Our series on scent marketing continues with number 6 – Finding the right delivery technology.
The end product of any perfumer’s creative process is an oil – sometimes called “Fragrance Oil” or “Essential Oil”. Now you need a way to get it out into the open, either rather restricted at the Point of Sale or on a grand scale in a retail store or an event space. Stay away from any scent delivery systems that applies heat to the fragrance oil, not only for safety reasons but also as not to alter the scent’s characteristics. In fact, professional commercial equipment is quite different from home devices you would buy in the local drugstore or online.
Scent is typically delivered in four ways:
• Dry air scent delivery. Fragrance oil is embedded in a gel, in small plastic beads or in another scent-saturated substance and air is run over or through the substance, picking up the scent and delivering it via a small blower or a fan. This method is very efficient at the Point of Sale since the scent’s reach can be limited to the immediate environment.
• Nebulization: Pure fragrance oil in its liquid form is run through a venturi device that disperses the oil into extremely fine particles that then are picked up either by ambient air flow or infused into the HVAC system. These particles are 100 times smaller than what comes from a fragrance spray bottle and therefore linger longer before they dissolve without sticking to carpets, wall coverings, products in the store or the customer walking by.
• Ionization: A sophisticated and technically complicated way to break the oil into small particles by applying high voltage.
• Microencapsulation: Mainly used to make a scent printable. Fragrance molecules are wrapped into a substance (encapsulated) that breaks when a certain pressure or friction is applied. The best examples are the ScentStrips® in magazines or scented varnish that can be applied in any mainstream printing process.
There are a handful of manufacturers for each category. A well educated scent marketing consultant would be able to guide you towards the right solution. The Scent Marketing Institute maintains a full blown database on every existing and future technology.
Contributed to Branding Strategy Insider by: Harald Vogt
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