Brand of the week: London
by Fred Roed on 13/03/06 at 10:53 am
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This morning, I was swanning around in Claremont, Cape Town, and suddenly I got a whiff of London. It’s hard to describe; in fact impossible for me to describe in words on this page.
I lived in London for 2 years in the 90’s, working, playing and hanging around a load of other South Africans (as you do). I seriously enjoyed my experience, but since settling back in Cape Town I have not reflected on that time a heck of a lot. So, this morning, when the smell of London hit my nose in the dirty streets of Claremont, a rush of memories came flooding back to me in a few seconds. I imagine it’s the same as when someone is about to die your life flashes before you. In this instance, my 2 years in London played through my consciousness more clearly than any ‘London memories’ I have had over the past decade since I was there. Anyone else ever feel like that?
I recently read Martin Lindstrom’s book ‘BRANDsense’, which explains how effective branding is moving away from 2 dimensional communication. Traditionally, marketers employ sight and sound as the predominant senses to target your emotions; but now, with Linstrom’s urging, a more multi-sensory approach is being utilised. Car companies are patenting different smells for their makes of cars; Kelloggs are trying to put a trademark on the ‘crunch’ of their cornflakes; and Coke famously patented the design of their tactile early Coke bottle with the organic shape and the grooves along the side. After reading the book earlier this year, I wondered how important it was (from a branding point of view) to actively pursue this strategy and I was not really convinced.
However, this morning, I got a real yearning to go back to London after a mere sniff of Claremont’s morning air. I realised how powerful a sensation it was. I have recently heard that fashion companies are spending millions to develop and patent distinct smells for their high street stores across the world. They want their customers in Paris to recognise the smell when they visit a branch in Sydney or New York; and feel like they are ‘home’. It seems that it really works, and that effective brand building can become so much more effective with a completely sensory-holistic (sic) approach to branding.
This week my brand of the week goes to London, for successfully convincing me that this new way of branding works; and for making me start to plan my next trip to the ‘capital of the world’.
Fred Roed is the marketing guy in the Ideate crew. Fred is the CEO of web marketing company World Wide Creative and the co-founder of online learning portal Heavy Chef. Fred loves writing about people out there doing marketing right. Follow Fred on Twitter here. View more articles by Fred Roed.
