Smell Chocolate and feel better, says research

Neil Martin at the Human Olfaction Laboratory at Middlesex University, discovered the power of chocolate in an experiment where he filled rooms with three smells, one of chocolate, a “malodour” of machine oil, which most people find unpleasant, and a lemony, pleasant-but-alerting odour, then monitored testers’ moods.

“The aim was to compare the effects of pleasant and unpleasant ambient odours on stress, anxiety, depression and mood,” Martin explains.
“…so far it seems that the smell of chocolate really does make people less stressed and anxious, and more relaxed.”

“In another study we looked at the effect of chocolate on brain activity,” he says. Martin used EEG (electroencephalography) technology to record his participants’ brain waves as they sniffed the air, and found that in both experiments, the chocolate smell consistently led to a reduction in a particular type of brain activity called theta, which is thought to be an index of attentiveness. ” Theta levels dropped, indicating a less stressed and more relaxed state of mind for participants.

Credit:
http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/wellbeing/chocolate-find-smells-like-a-theory-20100407-rsel.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/mar/30/chocolate-relaxation-scent-studies

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2010/04/01/2003469436
http://www.watoday.com.au/lifestyle/wellbeing/chocolate-find-smells-like-a-theory-20100407-rsel.html

Buyology Book Cover

What we hear and what we smell are more powerful than what we see…Brand futurist Martin Lindstrom says as little as 50 years ago buying groceries was an experience that thoroughly stimulated all of the senses. Householders traipsed through the clatter and colour of vegetable markets and bought their meat in butcher shops that smelled of blood and sawdust.

“Now the shopping journey is not stimulating and the sensory experience is generic,” he says. “It’s like we totally forgot we are human beings and sales are going down because shoppers are incredibly bored.”

Lindstrom should know. The Danish-born marketing guru has spent three years and $7 million of advertisers’ money trying to understand why we buy what we buy. His latest book, Buyology, is a compelling account of a landmark study that used neuroscience to scan the brain for the “buy button”.

But what shocked Lindstrom most was that what we hear and what we smell are more powerful than what we see. That’s bad news for the 83 per cent of advertisers who create campaigns around visual appeal but good news for companies wanting to understand why 60 per cent of shoppers make decisions in less than four seconds.

“Using ordinary research techniques we learned that the most important sense was sight, then smell then sound,” Lindstrom says. “Now when we scanned the brain we found the most important is sound followed by smell and then sight.”

But what’s interesting is that our emotional brain overrides our rational brain when triggered by sound and smell.

Full article found at http://www.smh.com.au/news/lifeandstyle/lifematters/marketers-tap-into-our-biology-to-boost-sales/2009/03/25/1237656970050.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap2

and at:

http://www.theage.com.au/news/lifeandstyle/lifematters/the-hard-smell/2009/03/25/1237656970050.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap2

Credits:  Erin O’Dwyer – Marketers tap into our biology to boost sales – The Age (March 26/09)

No jokes! American men (and women?) can for a mere $US3.99 get it on, that is get the scent of flame grilled burger on.

According to their official website (http://www.firemeetsdesire.com) “The Whopper sandwich is America’s favourite burger, Flame by BK captures the essence of that love and gives it to you. Behold … now you can set the mood for whatever you’re in the mood for.”

Certainly an unusual campaign by the King but tapping right into that sense of desire which no sense does better than our sense of smell.

Not too sure what the reaction from vegeterians and vegans will be?

BK says eat your heart out David and Victoria Beckham

BrandChannel.com – Branding by the Nose in Brazil by Ana Paula Palombo Terzi

Smell is a 24-hour, seven-days-a-week sense. It is turned on all of the time, both when people are awake and sleeping. But does this olfactory fact present actual, viable and achievable branding opportunities and new areas for the branding industry to explore and benefit from? Absolutely.

Nevertheless, experts also speculate that the time for scent branding has arrived. Sales and marketing efforts no longer close deals—they start relationships. With this paradigm shift, business has become even more of a two-way street relationship, and strong relationships are based on emotional connections—which the human sense of smell is able to deliver like no other sense.

Scent marketing goes beyond creating an olfactive equivalent for a brand; it engages consumers to experience a brand on a deeper level and recall what the brand is offering them. Scent marketing aims to create emotional content and stir these emotions—not just on an olfactory level, but in a multi-sensorial context that exploits the complex inner workings of the human mind that bind physical sensation with emotions, attitudes and perceptions.

Read the full article here: http://www.brandchannel.com/start1.asp?fa_id=453

By comparison, only 22 percent said they would lose interest in a poor conversationalist. The survey, conducted in 2005 by Decima Research for AXE Canada, sheds new light on the importance of invisible cues that influence attraction…”

If this human instinct translates to how business is presented to the public, maybe our best salesmen need to talk less and simply smell better!

http://flirt.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=264112

 For this reason it is critical to consider the environment you intend scenting.  This is why it is preferential to use scent delivery technology that allows you to create zones or pockets of scent which customers can walk in and out of, thus allowing them to engage and re-engage with the scent, thus preventing unwanted Anosmic reactions.