Tuesday 10 July 2012

Olfactory Events?

Found myself listening to a Radio Four science programme tackling the complex subject of human odour and it struck a chord. The programme explored that scientists are training not just dogs, but bees, mice and electronic noses to sniff out security threats by odour alone.

Olfactory surveillance, that is, using the sense of smell to harness and mimic nature, has many implications when utilising this world of scents.

Certain smells can transport us back to our childhood. Our olfactory perceptions are increasingly being recognised by scientists as the foundation for many of our decisions and actions, from consumer loyalty to weight loss and age perception.

The use of smell in commercial environments is not new - think of the smell of baking bread as you walk past the bakery store or that oft-used phrase 'smell the coffee' and you can understand that smells in meetings could have interesting effects.

Some venues have already recognised the phenomenon and adapted their meeting space to create environments with different smells for different types of event. Whilst this may at present be mainly to do with setting the scene or mood, there may be more practical uses than at first imagined - positive applications of course are the preferred outcome but there is always the possibility of more sinister use of this medium.

If the scientists can detect the smell of fear perhaps they will help meetings organisers and planners to arrange events that help them to identify delegates' apprehension!....

Bring out the smelling salts!....


John Gallery

director, Great Potential.
www.greatpotential.co.uk
johngallery@greatpotential.co.uk