Smelly Facts

What we smell is significantly more influential on our moods and emotions than any other sense.
Our sense of smell is the strongest of all human senses and the closest sense linked to memory
and emotion.  It is our most accurate level of recall and affects humans up to 75% more than other
senses such as sight and sound..

Smell has the power to revive the past and transport us to a happy time or
place or remind us of a special person, evoking feelings of nostalgia and
comfort.  We call this an olfactory experience.  (And you thought
you knew everything about smells!)

The link between scent and memory is very strong.
This is because smell bypasses the rational part of the brain and goes straight
to the limbic system, which is the part of the brain that controls behaviour
and emotion.  This means smell has an instantly good or bad effect on our
emotional state – which ultimately affects our spending behaviour.

Harrods, the leading luxury retailer is now injecting tailored
aromas into its stores to improve the buying experience.  Coconut oil will
feature in the ladies swimwear department, freshly mown grass will be in garden
living and pomegranate in the luxury accessories area.  

In the USA, department stores Bloomingdales, Macy’s and Saks Fifth Avenue are also big on scent.
In New York, at M&M World in Times Square, they pump chocolate fragrance onto the
street to lure customers into the store.

A UK survey in December 2009, which asked 4000 Brits which smells made them happy,
came up with the following list of favourite scents:

1.   Freshly baked bread
2.   Clean sheets
3.   Freshly mown grass
4.   Fresh flowers
5.   Freshly ground coffee
6.   Fresh air after rain fall
7.   Vanilla
8.   Chocolate
9.   Fish and chips
10. Bacon frying
11. Roast dinner
12. Babies
13. Lemon zest
14. Lavender
15. Petrol
16. Apple and blackberry crumble in the oven
17. A freshly lit match
18. Roses
19. Party poppers
20. Rubber tyres

The same survey found that women claim certain smells put a smile of their
face because they’re homely or reminds them of someone they love, while men
prefer exciting and invigorating aromas.

In a German cinema the audience was shown an advertisement and simultaneously a
fragrance  was emitted into the vent ducts.  Later a survey was done and the audience
recall of the ad was 500% higher for the scented version as opposed to the unscented.