Evolution has provided all living things with a range of senses to interpret and interact with the world. The Sense of Smell is Our Oldest and Most Primitive Sense. Because of its complexity and subtlety, few understand how to use this sense to its fullest degree.
Smell as a trademark is often difficult to register but which may nevertheless fulfill the essential trademark function of uniquely identifying the commercial origin of products or services. It could not have been difficult to register smell as a trademark in ancient Japan. In ancient Japan, scent played a very important role in society and religious services. Buddhist monasteries had "incense clocks" that they used to tell the time. A long trail of incense wound its way throughout the monastery. At different points, the incense would change. The monks could tell the time by smelling which incense was burning. The Japanese also scented their clothes by burning incense underneath a clothes rack. Each family had a specific incense blended for them. It was said that you could tell who was coming a hundred yards away by the scent.
Smells as we know are closely linked to memory. You can store some 10,000 different smells in your "scent memory". Certain smells will invoke specific memories in people. The smell of certain freshly baked oregano bread might remind you of a visit to a particular Pizza Parlor or the smell of crayons might bring back memories of school.
The Sense of Smell is Our Oldest and Most Primitive Sense, evolution has provided all living things with a range of senses to interpret and interact with the world.
Our sense of smell is handled by the same part of the brain that processes memory, so scent often triggers an emotional response, which, in turn, positively impacts scented sales. Harnessing this power, and using it to gain consumer attention for products outside of the perfume and potpourri industry, is the goal of an emerging, sense driven movement.
As ScentAir describes, aroma marketing is a way to
Break through mundane and overused marketing gimmicks to reach customers emotionally
Back in 2008, in a German movie theater, audience members waiting for the feature wondered why they were seeing people lounging on a beach. After 60 seconds of waves and seagulls, a tag line for Nivea sunscreen appeared, and the scent of Nivea wafted into the theater through the air-conditioning vents.
Later, a survey showed that audience recall of the smelly ad was 5 times higher than for the scent-free version. Such results can't be ignored. Neither can an odor. While you can turn a magazine page or change a television channel, you can't avoid inhaling. That's the good and bad thing about scent -- you can't get away from it, one would not want to get away from it just as long as the smells are pleasant.
Scent marketing has also become more sophisticated because of what we've learned about olfaction. Smell may be the least lauded of the senses, but it's the one most closely connected to our moods and recollections. Memories inspired by fragrance are more emotional than those triggered by sights or sounds. In studies, scent-elicited memories cause subjects to mention more emotions, rate them as more intense, and report more of a feeling of being back in the time and place relevant to a smell. Catching a hint of the perfume your lover wore is likely to bring back stronger memories and the associated feelings. It does create melancholy.
A process called "micro-encapsulation" is opening a promising new dimension for advertising by enabling readers to sniff a product's aroma on the printed page. Because of extra production costs, a micro-fragrance ad often doubles the ordinary price for advertising. Still the impact makes the high cost worthwhile. If what you are selling is smell [perfume/cologne], you can put before the consumer what you're selling.
In December, 2010 Postscript Advertising got commuters to experience Fresh Valley Air Fresheners. The agency had created a unique transit campaign for the new brand of air fresheners from the house of JL Morison. Based on the brand's proposition of 'Tension Bhagaaye, Khushiyan Laaye', Postscript Advertising came up with an innovative idea of placing an actual air freshener inside the air-conditioned Volvo buses in Mumbai, which would automatically spray the fragrance at regular intervals, thus refreshing the entire bus. The bus exteriors were also been wrapped with the branding. Additionally, inside the buses, there are LCD screens which played the commercial along with brand communication messages; seat back branding was also been done, which cautions people using wit that the mesmerising fragrance 'transports' people into a different and beautiful world. For an added impact they also branded grab handles.
1000 yrs old nations Lithuania was looking for new national symbols that help re-cast it internationally. Even the flag has been sometimes discussed, as some say it looks ‘Jamaican’ and could be confused with a Rastafarian flag. In January 2011, Lithuania launched however another nation branding effort – a perfume, no less. As a pioneer in the country branding area, Lithuania created a different national symbol – “a symbol that shows the world the character of the country through a bottle of perfume”, the marketing experts behind the initiative say ‘Smell of Lithuania’, has already reached the nostrils of international ambassadors and soldiers in Afghanistan and tourists are next to be sprayed.
The special waft which goes by the name of Lietuvos kvapas (‘Lithuanian perfume’) is a heady mix of musk, sandalwood, cedar and other similarly exotic ingredients. It’s with this fragrance that the southernmost Baltic country wants to conquer the world. The product’s manufacturers say it’s more than just a scent: this is a national symbol. One can see the national flag, sing and hear the national hymn and hold those things, but you can’t smell them. Lietuvos kvapas will access a far more important sense of people. The colours of the Lithuanian tricolor are a quite ordinary, yellow, green and red, other countries have similar flags [Bolivia, Benin, Republic of the Congo, Guinea, Mali, Myanmar and many more]. The composer of the countries national hymn was no composer or musician, but a doctor and poet! As a consequence their hymn just sounds like others.
The foreign ministry has sent fragrance samples to all of its Lithuanian embassies, stretching even to a perfumed kiss to their soldiers in Afghanistan. They’re also stocked in hotels and airports, whose guests and passengers have had the pleasant surprise of catching a whiff of Lithuania immediately upon entering their rooms or halls. The perfume has been guided by emotional and symbolic values. For example sandalwood is associated with India and the ensuing Indo-European language, which the Lithuanians have always been ancient representatives of. Cedar symbolises constancy and musk stands for confidence, qualities which have never lacked Lithuania population.’
Either way the lesson is important for nations and brands alike integrate, create value, and presence across sensory spaces. Targeting today consumers requires new originality and creativity.
The image of a hoarding put up, before the world cup final, in my home town Mazagoan shows the face of Mahatma Gandhi on the Indian Currency of 100 Rs. note being replaced by Sachin Tendulkar as it was expected that Sachin would score his 100th International century on an astonishing occasion of the World Cup Final, 2011.
Similarly I came across another image on one of my colleagues desktop screen showing the face of the Image of Lord Krishna [The Hero of the Epic Mahabharata, who rightly advised Arjuna to fight against his enemies which made him victorious] being replaced by Sachin Tendulkar. The face of Arjuna in the same image was replaced by that of M.S. Dhoni, the Captian of the Indian Cricket Team. 
A cricket crazy nation as the world knows it , India Loves Cricket like Nobody else does and as visible in all the images discussed above, the reason behind this love is the presence of the Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar. 
