Did you know that smell was the first and only existing sense? In the oceans of way back when, sight and speech had not yet been developed. Multicelled organisms relied on the detection of odours and chemicals to eat, and to stay out of harms way.

In our modern times, the sense of smell has lost its predominance in most western cultures, and we tend to rely heavily on our vision - defining and describing our surroundings in a highly visual manner. There are, however, still pockets of olfactory reliance around the globe…..

For example, there is a tribe known as the Ongee from the Andaman Islands where their whole world is defined by smell.

 Their calendar is based around the odours of flowers that come into bloom at specific times of the year. Each season is named after a particular odour. Personal identity is also defined by smell. In order to refer to oneself, one touches the tip of one’s nose - a gesture interpreted as ‘me and my odour’.

When first meeting a member of the Ongee tribe, instead of asking ‘how are you?’ you would instead ask ‘konyune onorange-tanka?’ which means ‘how is your nose?’ This is followed by a strange etiquette. If the person responds that they feel heavy with odour, then the greeter must inhale deeply in order to remove some of the surplus, but if the greeter feels a little short on odour then the only polite redress would be to blow on them to bestow a little extra scent.

In India, an ancient text declares ‘I will smell thee on the head, that is the greatest sign of tender love’, and is considered the equivalent of a western hug or kiss.

In certain Arabian countries it is considered impolite to deny someone the smell of your breath whilst speaking as it conveys a shameful avoidance of involvement.

In cultures where the sense of smell is still highly valued, the mixing of odours is often very carefully regulated. In the Amazon, each tribe is believed to share a similar odour, and so marriage is only allowed between persons of different odours which prevents relationships between close family members from occuring.

The Malay Temiar people go one step further……they believe that everyone has an odour soul located at the base of the spine. If you pass too closely behind a person then this soul is disturbed and mingles with your body often causing disease. This is prevented by calling out ‘Odour Odour’ whenever you approach a person from behind, which then forewarns the odour soul of the impending intrusion.

Our western interpretations of which perfumes and aftershaves cause an attraction effect would be way off the mark if you wanted a night out in Ethiopia. Here there is no scent more beautiful, than the odour of cattle. Men wash their hands in the urine and smear their bodies with manure. The women get off a little more lightly, rubbing butter into their heads, shoulders and various other body parts in order to make themselves smell more attractive (or maybe just to mask the smell of the manure?!?)

If you are invited for a meal in certain Arab countries, a perfume box containing between 4 and 8 bottles of oils is passed around, and each guest anoints herself with different scents using a glass dropper. This signifies the end of your visit and guests must depart as soon as the perfume ritual is completed. The  ritual serves to promote a feeling of bonding and unity, and the social prestige of the hostess is enhanced by the pleasant smells she imparts to her guests.

So, the next time you are invited round to a dinner party and your host brings out the perfume – that’s your cue to order your taxi!

Do you have any smell or scent rituals that you’d like to share with us?

Of course the big story across all forms of media at the minute is the phone hacking scandal which (partly) led to the shut down of the News of the World sunday newspaper. I say partly, as readership numbers have been steadily falling for years now across the board on both daily and weekly rags. I’m quite sure that the Murdoch empire could afford to sacrifice the one newspaper in order to concentrate on other areas anyway, and of course to satisfy the baying hoards amongst the media and the paying customers as a whole.

It seems entirely possible that newspapers may not even exist in 5-10 years…..well at least not in their familiar paper form anyway. And it’s not just newspapers that are careering into the depths of obsoletion – but all forms of printed media including books and magazines.

Paper has had to fight its corner since the dawning of the computer age, but has really had to stand its ground with the rise of the internet, mobile phones, emails, ebooks and social media sites. Even online banking has had a massive effect – I mean when was the last time you remember writing out a cheque? I had to send a cheque off to the DVLA this week, and after a lengthy hunt around the house finally found an old tatty cheque book with the first 2 digits of the year being 19.. I knew it had been a long time since i last used it but 12 years!? That really has to take the biscuit!

Even libraries that are fighting tooth and nail to stay afloat are succumbing little by little to the digital onslaught , trading old school card catalogues for electonic data bases.

So it seems a done deal – the halycon paper days are most certainly numbered. Or are they………?

Every digital device that you purchase – even online purchases, all come with paper instruction booklets, even if they also include an instruction disc.

Paper is the most successful communication innovation of the last 2000 years – one that has lasted the longest and had the most profound effect on civilisation. Yet most of the time we dont even see paper as technology. It is such a simple medium requiring no circuits, chips, ports, screen or speakers. It just sits there passively waiting to perform. Our own paper eureka moment occurred over the past 2 weeks, when we had the misfortune to suffer multiple computer server breakdowns – and who was there to pick up the pieces? The humble Post-It note and the fax machine – half relying on technology half relying on paper. Without these, we would not have been able to keep samples and orders moving through the factory and offices (albeit a little slower than usual – apologies to all our customers).

For me, the ebook will never replace the whole experience of reading a book. The feel of the book, the print (different sizes actually put me off reading some books), and of course it could never replace the smell of an actual book. I know i’m not on my own as a schoolfriend (Ann-Marie Robinson, – i’m not afraid to name and shame ) gets great pleasure from book sniffing. There are even libraries and galleries that hold special book smelling sessions, but so far i have managed to keep my compulsion to myself, unlike Bibliophile Karl Lagerfeld, whose love of books has led him to create a new fragrance – Paper Passion. It is a joint venture between Lagerfeld and his publisher of choice, Steidl, who distribute most of the designer’s photography books, and will take its inspiration from printed and unprinted paper, with a touch of linoleum and a fatty olfactory note. It is already being worked on, and so it shouldnt be too long before it is on the shelves. The fragrance will be sold inside a hardcover book that will have the pages hollowed out in order to hold the flacon.

And for those of you that cant wait until the perfume comes out, there are plenty other paper inspired fragrances on the market such as Demeter’s Paperback, Zadig & Voltaire’s Tome1 or Hammam Bouquet by Penhaligons or indeed just ask us at Carvansons to recreate your very own ‘book’ scent so that you can tap into your digital media whilst spritzing the room with Eau de Musty Olde Book Shoppe…….

Its at this time of the year that most people start to either look forward to or yearn for a good holiday (Icelandic volcanos permitting of course!). I’m looking forward to a break next week, it’s my annual family jaunt down south – in this case it’s going to be Dorset. I haven’t been there before as we usually head towards Cornwall and occasionally Devon, so i’m really looking forward it. I just hope the predicted heatwave arrives in time otherwise we’ll be the ones sat on the beach in Poole, hoods up, eating fish n chips, shivering and teeth chattering but determined to have our chippy tea outdoors in true British spirit – ‘because it is our holidays!’

So we have been having a chat in the office about holidays, and holiday memories, and whether certain places can be remembered by a specific scent.

Both Anne-Marie and Linda have said their main olfactory memory for Tunisia and Spain is the beautifully fragranced Jasmine, and for Greece the main flower memory would be Geraniums. Name any one of the seaside resorts around the UK, and you’ll remember the smell of hot sugary doughnuts, battered fish and chips complete with salt and vinegar and the smell of the sea and the ozone as you walk along the promenade. The smell of freshly cut grass reminds Aimi of all her summer dog shows and camping trips.

Mr Chris cant smell a fragrance by the name of Seychelles without remembering his holidays in North Wales. Its a scent that reminds him of walks along by the sea with the smell of ozone in the air. For Miss Chris, its the smell of that first smattering of rain as the heavens open after a long dusty dry spell, that reminds her of her festival days – one in particular actually, Billy Idol at last years Download festival who took to the stage just as the heatwave broke.

Any beach in the world usually has a lingering aroma of coconut suncream that you just cant escape. Companies such as Thompson and First Choice have utilised this information, and as you walk into one of their stores to book your annual summer holiday you will be blasted with the scent of suntan lotion as you walk in the door. Apparently this puts you in the mood for a holiday before you’ve even picked out your brochure, and therefore gives them the edge when it comes to securing a deposit from you before you leave the store.

They aren’t the only big companies using scent to put you in a feel good holiday mood. Fred Olsen apparently rubs coconut oil into the backs of  their seats to promote caribbean cruise sales. The big hotel chains cottoned on to the fact that their customers associate holidays with certain scents years ago.  Chains such as the Shangri-La,  Le Meridien, The Dorchester and Mandarin Oriental to name but a few, have all decided to make an impression through scent. Of course a comfortable lobby, beds and high quality service are essential, but among the more subtle cues, fragrance plays a big part. Data has shown that the subtle use of fragrance creates memories and drives loyalty to the brand.

You can even take a bottle of the signature scent home with you to remind you of your week in the sun.

Due to the global recession still being in full flow, even the budget hotels such as Travelodge and Holiday Inn have started trialling scented bedlinen in an effort to relax their guests. Aromas such as freshly mown grass, to remind you of summer, or sweet apple pie to remind you of home.

So i’ll keep all my senses on heightened alert next week to see what scent memories I can bring back from the hopefully sunny Dorset coast – unhurried mornings, restful afternoons and leisurely evenings. Let me know if there are any fragrances that particularly remind you of your holidays…….

There is a growing trend  in the fragrance market to tap into social media with high profile brands using a variety of online tools to market their products.

1.2 billion people, or 20% of the world population, are between the ages of 15 and 24. Of this population, 96% have joined a social network.

The average millennial, those born between 1982 and 1995 and now aged 15 and 28 has an average 426 facebook friends spread throughout the world, due in part to online virtual gaming.

Because of this exposure on social networks, the future of fragrance has to be through word of mouth utilizing digital media.

Some recent examples of high profile companies jumping on the social media bandwagon are as follows…

The website for DKNYMEN  asked participants to produce web spots for its new men’s fragrance, requesting users to create videos and soundtracks that best capture ‘the essence’ of the perfume. The competition winner had his video promoted on the DKNYMEN website, as well as receiving a $3,000 prize, together with DKNY branded goods.

Earlier last year, Old Spice launched a series of ads featuring former NFL  player Isaiah Mustafa as an over the top, narcissistic suave guy in a towel. The commercial was an instant hit and has received over 26 million hits on YouTube so far.

Givaudan has unveiled the ultimate fragrance selection tool called i-perfumer, which is an i-phone application that will guide the consumer in their choice of fragrance. i-Perfumer has been developed around a database of 4,000 masculine and feminine prestige fragrances, and is based on a special algorithm which combines your data, the perfumes you like and your olfactory preferences in order to select fragrances it thinks will most closely suit your preferences.

The campaign for Unilever’s new Lynx Excite range will launch on Apple’s iAd mobile advertising network, as part of the brand’s strategy to find innovative ways to engage with its audience. The iAd campaign will be followed by print, TV, digital, gaming and out-of-home advertising and PR, as part of an £8.3m marketing spend. Lynx brand manager Selina Sykes says: We are now leading marketing into the digital age where the key will be to unlock the potential of mobile.”

Brazilian cosmetics company Natura used a scented, online banner, to promote the reformulation of its Kaiak cologne, which is claimed to be the number one selling fragrance brand in the country. In order to communicate the fact that the fragrance had changed, a ‘scented banner’ concept was designed that would allow internet users to smell the redesigned fragrance. Internet users were invited to click on the banner, which read: “The best selling men’s fragrance in the country just changed. Want to try it. Click this banner, its scented.” Upon clicking on the banner, the device next to the computer ejected a scented paper strip, enabling the user to sample the new fragrance. The campaign was very successful with over 10,000 strips being printed in just one weekend.

The next 5 years will be crammed full of innovative scent delivery systems. The required technology already exists, so it is only a matter of time before they will become part of everyday life…

And so in conclusion, Scent is part of nature and triggers one’s olfactory memories. It enlivens one’s taste buds and it ignites one’s desires. It is the industry’s responsibility to excite and re-engage consumers. The time is now to embrace tomorrows technology. Today’s new consumer loves fragrance and we need to find new ways to communicate with them through story telling, quality product, interactive retail space and innovative technology.

I hope today’s post has been informative and will be useful when looking at new, modern ways to market your products. If you need any further information on the best types of fragrances for use in any of the mediums discussed above then please get in touch and we will be only too happy to help.