Smelly business: the dollars and scents of brand building

Nigel Hollis

This paper is as much about the value of memory as the value of a smell. It argues that memories related to smell affect brand loyalty, and may cause consumers to choose one brand, product or service over another.

Smelly business: the dollars and scents of brand building

Nigel HollisMillward Brown, United States

INTRODUCTION

Do you know how much the smell of your brand is worth? If you are a marketer of perfume, this may be a relatively easy question to answer – but what if your brand is a humble bar of soap, or a car, or a mobile phone? How many millions of dollars in revenue are dependent on that sensory experience?

I had never given this question much thought until late in 2003, when Martin Lindstrom asked Millward Brown for help with his new book,...

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