Posted on 08/05/2012 5:42:46 PM PDT by southernnorthcarolina
When Democratic National Convention visitors arrive at Charlotte hotels and retail shops next month, there might be something in the air to help make these places feel a little more inviting.
Convention officials checking into the Westin uptown will encounter the smell of white tea in the hotel lobby. Shoppers strolling into Solstice Sunglasses at SouthPark mall may feel they’re on vacation because of the tropical coconut aroma there.
And members of the Texas and Montana delegations, staying at sprawling Great Wolf Lodge in Concord, might feel they’re in the great outdoors thanks to a Redwood Forest fragrance.
Behind all these sensory treats is Charlotte-based ScentAir, one of the three largest companies that specialize in scent marketing. That subtle art form of appealing to people’s subconscious through fragrance will play a part in some DNC experiences.
ScentAir fragrance systems will help set the mood at some of the delegate parties, according to the company, where workers test fragrances and dream up new scents at the headquarters not far from Carowinds.
Its custom scents also are a standard at many hotels housing convention guests – in both Charlotte and Tampa, Fla., the site of the Republican National Convention at the end of August. Besides the Westin’s signature white tea fragrance, scents include the crisp lemon, green florals, white tea and exotic spices that make up Holiday Inn’s distinct blend.
It’s all about leaving enduring impressions that help make customers feel more relaxed and welcome, according to Michael O’Day, ScentAir chief operating officer. “We’re really about enhancing the experience.”
Using fragrances to help set the mood for customers is a relatively new industry that started in the 1970s, according to Jennifer Dublino, chief operating officer at Scent Marketing Institute, a trade group and leading authority on sensory marketing.
Las Vegas casinos were among the early adopters, using coconut spice and other scents to deal with the mustiness and cigarette smoke that lingered in the windowless buildings. They discovered that people enjoyed the atmosphere and stayed longer, boosting casino revenues.
Today, about 80 percent of hotel chains use scent marketing in some way, Dublino said. More retailers are picking up on it, too, including Victoria’s Secret, Bath & Body Works, Juicy Couture and others.
Most ScentAir clients use the canister-like ScentWave System, which releases fragrant oil at set times. Other ScentAir technology, installed in HVAC systems, covers entire hotels and stores. Pricing for services begins at about $100 monthly.
Industry innovations include the scented highway billboard, which ScentAir and a marketing company tried in 2010 to promote grilled steak from the base of a sign along N.C. 150 in Mooresville.
Another company created a bus shelter in the UK that spelled of baked potatoes, courtesy of a heater. Even the London Olympics featured the “Scent of Victory” at the opening ceremony, according to Dublino – a mix of rosemary, lavender, peppermint and wheat.
ScentAir started in 1994 in Florida, when the company’s founder came up with scents for rides at Walt Disney World. Ten years later, the company moved to Charlotte. Today, it has more than 200 employees – about 100 in worldwide locations, and 100 at its headquarters in southwest Charlotte. The privately held company, which has more than 20,000 clients and 50,000 placements worldwide, doesn’t discuss revenues.
ScentAir’s 30,000-square-foot headquarters is divided into offices and cubicles, a manufacturing floor with assembly line workers compiling the systems, and lab areas with fragrance experts testing new scents. Synthetics or natural materials, such as wood, grass, teas, flowers and spices, go into making fragrances. Of the company’s 2,000 catalogued scents, about 400 are kept on-site all the time.
Also inside is a brightly painted VW bus decked out with scent chambers, which ScentAir brings to trade shows. Pick a scent from the touch screen window to smell fragrances. (“Wacky Weed” has been a hit at expos.)
Having a ScentAir presence at parties, hotels, bars and spas around town is one thing. But ScentAir would have loved having a unifying fragrance around town during convention week. The company made a pitch to DNC officials to create a signature scent to use at major events.
Exactly what fragrance would have been left up to brainstorming, according to Edward Burke, director of marketing.
“You could go with the all-American, simple but warm and inviting,” like hot apple pie, Burke said. Or patriotic themes, using the Declaration of Independence – and the smell of the parchment and ink used for that – as inspiration.
Convention officials didn’t take ScentAir up on the offer.
But Dublino, with the scent institute, thinks they should have.
“Scent would have been a great way to ... promote that sense of urgency and purpose,” she said. “That’s what the convention is based on; that’s why they do it.”
I long for the good old days when politics smelled like cigar smoke.
I would bet the one hanging in Obama’s compartment is Vanilla.
I wonder how much it would cost to produce a scent that makes people subconsciously favor tax cuts? Surely the Koch Brothers would pony up the money to fill the convention hall with this.
At least one hotel should have the appropriate smells for queers, freaks and perverts. Possible research should be done in SF bathhouses, LA porn studios, and other hotel that have hosted gay pride marches, etc. to get that exact authentic smell that these patrons strive for. I’m sure that they will be able to book up very quickly once the word gets out.
“And the devil came here yesterday. Yesterday the devil came here. Right here.” [crosses himself] “And it smells of sulfur still today.”
Will there be any soma to go with the scents?
What about the smell of rotting fish?
I was told a fish rots from the head FIRST!
Hi Ho, Hi Ho, Obama got to go!
Don't ionizers do the same job, without the scent? Are ionizers as effective as a scent?
“No matter what Charlotte does, they won’t be able to cover up the stink of the ‘Rats.”
My thinking too. Smell-nice stuff before the convention is an easy thing. Overcoming the stench the Rats will leave behind may take years. The odors of our horses’ droppings are pure perfume by comparison.
Now, one other thought...think of the stench that will be linguring in the White Hut after the present usurpers are finally evicted...
In about the same decade our firm had a fragrance and flavor mfr seeking to move their Long Island plant. Received a quick education in that arcane business. Quickly learned to wear casual clothes on plant visits. Clothes became saturated with All the plant atmospheric smells. Being built like an NFL lineman but smelling like all the south of the border bordellos was no way to walk through mid-town Manhattan.
Even the correspondence reeked of that combo smell.
At the first meeting in the client's Manhattan office's which contained the small formulating labs we were introduced to the 'noses', the exception people that could detect the various nuances. At the big sit down in the conference room I was surprised to see the 'noses' sit down and immediately pull out TWO packs of cigarettes each. They chained smoked through out the meeting.
The big deal for the industry at that time was embedding scents in various plastic polymer compounds, an example of which are the cedar scented platic storage bins.
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