Appealing To the Senses

The move toward high-tech packaging is part of an overall retooling to make it more attractive, functional and consumer-friendly -- think easy-to-open plastic coffee canisters. And manufacturers are redesigning their products more frequently -- about every 18 months now, versus the old standard of once every four years.

But bigger, flashier changes are around the corner.

ScentSational Technologies of Jenkintown, Pa., has developed a process for embedding scents in plastic as it is being molded using food-grade aromas approved by the Food and Drug Administration. But while aromas in packaged foods can break down and start to smell different, the ones ScentSational uses stay fresh because the molecules are, essentially, encased in plastic, the company said. The plastic gradually gives off aroma "volatiles" that last about a month and give scent whatever food or liquid is nearby.

The company is working with various consumer product manufacturers, such as AriZona iced tea, executives said. Several shampoo, lotion and cosmetics makers are using ScentSational technology to create bottles that allow a consumer to smell the product by just sniffing the plastic top. ScentSational chief executive Barry Edelstein said about 90 percent of consumers shopping for a new shampoo open the top and take a whiff.

ScentSational is also developing scented caps for bottled-water companies, which it claims creates the sense of drinking flavored water even when the water is plain. It has created chocolate-scented tops for sippy cups, giving regular milk the illusion of being chocolate milk. Another project takes a bag of cookies and adds a plastic lining permeated with the smell of cookies coming out of the oven.

"You open that up, you're getting that fresh cookie aroma," Edelstein said.

ScentSational will not reveal the names of brands or companies it is working with for competitive reasons. Edelstein said the company has deals with "a majority of the leading food and beverage companies out there" and will have several product introductions this year.

"It's not that they're trying to be secretive -- they want to maintain a competitive advantage," said the company's chief technology officer, Steven Landau. "They don't want to give away the secret sauce."

Procter & Gamble Co. is a good example. "We're certainly aware of the importance of scent and aroma to the brand experience, and we are certainly aware of these technologies," said company spokesman Terry Loftus. "But, for competitive reasons, we don't want to discuss if or how we might use these technologies in the future."

Loftus did say, however, that P&G is putting more emphasis on package design and trying to get its products noticed in the store. That's become more important, Loftus said, with so many new products coming to market.

Olfactory scientists say using scent is smart marketing. Of all the human senses, smell has the most direct pathway to the emotional center of the brain.

"The olfactory system, anatomically, is right in the middle of the part of the brain that's very important for memory," said Donald A. Wilson, a neurobiologist who studies olfaction at the University of Oklahoma. "There are strong neural connections between the two."