CNN Money has an article today about selling through smelling - using scents in advertizing.

Real estate agents have long recommended baking cookies or bread when showing your home to prospective buyers because these smells make people feel like they are already at home. But now marketers are taking things one step further.

CNN reports that ad companies plan to spend up to $80 million this year on scent marketing, and it will grow to $500 million by 2016 (according to the Scent Marketing Institute).

What does this mean to the average person? Prepare to have your olfactory senses assaulted involuntarily and voluntarily should you choose. Some of the methods to project scents include scent machines at the gas pumps to get customers to go inside to buy coffee instead of paying at the pump and driving off (the smell of gas mixed w/ coffee anyone?), scented billboards, scratch and sniff newspaper ads, and, get this, Wal-Mart plans to market experimental DVDs with “smell-o-vision,” electronic scent wafers that release odors precisely timed to the movie. Examples of the “smell-o-vision” scents included a burning building or a freshly fired gun. It’s an interesting concept, but the only thing I want my house to smell like when I watch a movie is popcorn. (By the way, the smell of fresh popcorn is the best advertisement. I never want the stuff until I smell it popping!)

Personally, I don’t want to go to a store and have 20 different smells being pumped at me to get me to buy somehting. More that likely, it would turn me off. But, I really feel bad for those with allergies…

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