Samsung Gets Sensual

By Yuval Rosenberg

In gleaming white labs on Manhattan's West Side, a team of perfumers recently set out to create a new fragrance that would strike sniffers as imaginative, passionate, dynamic and "human." The three most promising bouquets were consumer tested in China, Brazil, Russia, Thailand, Germany and the U.S.--and then tweaked some more. The result, a fresh, fruity aroma, won't be dabbed behind the ears of fashionistas or sold on the shelves of chic department stores. But if you visit the Samsung Experience store in New York City--or, soon, if you open up a Samsung Electronics package or pamphlet--you may catch a whiff. The new eau de electronics, named Intimate Blue to evoke Samsung's cobalt blue logo, is part of a drive by the Korean giant to develop a sensory identity, including a new signature sound, a string of cheery notes. "It's all about subliminal experience," says Paul Kim, a marketing manager at Samsung Electronics America.

Samsung is far from alone in exploring the sensory frontiers--a trend that is gaining momentum as competition stiffens. Nokia, T-Mobile and Nextel already use brand-specific ringtones. Hotel chains Westin and Hyatt Place are developing custom scents to diffuse in their facilities. Some industries have long used sensory elements in their marketing. Cadillac, for instance, has infused a lab-developed, focus-group-tested "Cadillac aroma" in all of its car seats for years. Branding experts know that, to be effective, olfactory and acoustic assaults must be subtle. "If you make these things feel like advertising, that you're doing this to affect behavior, you've failed," says Peter Dixon of brand consultancy Lippincott Mercer, which is working with Samsung and Hyatt Place. In other words, exercising restraint just makes sense.