Entries in Home (2)
Make Your Own Weather
It seems the height of irony that this story should appear in a week when most of the Northeastern US is buried under a blanket of snow and ice, but personal weather is on its way. Not in the sci-fi sense of bad guys seeking to manipulate the weather for world domination (though some governments have and are still trying to get a handle on meteorological conditions for military purposes), but creating your own snow where there is none -- at a household level.
That's right -- personal snow machines are the newest must-have in this age of global warming. Companies such as SnowStation, creators of the aptly named Backyard Blizzard, produce the machines for suburbanites who want to be the life of the cul-de-sac with their own little Matterhorn.
This trend probably has more to do with the desire for experiential fun and displays of achievement among the middle class -- think full-sized backyard basketball court, or expansive home media rooms with 50+ inch plasma screens -- than anything else, and a personal, on-demand luge track is just the newest amenity on the list. It's all there in a hill of snow--user creativity, personalization and convenience -- in an 8-foot pile of icy goodness.
Attention makers of low-cost, high quality sand out there! Personal beaches may be the next big thing.
(Image: www.sxc.hu)
Scott Smith
in Leisure, Home
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Aroma Is Rising
It's the holiday season, and the aromas of baking, evergreens, wood fires, and even the scent of new things -- clothes, perfumes, candles -- form a part of the overall experience. We relax, feel at home, or just know that something exciting or enjoyable is coming because of what our noses tell us.
As consumers max out on sensory experiences of the eye, ear and tongue, those who wish us to open our wallets have begun to tap the sense of smell -- and the evocative sense memories triggered by aroma -- to persuade us.
The past decade has seen an explosion in the use of scent as a new way of accessorizing the home, bringing aromatherapy from the expensive spa to everyone's bathroom, kitchen or car, to the tune of $4.4 billion in sales each year. That's a lot of smell! Specialist consultants and product developers have emerged to tailor just the right odeur for the moment or location. Newer brands such as Method, as well as resurgent older brands and processes previously used in creation of exotic perfumes, are drifting into the mass market to help us paint a sense picture in our living environments. There is even a film opening at the moment in the US, Perfume: The Story of a Murder, which adds a touch of suspense and drama to the business.
Retailers don't just sell the scents, they use them to soften up the consumer. According to the Washington Post, toy chain KB Toys has used the childhood smells of Creamsicles and Play-Doh to make purchasing parents think of happy childhoods (there is even a Play-Doh cologne out the for those who didn't get enough of it up their noses as kids). Expensive English shirt tailor Thomas Pink pumps in the smell of linen. Recently, the creators of the "Got Milk?" campaign made the headlines by wafting the smell of freshly-baked cookies into San Francisco bus stops, drawing complaints from environmentally sensitive citizens.
Two trends come to mind to explain the boom in aroma: the desire of World 1 consumers to personalize their worlds down to the last detail -- to be the architects of their own atmospheres --and of marketers to appeal to higher (or lower) forms of experience to break through the noise and reach consumers where it counts, the hippocampus. Neuromarketing is reaching new heights, and appealing to sense memories by smell is just the next step.
Look for companies to knock on your smell gateway more often as food companies, car companies, real estate agents, hotels, banks and anyone else with a profit motive and scent consultant seek to tap the buyer's deepest urges. After all, who doesn't want to think of a day on the beach or a warm plate of cookies?
Scott Smith
in Marketing, Retailing, Home, Experience
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