Zhang Yimou's Under the Hawthorn Tree was marketed along with a tiein perfume from Fragrance Library. Photo: Guo Yingguang

By Wei Na

Is that a new perfume the Sheraton Hotel is wearing? Yes, said Zhang Yanlu, the PR coordinator for the Sheraton Hotels and Resorts.

"It used to smell like apple pie in the lobby, because it's a homey fragrance for our clients from the West and also could represent our brand's simple quality," she said. "But based on a questionnaire, we found that they prefer a more natural and fresh smell, so we needed a new scent." Now the hotel wears a custom-designed scent called "Pinwheels in the Breeze."

The Sanlitun Fragrance Library has been around for just about a year, but it's already had some success in the research and development of a new olfactory industry, said Li Geng, the Fragrance Library's senior merchandising manager. "Now the consumers are overwhelmed with all the media advertising on the level of the visual and auditory sense, but there's still a big market of sense of smell that could associate the products with the emotions of consumers."

Fragrance marketing is not a new phenomenon. Audi is in pursuit of a "pure, neutral leather smell" and Starbucks is adamant about its "no perfume but the smell of coffee" policy. These companies hope that a particular scent will attract consumer attention, evoke memories, express brand identity, and, ultimately, stimulate consumption.

Locally, Vanke Company, the largest residential real estate developer in China, came to Fragrance Library to get a new smell for its sales office. "Companies usually have corporate identity systems, but not a sense of smell identity system like the one Vanke asked us for," Li said. "Now we are in the process of developing a scent that fits its brand image and makes the customers comfortable. That kind of direction in designing products for brands is our main strategy."

Fragrance Library makes custom marketing products for more than just large companies. This February, 25-year-old novelist Tian Yuan launched her new book One Pea with Seven Seeds along with a collection of seven scents to match its theme of explaining seven years in a girl's life. Zhang Yimou's new movie, Under the Hawthorn Tree, has a pair of tie-in fragrances representing the movie's male and female leads.

"They smell like a little bit of sea, rain and leaves, which we thought would fit for the theme of this 'pure love' movie, and of course got approved by the director," said Sun Jialu, PR manager of Fragrance Library.

According to Li, so far they have already cooperated with about 10 companies, and for a completely customized perfume, it usually takes about three to five months. "Different cases require various efforts, time and service based on the customer's requests. Like there's a fragrance smelling like snow, which took a couple of years to develop and is priced at about 285 yuan for 30 ml in the library. It might be a lot for one bottle, but it has been sold out of stock in many cities," Li said.

"There's an old Chinese saying, 'Good wine sells itself from down the lane,' that talks about using scents to market products," said Xu Xiaozeng, director of Olfactory Recognition Project at Tianxiangmeilun Odora Technology Company. "People could distinguish about 10,000 smells that would evoke different feelings, like flower fragrance reminds of spring, fruit represents summer, and maybe pine tree would stand for the cold days."

"Fragrance probably couldn't make an identity for a brand, but it definitely is a vital tool to be developed, because it would help build up a potential ideal image for the salespeople trying to establish and strengthen certain recognition," he said.

Utilizing scents in an artistic environment along with music, sculptures and painting is a new area that has a huge market, Xu said. "There is already a foreign company developing the fragrance to put in a opera theater, to combine the smells with the music and play on the stage to give a full stimulation of passion, love and drama. Based on the current techniques and culture market developing rapidly in China, we have a lot of ambition and put in much efforts in that road."