Archive for September, 2008
Interview with Russell Brumfield
Marketing news has an interesting interview with Whiff Solutions’ Russell Brumfield in their latest issue. Check out their blog “Marketing Power” to read the second half.
Link: Marketing Power
Add comment September 27, 2008
Dreams influenced by olfactory stimuli
German researchers have found that the emotional qualities of dreams are influenced by olfactory stimuli. According to the study presented at a recent Otolaryngology meeting, the smell of rotten eggs gave subjects bad dreams, while the smell of roses gave good dreams. The scents were dispersed while subjects slept, and the quality of the dreams was reported by the subjects upon waking. This study is the first of its kind, and researchers say it points to the possibility of therapy involving “nocturnal olfactory stimulation.”
Read more at Lab Spaces
Add comment September 26, 2008
Abercrombie & Fitch partners with Prolitec for in-store scenting
This just in from retail giant Abercrombie & Fitch.
Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF) announced today that it has concluded an agreement with scent technology and media company Prolitec Inc. to provide scent ambiance services for its retail locations. An Abercrombie spokesperson said, “Prolitec is the technology leader in the use of scent in public spaces. We are pleased to partner with them as our provider of in-store scent.”
“Prolitec is proud to support Abercrombie & Fitch, given their commitment to a multi-sensory store experience,” said Prolitec Vice President Roger Bensinger.
Prolitec is a privately-held technology-enabled services company specializing in indoor air quality and scent as a medium of communications. Prolitec serves clients throughout the US and globally.
Abercrombie & Fitch operates over 1000 retail locations in the US and around the world with five brands: Abercrombie & Fitch, abercrombie, Hollister Co., RUEHL, and Gilly Hicks.
3 comments September 18, 2008
Gamblers spend more in scented casinos
New research about scent marketing seem to be popping up all over. Salon.com’s recent piece about scent marketing mentions some interesting studies I hadn’t heard about. In one study, a floral scent was dispersed in a specific area of a casino over the course of a weekend. Gamblers in that area of the casino spent 45% more money that weekend, when other areas of the casino saw the same spending as usual. Yes, 45% more money. Incredible. In another study, a lily-of-the-valley scent was correlated with shoppers having more positive attitudes about pajamas (and buying more). But the scent of sea mist didn’t have such an affect.
Find out more things you didn’t know at salon.com
Add comment September 17, 2008
Australian man demonstrates limits of scent masking
In case you are in doubt about the need for odor neutralizers, and feeling tempted to simply cover up bad smells with good ones, take heed. An Australian man recently killed his girlfriend, then tried using rose-scented candles and an aerosol spray to cover up the smell. I think he’s in jail now.
Read more in the Herald Sun
Add comment September 15, 2008
Electronic noses benefit from polymer-based mucus
British electronic-nose developers have found that adding a mucus layer to their e-nose improves its sniffing ability. Just like the mucus in a human nose, the synthetic mucus used on the e-nose controls the sniffing rate, thereby improving precision and accuracy, as well as length of time required for odor analysis. Some aroma identification that had been challenging for the pre-mucus e-nose, such as distinguishing milk from cream, is now being done with ease. The research team, from the University of Warwick and Leicester University, thinks the mucus-enhanced e-nose could be on sale sometime in 2009. The team is looking into health-care diagnostic uses, including for eye infections, skin diseases and urinary infections.
Read more at Bionic Nose and BBC News
Add comment September 9, 2008
Art exhibit gives an experience of history through smell
Reg Vardy Gallery in Sunderland, England recently hosted a fascinating scent art exhibit called “If There Ever Was: an exhibition of extinct and impossible smells.” The exhibit, put together by conceptual artist Robert Blackson, considered scent as “integral to the perception of abstraction and representation.” The scents created for the exhibit were inspired by their absence: we would never, ever otherwise be smelling them because they don’t exist. For example, the scents of four extinct flowering plants were created based on mixing aromas of their existing relatives with historical reports of how the extinct flowers smelled. Other scents in the exhibit included the surface of the Sun (created by heating various metals known to be part of the sun), communism, Hiroshima, “surrender” (did you know incense was once burned in the middle east to indicate surrender to an advancing army?), the Titanic, the Russian space station Mir, the last meal of a man who was executed in 1990, and more.
Fortunately for those of us who couldn’t be there, all of the “extinct and impossible” scents from the exhibit have been reproduced in a book, pictured above.
Participating artists included Kóan Jeff Baysa, Mark Buxton, Bertrand Duchaufour, Christoph Hornetz, Christophe Laudamiel, Patricia Millns, Steven Pearce, David Pybus – Scents of Time, Geza Schön, Sissel Tolaas, and Maki Ueda.
Read more at the Reg Vardy Gallery’s web site
Buy the book from Word Power Books
Add comment September 5, 2008
