imagine that this dress also contains micro tubing and a fragrance pump, delivering scent to targeted areas of the body. Researcher Jenny Tillotson is imagining dresses like this, made of this kind of “smart fabric.” From her web site: “Scentsory Design chooses scent as a tool to improve mental and physical wellbeing, enabling the wearer to act on visual cues or detect scent signals, allowing immediate information. Scentsory Design creates Emotional Fashion: responsive clothes that offer social and therapeutic value in a desirable fashion context.”
See Fashion Trendsetter for more information and a fascinating video, as well as Jenny Tillotson’s web site, Smart Second Skin.
Add comment January 25, 2008
Rachel Herz in AdWeek
Rachel Herz, olfactory scientist and author of “The Scent of Desire,” has an entertaining piece about scent marketing in the latest issue of AdWeek. Most of what she mentions are things you’ve read here before, but there are a couple of interesting exceptions. Did you know that Exxon On the Run stores increased coffee sales by 55% by adding a coffee scent to their coffee machines? Impressive. Worth the read.
Read it in AdWeek
Add comment January 24, 2008
Odor appreciation influenced by names
Neuroscientists have been looking at the connections between words and odor perception. What they’ve found is that how we judge an odor is influenced by knowing beforehand what we’re smelling. A Canadian study recently published in the Journal of Neurophysiology found significant effects of odor names on perceived pleasantness, intensity, and arousal. A French study published in the journal Chemical Senses found that an odor’s perceived pleasantness is effected by knowing the name, in both children and adults. Even 5-6 year olds are influenced by lexical knowledge of what they’re sniffing. According to the report, these results suggest that “during childhood, smells are not only encoded perceptually but that verbal encoding also steers contextual effects that may be prominent factors in the early memorization and categorization of odors.”
For more, see A Rose by Any Other Name: Would it Smell as Sweet? and Verbal Cues Modulate Hedonic Perception of Odors in 5-Year-Old Children as Well as in Adults.
Add comment January 22, 2008
Perfumes are more than just fragrances
Cosmeticsdesign.com has done an interesting bit about perfume companies’ efforts to market the healthful benefits of their fragrances. We’ve got House of Rose’s alcohol-free perfumes for healthier skin, some of which have anti-aging properties. Apparently the scent of pink grapefruit has been found to reduce perceived age by several years, so they’ve got a pink grapefruit scent. Their fragrances all contain “lab certified human pheromone attractants,” too. And then there’s a French perfume, Smiley, that’s been marketed as an anti-depressant for the past year or so. Smiley contains phenylethylamine and theobromine which, according to the company, create happy feelings and block stress-triggering chemicals. It even comes in a medicinal-appearing bottle.
Check out Cosmeticsdesign.com
Add comment January 21, 2008
MRSA Update
Aerobiologists and scent-machine makers in the business of infection control and prevention will be interested in the recent Infection Prevention Industry Update. The article contains the latest findings about the startling increase in prevalence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). See Infection Control Today Magazine for the full report.
Add comment January 20, 2008
