Our sense of smell is the sense with the strongest, most accurate level of recall. Whilst it can protect us from drinking milk that’s turned sour, it also reminds us of moments we first experienced decades ago.

America’s Scent Marketing Institute has a list of future trends in smells. It reads more like a marketing manifesto for the emerging medium but it’s interesting nevertheless:

1. Technology providers and fragrance manufacturers will morph into Scent Solution Providers, coordinating their products and services to the benefit of end-users.
2. Better data on ROI will emerge, further making the case for Scent Marketing as a valid strategy to enhance brand image and to improve sales.
3. The industry will proactively develop answers to criticisms and concerns from consumers and special interest groups.
4. Education and outreach programs will be tailored for the advertising industry so they can better understand Scent Marketing and react to their clients’ requests.
5. Microencapsulated scent will move beyond printing applications to become an element in fashion design.
6. Scent will be used to prevent counterfeiting since it cannot be easily reproduced.
7. Architects and interior designers will use scent as a design feature which will help developers sell commercial and residential property.
8. Scent will delivered in large spaces such as concert venues and stadiums during artistic performances to further brand the entertainment experience.
9. Fragrances and delivery systems from questionable sources will enter at the low end of the spectrum where price is deemed more essential than quality and consumer safety.
10. Natural oils will compete with synthetic fragrances and be perceived as more valuable.

More often than not, scents in marketing are used very obviously. You sell bread, so you spray freshly baked bread smells into the air. You sell perfumed fabric conditioner, so you stick a scent strip into a woman’s magazine. This is the scent equivalent of a pack shot or a product demonstration. It’s time to branch out and use the medium of smell more creatively, to evoke a brand’s core values rather than directly represent it.