When it comes to scent marketing, as with any other form of marketing, the more precise your strategy is, the more successful it will be.
As is the case with music, fashion and other aesthetic considerations, different aromas appeal more to certain genders and age groups in distinctly different ways. To ignore this simple fact when planning your perfume branding strategy would be to undermine the potentially resounding success that scent marketing can have.
When done correctly and targeted at your audience in the right way, your scent marketing approach can have a profound impact on the way your brand is perceived by customers in your target demographic.
Aromas have a unique way of affecting the hearts and minds of people by playing on their memories and emotions. This can be leveraged to great effect for the benefit of your brand. However, different age groups respond to this in different ways.
Understand Their Senses
Generally speaking, tastes and smells can both be categorised in the same basic manner: sweet, salty, sour, bitter and umami. The last of these, umami, is a Japanese word referring to things that generally taste or smell savoury ‒ such as meat ‒ without necessarily fitting into any of the other categories.
Younger Generations
It is generally accepted that younger generations tend to prefer sweet tastes and scents. This is likely due to their developing sense of taste and smell, which leans towards a preference for less complex things. Younger generations have not yet had the chance to develop a more complex palette through experience and experimentation.
Sweetness is simple and easy to like, as it brings with it a sense of comfort. Sweet smells are associated with calorie-rich foods that provide much-needed nourishment early in life. Thus, a strong mental association with a sense of security is triggered, evoking positive emotions.
This means that the most appealing aromas for younger generations will likely be scents like vanilla, chocolate, fruity smells like cherry, apple or strawberry, or bubblegum and candy.
Older Generations
Since one’s sense of smell is so closely linked to memory formation and, by extension, emotions and nostalgia, it is then no wonder that older generations tend to gravitate towards more complex aromas and flavours.
Whereas younger people prefer the simplicity of sweetness owing to its association with nourishment in early life, adults have had since time to experiment with different types of foods and smells over the years, developing sometimes powerful associations with them that younger people haven’t had the chance to do yet.
These associations could come from a litany of experiences, ranging from culinary experimentation to social and even sexual development. As such, more complex smells like spices, floral aromas, musky smells and fresh scents from nature ‒ such as woody smells, for example ‒ are more likely to appeal to adults.
For more information on how scent marketing can be leveraged to grow your business, contact us at Scent.ology today. We supply fragrance oils and diffusers throughout South Africa.
