SHANGHAI, CHINA--(Marketwire - Mar 11, 2013) - Luxury brands make ample use of sights and sounds to create sumptuous environments and alluring ads. But by harnessing the primal power of scent, many could polish their already impeccable brands even further, noted Marijn Kortekaas, Director of Business Development, Asia Pacific, for global ambient scenting provider Air/Q Atmospheres, a division of Prolitec, Inc., during a March 4 talk at the Luxury Brands Conference in Shanghai.
"We see how top luxury brands use symbolism, rarity and aesthetics to skillfully bring to life various brand attributes and create products of desire," said Kortekaas, who represents the Milwaukee-based company from an office in Melbourne, Australia. "The olfactory dimension can and should be enlisted in these efforts, because research confirms that memories recalled by scents are significantly more emotional and evocative than those recalled by sight or sound. Indeed, we now know that consumers are literally more likely to buy higher-priced products if the space is appropriately fragranced."
The 2013 Luxury Brands Conference, which ran March 4-6 at the Sheraton Shanghai Pudong Hotel, aims to help executives from around the globe take brand building to the next level. In "Diffusing the Right Scent to Create the Ultimate Luxury Experience," Kortekaas described the fundamentals of ambient scenting for brands that maintain a sharp focus on today's wired, mobile and elite clientele.
In addition to outlining scientific research validating the power of scent to positively influence consumer behavior and strengthen brand recall, Kortekaas also presented savvy approaches to ambient scenting by blue-chip brands from around the world, including a top Italian fashion house, W Hotels, Abercrombie & Fitch, Mercedes and The Setai luxury hotel on 5th Avenue in New York.
He also took the audience through Prolitec's typical process for helping a luxury brand develop a fragrance that perfectly matches its brand objectives. "By thoroughly understanding those objectives and becoming intimately familiar with the brand itself, you can cultivate a list of applicable adjectives," Kortekaas explained. "Whatever those adjectives happen to be -- 'sensual,' 'warm' and 'earthy,' say, or 'intense,' 'relaxed' and 'rich' -- our fragrance designers based in New York use this brand DNA to design and test fragrances that match those attributes as well as strengthen them."
By running pilot programs in a limited number of locations, companies can hone and perfect specific scent effects and intensities, based in part on feedback from customers and employees. Prolitec's Air/Q scent-diffusion appliances facilitate this process. These computer-controlled units are fully adjustable. They also employ patented microdroplet technology to create a subtle, uniform scent effect throughout a retail or other location. This enables brands to create the perfect ambience for specific retail or other locations, Kortekaas noted.
"Research shows unequivocally that ambient scenting affects consumers emotionally just as much -- indeed, likely more so -- as the beautiful advertisements and environments that are part and parcel of luxury spaces," he said. "It is a perfect marketing tool to connect to the busy consumer on an emotional level, which is why ambient scenting has grown so much in recent years."
About Prolitec
Prolitec, Inc. is a global provider of ambient scenting technology and services under the Air/Q Atmospheres brand to retail stores, hotels, casinos, assisted living communities, offices and other locations. Headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisc., Prolitec provides scent marketing services in the U.S. directly to major brands such as Abercrombie & Fitch, Hollister and Hard Rock Casinos. Prolitec also provides services in more than 70 countries around the world through certified service provider partners. To learn more, visit www.prolitec.com.