While optics remains the master tool of marketing, the olfactory goes much deeper, creating stronger emotional connect. A 2009 study, ‘The Use of Scents to Influence Consumers: The Sense of Using Scents to Make Cents’, investigates how consumers have been increasingly influenced by ambient scents – general odours that do not emanate from a product but are part of the retail environment. Ergo, olfaction becomes a powerful marketing tool. A 2014 Sense of Smell Institute study shows that 90% of respondents remembered the last time they encountered a certain scent, while only 50% remembered what they had seen.
Smells crafted for a brand can create a memorable experience, powerful brand recall. Keeping this in mind, India’s G20 sherpa could have a special scent for the venue at the leaders’ summit less than a month away. Phials of G20 attar – rich, bright, hint of spices – can spread India across the world.