Smell o Vision Hits the Malls with 42" Smell o Billboard

Shopping malls and complexes are getting bigger and bigger. I live in London and have been running around for the last week or so trying to get my Christmas gifts in order. I love the holiday season; despite the added hustle and bustle everyone seems to be in a merry mood. I think the record low prices and VAT reductions may have something to do with it but that's a separate matter.

So we have a new shopping center in London called Westfield Lodnon, it is the "largest in-town shopping and leisure destination in Europe" it's somehow squeezed into the already tiny UK and worse into LONDON! Now we British aren't the most cheery people, generally very conserved and hate asking for directions. The shopping center understands this and issue visitors with a map almost resembling that of a theme park! Take a LOOK

What does this all have to do with smell o vision? Well I was trawling across the Internet when I came across this:

Now as a consumer it is very frustrating having to navigate a huge shopping center, entertain and manage the Kids then find a place to eat (somewhere the kids will eat too!). It really is a whole day out, or a days hard labour in my eyes!

Japan have come up with a solution for this problem, something that may have massive benefits in other areas as well. Its called.......well I couldn't find a name buts its made by NTT Communications Corp (read more about them and NTT in my Free Smell o Vision Report) and was being tested during June and August in an underground mall of a Tokyo Station by Recruit Co Ltd. The device - a 42" plasma screen with scent emitting technology is essentially a billboard designed to promote the centers attractions.

Shops and restaurants are invited to post short advertising videos with the addition of appetising scents to tempt passers by to visit and part with their money. If that doesn't do it then your sure to part with your cash given the discount coupons housed in the front of the device! Either way this device serves as an excellent advertising tool - especially for those restaurants located in the far corners of the centers that are hardly visited. Also visitors are induced by and introduced to a range of attractions through smell, making it easier and entertaining for the kids to decide before you get there.


On a quick side track - scents are proven to improve memory through association and this idea could be used to help you remember your route through the center, maybe have a better memory for what you are actually there to buy! Harrods (see my Harrods is Scent Marketing Post) is using Scents to improve the shopping experience also develop brands and departments, according to The Aroma Co, scents increase "pick-up rates by 20% to 89%, and doubled redemption rates". Now we know that spending money and shopping is therapeutic for some people right?(NOT ME) Well essentially the whole smell o vision, smell o billboard thing could be used to make the shopping center a nice merry place all years around and serve as a sort of therapeutic center, where for once you don't want to kill the kids - that's probably just me.


Although this device is still in its preliminary testing stages I think in the future a 205" Tecnovision HD LCD combined with a range of smelly devices and a built in interactive maps will be common place. Imagine a system that allows multiple users to simultaneously navigate through an interactive map, providing users with a range of information from what starters are available in which restaurant? (combined with smells)? to discount vouchers and booking services. After all the customer has the power right? Of coarse that's if the Internet doest take over the physical world and we all end up eating cyber bites!