Aroma is the ‘New Black’

“Smell is one of the biggest triggers of memory that we have. And food smells can take us back to special moments in our lives.”

Bob Sassone @ SlashFood.com lists his 8 favourite food smells:

1. Chocolate chip cookies: Mmmmmmm…I would assume that this is on almost everyone’s list. Unless you don’t like chocolate, which means it would be hard for me to talk to you. Also includes other types of chocolate and hot cocoa.

2. Apples: My favorite season is fall, and fall to me means apples. I love that crisp, clean smell. In fact, I love the smell of all things apple: apples, apple pie, dishwashing liquid that smells like apples, even the smell of Apple computers.

3. Tomato sauce: I come from an Italian family, so this is big for me, whether it’s in pasta or on pizza.

4. Oranges/Citrus: I used to devour Sunkist oranges when I was a kid. Oddly, I don’t eat as many oranges or drink as much orange juice as I used to, though the cologne I use has a very strong orangy-citrus scent.

5. Bananas: Banana bread more than bananas, for some reason.

6. Parmesan and Romano cheeses: See #3.

7. Rosemary: This is the secret ingredient in so many different types of foods.

8. Bacon: No explanation necessary.

 To see the rest of this piece, including a whole heap of mouth-watering responses, check below:
http://www.slashfood.com/2006/07/19/slashfood-ate-8-favorite-food-smells/

Yes, seen it all before too.  In fact so much so that I don’t even take things at face value anymore. 

The problem which has brought about this current state of affairs is 2-fold:

1. As consumers, we have been pushed and abused beyond the limits of what our eyes and ears can tolerate.  Many of these communications are at best unwanted and mostly unsolicited. At worst its a misdirected, mass-communicated MONOLOGUE.
2. TV and entertainment in general has always implicitly requested that to obtain maximum enjoyment from it we suspend our belief -yes he did take 14 bullets in the chest, then get up and catch that bus…sure it can happen.

So whilst big brands, mass market publishers and global corporates are here for the long-haul, what is clear is that the average-joe ain’t gonna be takin’ the mass-crafted marketing monologue no mo.

Media fragmentation and Attention Deficit Disordered consumers are not new concepts, nor is the power of persuasion which individuals both alone and collectively tap into on an increasing basis.

We as customers, consumers and collaborators want to be engaged, we want to be offered the choice of a dialogue, we want to be remembered as the individuals we are, we want to be entertained as if reality had no bearing and we want to consume on our own terms.

VivA multi-sensory communication, VivA extra-sensory stimulation!!