The Other Intelligence: Why Scent May Be the Most Human Marketing Tool in an AI World
In a World Optimized by Algorithms, Something Is Still Missing
AI is reshaping how we build brands and understand consumers. From personalization to prediction, machine learningdelivers scale and precision once out of reach.
But in the rush to digitize everything,something essential is being left behind.
Smell—visceral, emotional, ambient—resistsoptimization. It doesn’t stream. It can’t be scrolled. And that’s what makes itpowerful.
In an AI-saturated world, scent might be the most human signal brands can send.
The Scent That Arrives Before the Logo
Step into a hotel lobby, shopping mall, or flagship store, and your nose often checks in before your eyes. A crisp white-tea accord in a Westin, the warm cinnamon of Cinnabon, the signature haze of Abercrombie’s cologne—these aren’t just smells. They’re memory anchors, built to register in the limbic system within seconds1-3.
Human Olfaction: Far More Powerful Than the Myths Suggest
For much of the 20th century, humans were thought to have a weak sense of smell. This misconception—based on outdated comparisons of olfactory bulb size—has now been overturned4.
Modern research shows humans can detect over a trillion scent combinations, thanks to 350 functional olfactoryreceptors5. When smell disappears—as with COVID-related anosmia—mood, appetite, and social connection often decline6.
Neuroscience now confirms what marketer shave long intuited: scent is fundamental to emotional experience.
The Linguistic Diversity of Smell: High-Definition in Southeast Asia
Linguistic anthropology shows olfactory vocabulary varies dramatically across cultures. Unlike English, which uses vague descriptors (e.g., musty, fresh) or source references (e.g., coffee-like), languages like Thai and Jahai feature dozens of precise, basic smell terms7.
This matters. Word-for-word translation often fails to capture scent-specific nuance.
Tip for brands: Build a multilingual scent lexicon for key markets. Validate messaging in all active languages rather than relying on direct translations. Equivalence is often impossible and can distort brand perception.
Cross-Modal Metaphor: Think Beyond the Senses
Marketers often describe scent or taste using terms from other senses—bright citrus, velvety roast. Linguistic theory once claimed such metaphors followed a one-way “sensory hierarchy” from lower senses (touch, taste, smell) to higher ones (hearing, vision)8.Warm colours (temperature → vision)were expected, but not the reverse.
But cross-linguistic data tells a more fluid story. Japanese uses crystal-clear taste, and English has glassy flavour and bitter light 9These “forbidden” pairings are rare but powerful—disruptive enough to catch attention, intuitive enough to stick10.
Use with care—but done right, they boost memorability.
Seven Quick Wins for Brand and Insight Teams
- Map Scentable Touchpoints: Identify high-impact sensory moments—lifts, arrival, unboxing, etc.
- Build a Multilingual Scent Lexicon: Align product language with local olfactory frameworks.
- Prototype Metaphors: A/B test conventional sensory descriptors vs. cross-modal innovations.
- Align Scent With Emotional Peaks: Time scent activation around memory-rich moments (first taste, checkout, arrival).
- Measure Affect, Not Just Liking: Pair surveys with biometric proxies (e.g., heart-rate, dwell time).
- Protect Distinctiveness: Avoid generic or competitor-adjacent scent profiles.
- Enable Accessibility: Offer low- or no-scent zones for sensitive customers
Closing Thought
AI is transforming how brands think. But scent transforms how customers feel.
While algorithms predict behavior, fragrance imprints emotion—quietly, deeply, and often unconsciously.
Scent doesn’t compete with the algorithmicfuture. It brings what the algorithm can’t: something richer, older, and harderto replicate.
And in a world where everyone isoptimizing, perhaps the smartest move is to activate a different kind ofintelligence—the one your customers feel before they think.
References
1. https://www.cntraveler.com/story/how-a-hotel-gets-its-signature-scent?utm_source=chatgpt.com
4. McGann JP (2017) Poor human olfaction is a19th-century myth. Science 356,eaam7263. DOI:10.1126/science.aam7263
5. Bushdid C et al. (2014) Humans CanDiscriminate More than 1 Trillion Olfactory Stimuli. Science 343, 1370-1372. DOI:10.1126/science.1249168
6. Sheen F et al. (2022) The COVOSMIA-19trial: Preliminary application of the Singapore smell and taste test toobjectively measure smell and taste function with COVID-19. Food Quality andPreference 97, 104482. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodqual.2021.104482
7. Wnuk E, et al (2020) Smell terms are notrara: a semantic investigation of odor vocabulary in Thai. Linguistics, 58: 937 – 966. https://doi.org/10.1515/ling-2020-0009
8. Williams JM (1976) Synaethetic adjectives:a possible law of semantic change. Language,52: 461 – 478. https://doi.org/10.2307/412571
9. https://u-ryukyu.repo.nii.ac.jp/records/2003985
10. Winter B (2019) Synaesthetic metaphors areneither synaesthetic nor metaphorical. In L. J. Speed, C. O'Meara, L.. Roque,& A. Majid (Eds.), Perceptionmetaphors (pp. 105–126). John Benjamins Publishing Company.
