Walking into contemporary residential furniture retailer Mobilia’s flagship store in Montreal, your nose is greeted by air infused with a cherry blossom fragrance as the sights and sounds of ’80s pop and R&B steal into your ears and intrigue your eyes. The sensory smorgasbord is thanks to Montreal-based Senscity, which aims to reinforce brands’ images by creating memorable and robust retail experiences.
‘It’s about creating an ambience, but based on real marketing objectives,’ explains Annie Mailloux, VP of business development for Senscity.
The recently launched Senscity (formerly Mood Media) employs video, sound and olfactory technologies in its services. As well as Mobilia, the company’s client list has over 50 names, including the Bay, Aldo, Novotel and eyecare provider IRIS.
For Mobilia, Senscity developed a customized sensorial experience to attract a new, younger target market, specifically to its flagship store. It includes a combination of the personalized fragrance (diffused throughout the store using nano-droplet generation technology) with musical and video selections (featuring artists like Kylie Minogue) inspired by the brand’s personality and marketing goals.
The custom-designed video programming transmits on five screens throughout the store, to mirror the ambience found in a modern living room setting. Senscity also put a semi-transparent screen at the centre of the store that displays video clips to attract passersby.
And what would calm you down if your eye were about to be surgically altered with a laser? Perhaps a fresh woodland fragrance would do the trick. That’s what Senscity used for Langley, B.C.-based IRIS, an optometric retailer and laser surgery service provider.
Senscity incorporated the scent in IRIS’ centres across the country, complementing it with calming lounge music playing in the waiting room of its laser eye treatment clinics to soothe the nerves of those awaiting surgery. In the operating room, the fragrance is paired with classical music.
Brands can expect to pay a fee of around $500 a month, per site, for fully integrated sensorial solutions.
