By Jeeva Sanjeevan and Suji Sanjeevan

In a world where brands battle for attention across screens, platforms and experiences, one powerful sense is often left out of the mix: smell. While sight and sound take centre stage in most strategies, especially during on-ground event activations, scent has a unique superpower — it taps straight into memory and emotion, creating lasting connections that go far beyond the moment of purchase.

Smell bypasses the rational brain and goes straight to the limbic system, where emotion and memory live. That’s why a familiar fragrance can transport us instantly. It doesn’t shout for attention, it embeds a feeling. It is emotive marketing at its best. For marketers striving to create authentic emotional connections, scent is an incredibly powerful storytelling tool.

From logo to scent identity

Your visual logo defines how your brand looks. An “olfactory logo” defines how it feels. It’s a signature scent, uniquely crafted to mirror your brand’s personality and consistently applied across touchpoints.

Developing an olfactory logo is both an art and a science. It starts with decoding your brand’s personality, purpose and audience, then translating those insights into carefully layered fragrance notes:

Top notes – the first impression that captures attention.
Heart notes – the emotional core that shapes connection.
Base notes – the lasting memory that lingers long after the moment.

There are two powerful ways brands can integrate scent strategically:

1.⁠ ⁠Signature scent – A long-term, consistent signature, much like your logo, colour palette or typeface. With repeated exposure, it becomes a sensory cue that drives recognition, loyalty and emotional recall across every touchpoint: places, spaces, products and experiences.

2.⁠ ⁠Campaign-based scenting – A campaign-based scent is all about immersion, not identity. It’s designed to elevate a single moment, be it a launch, activation or seasonal campaign, by wrapping the audience in a sensory experience that deepens emotion, enhances recall and brings the story to life in a way visuals alone can’t. An olfactory logo doesn’t just make your brand memorable, it makes it unforgettable.

The future of sensory marketing

Here’s where the future of marketing is headed: scent is no longer just confined to physical spaces. In today’s hybrid world where digital presence meets emotional connection, fragrance design has become an extension of a brand’s online identity. The notes you choose can mirror your digital voice: clean and modern, warm and inclusive, or daring and assured. It’s this harmony between visual, digital and emotional cues that transforms branding into a truly immersive experience.

We’re stepping into a new era where scent and technology seamlessly converge. Advances in AI and data are allowing brands to analyse emotional responses to fragrance compositions, ensuring every scent aligns with audience psychology and intent.

Emerging scent-tech and VR now make it possible to experience fragrance in digital spaces, from virtual showrooms and AR activations to immersive brand worlds that engage multiple senses at once.

In this new landscape, brands that live both online and offline need an olfactory identity that connects those worlds, creating consistency, emotion and memory across every dimension of experience.

Why it matters in a modern marketer’s strategy 

Today’s consumers expect more than campaigns; they expect emotional experiences. Scent delivers that depth. It doesn’t compete with visuals; it complements them, enhancing memory and emotional connection.

Marketers already invest heavily in colour, typography and sound, yet the sense most closely linked to emotion is still often overlooked. If your brand cares about how it feels as much as how it looks, it’s time to ask: “How do we smell?”

The brands that will lead the next decade won’t just look good or sound distinctive, they’ll feel unforgettable. An olfactory logo turns connection into chemistry and transforms emotion into brand equity.

When you engage all five senses, you don’t just capture attention, you create a memory.

Jeeva Sanjeevan and Suji Sanjeevan are the co-founders of BrandScent

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