Sensorial Branding: Why Scent Matters

In Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time, a simple madeleine dipped in tea unleashes a torrent of memories. Proof that smell doesn’t just trigger memory—it catapults us straight into it. This phenomenon, now dubbed “The Proust Effect,” highlights the unique power of scent to unlock vivid, emotional recollections.

Unlike sights or sounds, smells bypass the usual filters of our mental cache, travelling a direct neural highway to the hippocampus and amygdala—the brain’s VIP lounge for memory and emotion. It’s why the whiff of a childhood perfume or homemade recipes can feel less like nostalgia and more like time travel. Proust wasn’t just indulging in literary whimsy; he was onto a real, science-backed link between smell and the soul.

While most of us won’t pen a seven-volume masterpiece about a madeleine, we’ve all experienced these olfactory flashbacks. The scent of rain on pavement might take you to a summer storm in your youth (weather-related or just pure angst), or the smell of sunscreen could whisk you back to beach days when you didn’t need to check your email. The Proust Effect reminds us that memory is anything but linear; it’s sensual, unpredictable, and deeply tied to the smells that shape our lives. So, the next time you catch a whiff of something familiar, pause—it’s probably more than just air.

The Science of Scent & Its Power in Branding

Our senses are there, primally, to keep us safe. Smell, specifically, to aid us in avoiding eating rotten foods, or potentially to detect a threat like fire before it engulfs your immediate vicinity. Contrary to popular belief, smelling burnt toast is not a sign of a stroke due to a lack of substantial evidence. Any anecdotes to the contrary are likely experiencing phantosmia, the condition of perceiving smells that aren't there.

No matter how evolved we consider ourselves to be, our senses are far more attuned to danger than to delight. However, we are evolved enough to discern both—despite a 2011 study from McCann revealing that over half of young people (aged 16-22) would sooner lose their sense of smell than their laptop or mobile phone. Hopefully, more than a decade later, that’s no longer the case.

According to neuroscientist John McGann, who has been studying the olfactory system, or sense of smell, for the past 14 years, humans can discriminate maybe one trillion different odours, which is far more than the claim by “folk wisdom and poorly sourced introductory psychology textbooks,” that insist humans could only detect about 10,000 different odours.

Sense of smell is the only of the five senses that travels directly to the brain. Scents are processed by the olfactory bulb, a structure at the front of the brain that relays information to other parts of the central nervous system. Odours take a direct route to the limbic system, including the amygdala and hippocampus—regions deeply tied to emotion and memory. The scent and the emotion evoked are stored together as a single memory.

Branding, by design, is about creating memory structures. Think jingles, logos, colour combinations—all things that trigger recognition. They’re anchors for brand recall. Done well, they’re effective. But, considering smell’s ingrained relationship with memory, there’s an even more powerful tool being woefully underused.

Interesting Cases of Olfactory Branding

Some say that the purpose of branding is to simply sell. Perhaps a touch too simple a sentiment for our tastes generally, but for the purposes of this part, it works.

In his book Alchemy, Rory Sutherland tells us to always remember to scent the soap. Seems both a bizarre and obvious imperative but, he explains how, over the past century or so, human hygiene had a real glow up. Of course, improved sanitation can take a lot of the credit here but driving a change in our behaviour alongside it was (or is) a desire to maintain the appearance of cleanliness. In the early twentieth century, bathing was, in large part, reserved for the upper echelons. Thus cleanliness, and by default smelling nice, became a marker of status, class and appeal.

“Soap was sold on its ability to increase your attractiveness more than on its hygienic powers, and while it contained many chemicals that improved hygiene, it is worth remembering that it was also scented to make it attractive – supporting the unconscious promise of the advertising rather than the rational value of the product. The scent was not to make the soap effective, but to make it attractive to consumers.”

The senses can often be used to appeal to these kinds of unconscious motivations, as they themselves aren’t always consciously perceived. Known as one half of the chemical senses (the other being taste), these are the only senses that allow you to sample your environment and are therefore deeply important in creating rounded sensory experiences.

Aside from some truly awful wordplay (see use of “scent-sorial”, “scent-sorium”, “scent-sational”—the list goes on), there are plenty of fascinating instances of brands crafting their own signature scents, as well as some scent-adjacent cases that could be revolutionary for luxury as a whole.

No one needs a refresher on the potency of Abercrombie & Fitch’s olfactory marketing. As one of the first businesses to use scents in stores, anyone of a certain age would be able to recognise the intense woody aroma those poor shirtless staffers were forced to spritz about with. You may be pleased to know that the brand now diffuses the scent in-store via nebulisers. Innovation isn’t dead yet.

You may be less pleased to find out—if you weren’t previously aware—that the ‘new-car smell’ we so eagerly love to inhale is an illusion. Though seemingly a lucky byproduct of fresh upholstery and plastics, it’s rarely the real thing. The real thing being a cocktail of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), released by materials like adhesives, leather treatments, and plastics. While these scents might give chemists pause, to the average buyer, they scream “luxury” and “fresh start.”

Perhaps because of The Chemist’s Pause, car manufacturers—including Rolls Royce—have worked to perfect this aroma in labs, ensuring it hits the sweet spot of “new” without veering into “chemical factory.” It’s less about the car’s pristine state and more about tapping into a universally understood signal: this is new, exciting, and yours to claim. Sounds ridiculous, but works evidently.

If asked, most of us wouldn’t associate any kind of distinctive smell with our daily devices. But since 2018, Apple has been pumping a signature scent, developed with renowned perfumer Christophe Laudamiel, throughout stores crafted to embody its brand. The aim? To distil the essence of Apple—innovative, vibrant, and modern—into a scent that would instantly resonate with customers the moment they stepped inside. Apparently that scent is a mix of green apples (makes sense) and mint, which is known to enhance mood and productivity.

This year, Guerlain made history with the world’s first art fair-branded fragrance: Œillet Pourpre for Art Basil Paris. The scent—limited to just 2,000 bottles—was sold exclusively through the Art Basel Shop, an innovative retail concept which made its debut at Art Basel’s June edition. Described by Guerlain’s art, culture, and heritage director Ann-Caroline Prazan as “a daring, ultra-elegant yet sultry fragrance for all genders,” the perfume comes in a flask and box designed by French artist Julie Beaufils. With the rise of experiential concepts for product-based brands, we envision a lot more from branded event aromas.

Alongside scent, sound and taste make the core three of the new global brand partnership between JW Marriott and Flamingo Estate. The pair will invite guests to embark on a multifaceted exploration of the senses with an elegant, garden-infused signature scent, a nature-inspired global sound program, and a flavour-forward, hand-crafted honey blend. This collaboration is said to traverse several sensorial touchpoints and bridge the many paths to mindfulness.

Unsurprisingly, often those leading the innovation charge—at least technologically—in the scent space are fragrance houses. British wellbeing fragrance brand Vyrao has introduced its newest scent, Mamajuju, designed to counter digital burnout and help people feel more grounded. Inspired by the rising stress of constant screen time, the fragrance aims to provide a sensory escape by reconnecting wearers with nature. Crafted with 12 natural ingredients, it promises to re-energize the mind and bring a refreshing sense of calm to the chaos of daily life. It’s worth noting this scent—or similar—would be a brilliant olfactory signature for a concept like Unplugged, who offers stays in off-grid cabins around the UK for a truly immersion digital detox.

It may be one of the lesser-appreciated senses, but we’re increasingly noting the one-dimensionality of the visual world. The future of brand experience must be multi-dimensional. More ways to create those memory structures mean a higher likelihood of carving out that place in the mind.

Olfactory branding is evolving far beyond physical spaces and custom fragrances. It’s now making its way into wearables, the metaverse, and VR platforms, expanding its reach into the digital and virtual realms. According to intelligence platform Stylus, top brand engagement strategies for fragrance alone include evolving artificial-intelligence-(AI)-powered discovery (for in-store and e-commerce), centring scent in self-care, and embracing epicurean (sensual) and literary (intellectual) adjacencies.

With the rise and rise of brand worlds and so much opportunity to reach audiences in new ways, internal teams must consider a five-sense approach to engagement. Scent has the power to humanise a brand, to add a layer of warmth and meaning to almost any experience, on top of embedding a brand in the memory of consumers. When this is increasingly possible, why wouldn’t we leverage it?

To gain insight into how our multi-disciplinary teams can deliver multi-sensory experience design for your brand or business, get in touch with one of our consultants via hello@matterofform.com.