1. FIERCE scent boosts mood and emotion to enhance brand assets
Dag Bennett, Enrica Basile and Charles Graham,
The Ehrenberg Centre for Research in Marketing
The Ehrenberg Initiative
Encouraging LSBU students to contribute to our international programme of evidence-based research in marketing science
Sensory Branding
Any form of communication that involves all five human senses, (Bell, 2007).
Effective sensory branding drives brand salience and involves both mood, and emotion (Germain, 2015)
Salience is defined as mental availability (Sharp, 2010) - the ease with which large numbers of consumers can bring that brand to mind ahead of competitors where it matters most - at the point of sale.
The effect of Ambient Scent on Mood and Emotion
All Respondents
Men
Women
No scent
Scented
Pleasure
2.7
2.9
2.8
Arousal
2.2
2.4
2.1
2.5
Dominance
2.3
Average
2.6
Scent Effect
+.2
+.1
+.3
Distinctive Assets
Distinctive brand elements are anything that can potentially be used to identify a brand name.
But an element only becomes and asset when it is unique or prevalent enough that it becomes part of a brand’s identity.
For an asset to be distinctive consumers must learn its association with the brand.
(Romaniuk & Wright, 2008)
What did we learn?
The table above compares the ratings for the three main categories of moods and emotions.
The results clearly show that ambient scent raises self reported emotional states of respondents on all dimensions. In addition, these emotions were consistent with brand positioning objectives.
The effect of ambient scent is more pronounced for women than for men.
This finding is important for brand managers
Ambient scent is a powerful force and has a direct affect on moods and emotions.
Iin the context of other branding elements scent can enhance moods and emotional states, and contribute to memory associations with the brand.
The effect is particuluarly noticeable for women.
With careful control a signature scent can become a Distinctive Brand Asset. Such assets can evoke the brand in the shop, and outside. This can be extended further by making scent available purchase.
Our findings therefore demonstrate how important it is for brands that in in control of their retail space to consider all the human senses as potential parts of their branding mix.
Hall Tests for data to address research questions
How do consumers rate a brand in the absence of an ambient scent, compared to when that scent is present (Abercrombie & Fitch’s signature scent Fierce).
How does the the presence or absence of Fierce affect mood and emotion ratings?
Younger generation Y shoppers aged (A&F’s key target audience)
Answered brand related questions targeting mood evocation in a scent-free room
Followed by brand related questions evoking emotion in a Fierce-scented room.
In two controlled experiments 50 respondents were interviewed