Smelling a branding opportunity

There's no doubt that you remember the smell of your new car as you drove it out of the dealer's showroom. Do you think Coke tastes better when you drink it out of a glass bottle? Or do you prefer drinking it out of a can?

But what, you may ask, does this have to do with branding?

In the traditional world of branding the importance of the Crayola smell, the smell of a new car or the tactile feeling of a Coke bottle passes without notice. Yet these sensory touch points are an integral facet of these products. They are so essential that if used correctly, they will be worth untold millions of dollars.

Last week my latest book, BRAND sense, was published worldwide. My primary mission was to figure out the importance of our five senses in relation to branding. The research institute Millward Brown undertook the BRAND sense study utilizing the skills of 600 researchers across 13 countries. It revealed that the bulk of all communication today - 83% - appeals to sight, leaving a paltry 17% to the other senses.

Surprisingly, the study reveals that smell is our second most important sense after sight, not sound. In fact 75% of all our emotional connections are based on what we smell. And yet, less than 2% of today's communication takes scent into account.

Two identical pairs of Nike running shoes were placed in two separate, but identical, rooms. One room was infused with a mixed floral scent. The other wasn't. Test subjects inspected the shoes in each room, and then answered a questionnaire. Overwhelmingly, by a margin of 84 percent, consumers preferred the shoes displayed in the fragrant room. Additionally, the consumers estimated the value of the 'scented' shoes was, on average, $10.33 higher than the pair in the unscented room.

Which brings me back to the colorful Crayolas. As the company prepared to enter the Chinese market, they realized that they had to have a differential that would keep them unique in an environment of super-skilled imitators and abundant competitors. They decided to leverage smell. And although the smell of Crayola crayons hardly resembles rose potpourri, its power lies in its ability to take us back to childhood.

The Crayola smell was analyzed down to the minute detail, and was then trademarked, making it impossible to imitate. What had once been a coincidental by-product of the manufacturing process, had over the years become an essential element of the brand.

In the same way that new car owners expect a new-car smell in their vehicle. It's a smell that everyone believes is part of the fact that everything's well, new. But this is not the case. Before each car leaves the factory floor it's sprayed with a scent that is designed to last about six weeks. Luxury brands like Rolls Royce and Mercedes-Benz go further. They have invented and branded their own new-car smell.

All our sensory touch points are essential to building the brands of tomorrow. We cannot afford to overlook any of them. It could be this very reason why the most iconic of brands, Coca-Cola, is suffering. For whatever good reason they've ignored the fact that the majority of consumers believe that Coke tastes better when drunk from a glass bottle. Better than if drunk from plastic or a can. This may also explain why the largest import from Mexico to the United States is Coca-Cola in a classic bottle.

So just as Coke has removed the glass bottle from the market, so the brand has lost its sole ownership of the tactile soft-drink experience. According to the BRAND sense study, Pepsi now is the leading tactile owner.

My message is simple. We are all created with five senses. The loss of any one of them creates suffering. They are essential to our lives, and as such they should be essential to building our brands. So before you neglect the sensory assets of your product, reconsider the importance of each touch point. You could find the very differentiation you've been looking for. Then you can protect it, before your competitor realizes your super sensory secret.