Caroline Fabrigas of Scent Marketing Inc. talks about creating the perfect signature scent for your brand.

We’re talking about scent marketing for your spa and hotel, and about how multisensory experiences can increase sales and elevate brand awareness and consumer connection. 

Caroline Fabrigas is the CEO of Scent Marketing Inc., a full-service scent and sensory marketing company and a leading authority in the art and science of scent marketing and branding that has created scents for world-class brands such as Hyatt, ­Auberge Resorts Collection, 1 Hotels, and Deep Blue Med Spa. She is also co-founder of ScentInvent Technologies LLC., a scent innovation firm dedicated to introducing new forms and function in fragrance. She has worked in marketing for luxury brands including Clarins, Prada, and Chanel, and maintains an active beauty consulting practice called BeautyFluence LLC. 

We got deep into it with Caroline Fabrigas about developing signature scents for hotels and spas.

Please talk to us about how scent elicits emotions and reactions.

We see what happens in the presence of scent versus in the absence of scent. When the right scent for the environment is present in an appropriate way, you will see the “linger longer factor,” where guests and clients will stay longer in a particular area, which is always good. There is also a memorability factor, as scent builds an instant recall, so when someone leaves a place, they will have a longer-term memory of that experience. (Read more on the science of consumer behavior here)

We think this works through the brain’s limbic system, which is where all memory is stored. It’s like the reptilian brain, the automatic reaction to things. The limbic system is connected to the olfactory system where a human perceives scent. When a scent molecule comes in, it’s like a lock and key opening a receptor in the olfactory system, and then that rushes to the limbic system and there is a reaction. Hopefully the right scent triggers the right reaction.

You can see it in everyday life. When you smell something amazing like baking bread, it makes you feel warm, it makes you feel hungry. When you smell fire and smoke, you have a totally different reaction. That’s the limbic system. In what we do, we try to tap into that with branded scent, that creates the reaction that we are looking to create. If we’re trying to create a dynamic environment, we will pick aromas known to promote this idea of energy or dynamism. If we’re looking for something comforting, relaxing, and calming, we will pick aromas known to create those kinds of sensations and reactions.

We often talk about the calming effect of lavender but what are some of the other scents that can evoke specific, sought-after reactions?

Peppermint is historically known to help clarity and focus, cinnamon is known to sharpen the mind, and pine can help alleviate stress. Vanilla can be comforting and calming, while citrus can help to provide a sense of energy and exhilaration, and eucalyptus helps support clearing and clarifying. Jasmine may also help sharpen the mind and help with precision. There was a study, in which the accuracy of baseball players hitting the ball increased in the presence of the scent of jasmine.

These things may be dependent on your culture and the associations you have with specific smells. But are there scents that evoke universal reactions?

I do think that the gourmand scents create a reaction because they are included in many cultures. Vanilla is noticeably sweet, warm, and comforting. And you would find it used in various cuisines. That could be a scent that I would say resonates. I also think wood would be universally recognizable as something grounding, anchoring, and sensual.

What are some things people should keep in mind when seeking the right scent for their business?

Picking a scent that is reflective of your brand and what you want to communicate. Because sometimes if you don’t have that alignment, you can create a disconnect and it can be disjointing.

There are different ways we work with our clients. We can create a total custom, bespoke scent from scratch or find the right scent that already exists in our extensive scent library. Sometimes someone is not ready for a completely bespoke scent and will want to find something that already exists. Then we’ll do a curation process, which is quicker and less expensive. Sometimes somebody will start with a curated scent and end up very happy with it.

I should add, how the scent is working with the diffuser is also something to think about. Maintaining your diffuser is very important. Whether it’s in the HVAC or whether it’s free standing, making sure it’s filled, making sure it’s clean, making sure it’s tended to. Like with anything else you need to make sure that it’s maintained.

Can you talk about the process of creating a bespoke scent and connecting it to the brand?

That’s my favorite thing in the whole world to do. We have created the scent for the One Hotels, which has become quite a collection now of hotels. We started with them when they were just doing their initial branding, and it was an incredible development because the whole premise was the idea about being one with the environment. We looked at the décor and at the philosophy of the brand, which was to be incredibly sustainable. In creating it, it wasn’t a superimposed fragrance, it was much more about the raw materials of your environment breathing with you instead of at you.

It all came together when we stood in one of the model hotel rooms with our perfumer. We smelled the wood and the greenery. And they have a faucet in every room instead of bottled water, and you could smell the cold water. It was an incredible experience. And then how to interpret that into scent? We have a specific process where we do a DNA analysis of the brand, of the colors, the textures, the sounds, the language, the philosophy, the ethos, and really what the brand wants to communicate. We use that as our brief and then we work with perfumers and research companies to determine what kinds of raw materials will evoke the kinds of sentiments and feelings that we are after. And we create these incredibly unique custom bespoke blends and share them in sniffing sessions with our clients, taking them through the different iterations of what we’ve created and why — how it connects to their ethos and their brand, speaking the language of that brand back to the client through the lens of scent.

How can scent marketing increase revenue?

I always hesitate to add that to the story because there are so many things that can influence revenue, like a sale, the weather, or the time of year. So, I tend to keep the influence of scent when it comes to purchasing behavior more to the other factors. Like many areas of marketing, scent is connected to brand building which is, of course, connected to revenue. There have been several experiments that suggest it has a positive impact on sales. In a well-known experiment conducted with Nike, for example. subjects who viewed sneakers in a scented room vs an unscented room were significantly more likely to say they would purchase the shoes, and appraised them at a higher value.

Also, we have many clients who have gone from just having an ambient scent diffused in their location to creating an entire revenue stream with us where we will make candles, room sprays, reed diffusers, all kinds of products that they can then sell, and it creates an entire incremental business for them. Right. This goes back to reinforcing the brand connection and memorability, and it creates this full circle experience as well as an additional revenue stream. So, it’s a wonderful business.

Now read this:

The power of scent marketing to increase sales at your spa

Spa Executive is published by Book4Time, the leader in guest management, revenue and mobile solutions for the most exclusive spas, hotels, and resorts around the globe. Learn more at book4time.com.

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Scent marketing can be applied in various settings, including retail stores, hotels, casinos, spas, car showrooms, and even in product packaging.

That new car smell, the scent of baking cookies in a show home…you’re familiar with the concept of scent marketing. 

If you run a spa, hotel, resort, or a combination of these, you’ve probably already put a fair amount of thought into what you want the atmosphere to smell like — relaxing, inviting, comforting, sophisticated perhaps? Hyatt, Ritz Carlton, Auberge, W, One Hotels, St. Regis, Shangri La … all hotels of renown use signature scent as part of their brand experience. 

What is scent marketing?

Are you engaging the sense of smell to its full potential? Scent marketing, also known as aroma marketing or olfactory marketing, is a strategic approach that involves using scents or fragrances to influence consumer perception, behavior, and overall brand experience. It recognizes the power of scent in triggering emotions, memories, and associations, and leverages this knowledge to create a favorable atmosphere or association with a particular brand, product, or environment.

Scent marketing can be applied in various settings, including retail stores, hotels, casinos, spas, car showrooms, and even in product packaging. It aims to enhance customer engagement, increase brand recognition, create a memorable experience, and ultimately drive sales.

By strategically selecting and diffusing specific scents, businesses can evoke certain emotions or create a particular ambiance that aligns with their brand image or objectives. The example above, which we’re all familiar with, is the show home using the aroma of freshly baked bread or cookies to  create a warm, inviting atmosphere. Luxury hotels, meanwhile, are known for diffusing signature fragrances in lobbies to evoke the feelings they want to associate with their brands.

Studies have shown that scent can have a significant impact on consumers’ mood, perception, and purchasing behavior. It can influence how customers perceive the quality of products or services, improve brand recall and recognition, and even affect the duration of their store visits.

It’s a sensory marketing technique that taps into the power of scent to create a more immersive and memorable brand experience, fostering positive associations and influencing consumer behavior.

The nose knows more than you know

Our noses are more powerful than you probably think. According to Discover Magazine, a 2014 study showed that humans can distinguish around a trillion different odors, up from previous estimates of just 10,000 – though we don’t have words for a trillion smells. Much of the experience of smelling happens under “the radar of consciousness,” as Discover puts it, and we can be influenced without realizing it.

Matthias Laska, a biologist at Linköping University in Sweden, has been comparing senses of smell across species, including humans. Laska told Discover that he has found that humans smell as well as, or better than, many other mammals and are even better than dogs at detecting some scents. These include aromas produced by plants, while dogs are better at sniffing out fatty acids. These differences are likely attributable to evolutionary requirements. 

“Odors that are not relevant for you, you are usually not good at [smelling],” Laska told Discover.

And, like dogs, humans can pick each other out of a literal lineup by scent. In a 2015 study, Portuguese and Swedish researchers collected body odor samples from 20 male university students. 

“Other students then watched a video of an actual assault by a man on a woman (to stir them emotionally), while sniffing a scent they were told was that of the suspect. In reality, it was the scent of one of the 20 male students. Afterward, the sniffers were given a “lineup” of five odor samples and asked to identify the person whom they had smelled — presumably not a very enjoyable task. Results were quite impressive, though. The “witnesses” were able to pinpoint the would-be suspect 75 percent of the time.”

The smell of emotion

Research findings suggest we can also smell emotions. In 2015, researchers from Utrecht University in the Netherlands measured the facial movements of volunteers who sniffed sweat samples of people who had watched either happy scenes from Disney’s The Jungle Book or scary clips from Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. After smelling The Jungle Book watchers, participants “assumed a genuine happy facial expression,” the study author said. “It was subtle, yet significant.”

More research suggests we can sniff out fear, danger, sickness, and a compatible lover, as well as detect whether we’re related to someone.

Scents may even make us look younger and thinner

In a study that involved guessing the age of women shown in photos, participants who smelled grapefruit – and liked the smell of grapefruit – estimated the women to be 12 years younger than their actual ages. If the participants smelled spicy and floral notes, the women looked four pounds slimmer.

5 examples of scent correlated with increased consumer spending  

Now we know a few of the things we can detect through scent and how it may influence our perceptions, let’s look at five examples of when scent was correlated with increased spending.

1. In a field experiment, customers of a second-hand clothing store faced one of three conditions: fresh linen scent (pleasant and priming the idea of “clean clothing”), vanilla sandalwood scent (pleasant control odor), or regular store odor (odorless control). The results showed that consumer spending in the fresh linen scented environment was almost double that of spending in the odorless control and pleasant odor control environments. 

2. In a now famous study, Alan Hirsch and a colleague conducted an experiment in which subjects were sent into two identical rooms, one with a pleasant floral smell and the other with nothing but filtered air. In each room was an identical pair of Nike shoes. After 30 seconds in each room, the subjects were given questionnaires about the shoes. “What we found,” Hirsch told the Chicago Reader in 1994, “was that 84% of the subjects said they were more likely to buy the shoes associated with the mixed-floral smell” – even when the smell dropped to undetectable levels. They also reportedly appraised the shoes at a higher price.

3. Another early 1990s study by Hirsch was conducted on three slot machine areas at a Las Vegas casino. Two were odorized, each with a different aroma, and a third served as an unodorized control. The money gambled in the area scented with Odorant No. 1 was 45% higher than on the previous and following weekend, while the amounts of money gambled in the slot machines surrounding Odorant No. 2 and in the control area did not change. 

4. A study at Washington State University found that “simple scents” may work best when it comes to influencing spending. Researchers developed two scents: a simple orange scent and a more complicated orange-basil blended with green tea. Over 18 weekdays, they watched more than 400 customers in a home decorations store with either the simple scent, the complex scent, or no scent. The group exposed to the simple scent spent an average of 20% more. 

5. In 2015 a research team at Temple University found a correlation between warm scents, consumer preference for luxury (more expensive items), and an increase in overall spending. The theorized reasoning was interesting. “If there is a warm scent in the room, people perceive the room to be smaller, and more full of other people,” said the lead study author. “As a result, they feel a little less socially powerful. In order to restore their feeling of power, they prefer premium or luxury brands.” The authors wrote, “Our findings provide practitioners with concrete insights on how different categories of scents work, and they can ultimately be translated into specific guidance for retailers’ strategy.” 

A more immersive and memorable brand experience

Scent marketing is a powerful tool that businesses can utilize to create a more immersive and memorable brand experience for their customers. The sense of smell has a profound impact on emotions, memories, and – potentially – purchasing behavior. As businesses continue to explore the potential of scent marketing, it becomes clear that the nose truly knows more than we realize, and harnessing the power of scent can be a game-changer in the world of marketing and branding.

Spa Executive is published by Book4Time, the leader in guest management, revenue and mobile solutions for the most exclusive spas, hotels, and resorts around the globe. Learn more at book4time.com.

Image by vecstock on Freepik

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What’s the best smell in the world? Researchers set out to find out. Here’s what they learned. 

You’ve probably heard it said that, while there are, inarguably, pleasant and unpleasant odors, much of what people like and dislike aroma-wise is determined by culture and life experience.

We were told exactly this in a 2017 interview with Dawn Goldworm, a nose and the founder of olfactive branding company, 12.29, who said that, while some ingredients, like lavender and rose, can have calming effects, because they’re used in a variety of different ways around the world, they might not evoke these feelings in some populations.

In Central and South America, for example, Goldworm said, “lavender is used in baby products. “So, if you have young children, and you’re looking to have a relaxing day at the spa, and everything is scented with lavender, you’re going to be thinking about your kids the whole time. Not that you would ever not think about your children, but maybe you wanted an hour or two to yourself.”

Now, authors of a new collaborative study between researchers at Karolinska Institutet, Sweden, and the University of Oxford, UK, say they have found otherwise. The scientists conducted a study, the results of which, they argue, show that the smells we like or dislike are not influenced by culture but by the structure of the particular odor molecule.

“We wanted to examine if people around the world have the same smell perception and like the same types of odor, or whether this is something that is culturally learned,” said Artin Arshamian, researcher at the Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, in a research brief. “Traditionally it has been seen as cultural, but we can show that culture has very little to do with it.”

The researchers found that certain smells were liked more than others regardless of the cultural affiliation of participants.

“Cultures around the world rank different odors in a similar way no matter where they come from, but odor preferences have a personal – although not cultural – component,” said Dr Arshamian.

“Indigenous populations in disparate environments”

The study involved a total of 235 individuals from nine communities representing different lifestyles: four hunter-gatherer groups and five groups with different forms of farming and fishing. Some of these groups have very little contact with Western foodstuffs or household articles.

“Since these groups live in such disparate odiferous environments, like rainforest, coast, mountain and city, we capture many different types of ‘odor experiences’,” said Dr Arshamian.

Participants were asked to rank 10 smells on a scale of pleasant to unpleasant. The results show variation between individuals – which the researchers attribute to molecular structure (41%) and personal preference (54%) – but global correspondence on which odors are pleasant and unpleasant. 

“Personal preference can be due to learning but could also be a result of our genetic makeup,” said Dr Arshamian.

The scents included:

1. Vanillin – Vanilla, extracted from vanilla beans. Sweet, warm scent. Used as flavoring in baking and food. Popular fragrance ingredient.
2. Ethyl Butyrate – Fruity scent, like peaches or pineapple. Used in fragrance and in artificial flavoring in alcoholic beverages.
3.  Linalool – Flowery, spicy scent, similar to lavender and bergamot. Commonly used in fragrance.
4. Eugenol – Spicy scent and the main element of clove essential oil. Used as a flavoring for foods and teas, and as a fragrance ingredient.
5. 2-Phenylethanol – Floral scent that smells like roses and also like carnation, orange blossom, and geranium. Common fragrance ingredient.
6. 1-Octen-3-ol – Also known as “mushroom alcohol,” has an earthy mushroom-like scent, also described as “raw chicken.” Used in fragrance and in pesticide to attract biting insects.
7. Octanoic acid – Cheese-like odor also described as smelling like goat. Medium-chain fatty acid naturally found in palm oil, coconut oil, and human and animal milk. Used as a disinfectant and food additive.
8. 3-Isobutyl-2-methoxypryazine – Fresh bell pepper scent. Also present in the smell of coffee and spinach. Used in fragrance, detergents, candles, deodorants, gums, and candies
9. Dimethyl disulphide – Garlic-like scent. Natural compound emitted from bacteria, fungi, plant,s and animals. Used as flavoring in food.
10. Isovaleric acid – Pungent, cheesy, or “sweaty feet” scent. Found in feces and blood. Its volatile esters have pleasant odors and are widely used in perfumery.
11.  

And the winner is….

Vanilla was considered the most pleasant scent across cultures, followed by peachy/pineapple-y ethyl butyrate. The smell ranked the least pleasant was isovaleric acid, which is found in cheese, soy milk, apple juice, and foot sweat.

Dr Arshamian, muses that a possible reason why people consider some smells more pleasant than others regardless of culture is that such odors increased the chances of survival during human evolution.

“Now we know that there’s universal odor perception that is driven by molecular structure and that explains why we like or dislike a certain smell,” Dr Arshamian said. “The next step is to study why this is so by linking this knowledge to what happens in the brain when we smell a particular odor.”

Wintergreen and maple in France and Canada

These findings are interesting but not shocking. When one looks up the smells used in the study, the odors on the second half of the list are mostly described as “unpleasant.” It’s not a surprise that feces and sweat rank low in popularity no matter where you’re from. And, the suggested explanation seems obvious: we are put off by smells that can make us sick (feces and bacteria) and drawn towards smells that smell clean and/or good to eat because moving away from one and toward the other will help us live longer. Without the research, however, that’s just a hypothesis, so it is valuable. Still…do the findings really “show that culture has very little to do” with how we perceive scent? Different studies suggest otherwise.

In a 2016 study, for instance, researchers at the Montreal Neurological Institute found that two people from different cultures smelling the same thing can have remarkably different reactions, even when those cultures share the same language and many traditions.

In a partnership with researchers from the Lyon Neuroscience Research Centre in France, clinical neuropsychologist Jelena Djordjevic tested subjects in Quebec, Canada, for their subjective impressions of different scents, while their collaborators in France did the same with French subjects. This study used smells that are largely considered pleasant, or at least not overtly “unpleasant.” These were: anise, lavender, maple, wintergreen, rose, and strawberry.

Participants were asked to smell each scent first without knowing what it was then again after being told its name. They were then asked to rate the scent on pleasantness, intensity, familiarity, and edibility. The scientists also measured the subjects’ non-verbal reactions to each scent, including sniffing, activity of facial muscles, respiration, and heart rate.

They found significant differences between ratings of the same smells among the French and French-Canadian subjects. The French gave wintergreen much lower pleasantness ratings than French-Canadians. A press release explained that, in France, wintergreen is used more in medicinal products than in Canada, where it is found more in candy. The French were more familiar with the scent of lavender while Canadians were more familiar with maple and wintergreen. Anise was rated similarly in two cultures but was described more often as “licorice” in Quebec and as “anise” in France.

Telling the subjects what they were sniffing increased their familiarity, pleasantness, and edibility ratings, and cultural differences disappeared or decreased when the names were provided, including for non-verbal reactions.

The brief states  “This study reinforces the idea that our brain’s processing of odor is not simply its reaction to the chemical compounds that make up the scent. It is influenced both by our previous experience with the scent and our knowledge of what the scent is.”

The stink bomb experiment

Another experiment that lends credence to the “scent perception is tied to culture” argument  is Pamela Dalton’s quest to find the perfect stink bomb. Dalton, a cognitive psychologist at the Monell Chemical Senses Center, is known as the woman who created the world’s worst smell. In 1998, she was tasked with developing a stink bomb for the Department of Defense and her experiments found that people from different backgrounds and different parts of the world, who grew up smelling and eating different things, often completely disagreed about which smells were good or bad.

Eventually she did find a formula that was dubbed “Stench Soup,” but not without trial and error.

Do any smells evoke more healing and stress reducing effects in different areas of the world?

It will be interesting for the spa and wellness world when more people take up the task of conducting further research on cultural perceptions to pleasant smells and if any evoke more healing and stress reducing effects in different areas of the world.

Until then, don’t put any stinky feet aromatherapy treatments on your menus.

Spa Executive is published by Book4Time, the leader in guest management, revenue and mobile solutions for the most exclusive spas, hotels, and resorts around the globe. Learn more at book4time.com

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New research has found that aromatherapy, specifically the scent of rose, enhances learning during sleep, even outside of a laboratory setting. 

A new aromatherapy study has found that the scent of rose enhances learning during sleep. And it can be used in an everyday setting.

The study was conducted by researchers at the University of Freiburg – Medical Center, the Freiburg Institute for Frontier Areas of Psychology and Mental Health (IGPP) and the Faculty of Biology at the University of Freiburg.

Fragrances can be used in a “targeted way”

“We showed that the supportive effect of fragrances works very reliably in everyday life and can be used in a targeted way,” said study leader PD Dr. Jürgen Kornmeier, head of the Perception and Cognition Research Group at the Freiburg-based IGPP and scientist at the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at the University of Freiburg – Medical Center in Germany.

For the study, several experiments were conducted with 54 students from two 6th grade classes from a school in southern Germany. The students were given English vocabulary to learn and took an exam a week later. 

The children were split into four groups:

• Group 1, the control, was not exposed to any odor cues.
• Group 2 was told to put rose scented incense sticks on their desks while learning at home and during the vocabulary test.
• Group 3 was told to put rose scented incense sticks on their desks while learning at home and nearby during each night before the test but not during the test.
• Group 4 was exposed to the rose scented sticks while learning at home, every night before the test, and during the test.

Use during sleep is the critical factor

According to Medical News Today, Groups 3 and 4 performed significantly better on the test than Groups 1 and 2. Particularly interesting is that Group 2, which experienced the aroma during learning and testing, did not benefit, and that Group 4 did perform slightly better than Group 3, but the difference was not statistically significant. These findings suggest that exposure during sleep is the critical factor.

“The students showed a significant increase in learning success by about 30% if the incense sticks were used during both the learning and sleeping phases,” Franziska Neumann, first author of the study, said in a statement.

Another key finding is that the fragrance also works when it is present all night. Previous studies had suggested that in order to enhance sleep learning, the fragrance had to be only present during a particularly sensitive sleeping phase. And since an electroencephalogram (EEG) measuring brain activity is required to determine if and when a subject has achieved this phase, the findings weren’t suitable for everyday use. The new research suggests otherwise. 

“Our study shows that we can make learning during sleep easier,” said Kornmeier. The results suggest that this technique could be useful for people in real-life situations hoping to enhance sleep learning.

Rosemary also has been found to enhance learning

Previous research also found that the scent of rosemary may enhance learning as well. A study found that students working in a room with the aroma of rosemary essential oil achieved 5% to 7% better results in memory tests.

Findings like these can help people in the spa and wellness industry target retail sales. Products with scents of rose and rosemary, for example, can be packaged to appeal to guests who want to enhance learning and memory. 

The study was published in the Nature Group’s Open Access journal Scientific Reports on 27 January 2020.

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Spa Executive magazine is published by Book4Time, the world’s most innovative spa, salon, wellness, and activity management software. Learn more at Book4Time.com.

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Research and technology are creating Next Generation Aromatherapy and leading the way for scent to be taken seriously as medicine. 

Aromatherapy is hardly new. The practice of turning to scents and essential oils for their purported healing properties is probably thousands of years old, and though it’s often said that there is little solid scientific evidence for its efficacy, aromatherapy’s popularity continues to grow. 

As we mentioned in our recent trends report, the Global Wellness Institute recently named “Aromatherapy 2.0: Scent as Medicine” as a trend to watch, citing many examples of how aromatherapy is moving into a new era, thanks to technological advancement and neuroscience studies. Among the examples cited was Aeroscena, a company based in the Cleveland Clinic’s Innovations Lab that has created a line of plant-based aromatherapeutics formulated to specifically treat symptoms like pain, nausea, and anxiety, with the guidance of a medical advisory board. 

We wanted to further explore developments in aromatherapy, so we reached out Mark Kohoot, Aeroscena’s founder and CEO, to ask some questions about potential future research, applications, and developments.

Standardized and evidence based

Kohoot says next generation aromatherapy is rapidly moving toward a medical/clinical paradigm and an evidence-based practice. 

“This is why we differentiate what we do as ‘clinical aromatherapy,’” he says. “It is standardized, evidence-based, quality controlled and clinically validated.” The focus is on testing and outcomes, so Aeroscena has partnered with medical practitioners and facilities, like the Moffitt Cancer Center, Nebraska Children’s Hospital, and Virginia Commonwealth University, where clinical research can be performed by third parties without bias.  

The research landscape is changing dramatically

A lack of credible research is often cited as a concern when it comes to aromatherapy, but things are shifting. Kohoot points out that a quick search in PubMed now results in 1,401 studies that include the term “aromatherapy.”

“Historically,” he says, “aromatherapy has suffered from perception issues, and been lumped in with ‘alternative’ therapies, many of which are looked down upon by the medical community. Luckily, nurses — those on the front lines of patient care — have become amazing advocates and research partners.”

One research example he points to is Nebraska Children’s Hospital’s palliative care department: “The medical director, Dr. Meaghann Weaver, was interested in finding out how aromatherapy could help her patients, and liked that our inhalers provided a standardized form factor for use. She noted improvements across the board after adoption, and asked us to work with her on a pilot study by providing materials. The positive results of the study on pediatric pain, anxiety, and nausea were then published by Cambridge University last November in the journal Palliative and Supportive Care.”  

Aeroscena also participated in research with Moffitt Cancer Center to examine the effect of aromatherapy on nausea and anxiety in patients undergoing chemotherapy at their infusion centers. “The results were positive here as well,” said Kohoot, with a 50%-80% reduction in nausea and anxiety achieved across all three centers. The reduction of both symptoms was maintained over the five-month course of treatment for the majority of study participants.

“Acceptance of and demand for aromatherapy in clinical environments continues to grow at a remarkable pace.”

How can aromatherapy be used in a wellness setting, like a spa, to create different results and outcomes?

Kohoot uses the example of a larger, more complex spa setting with multiple environments.

To create a relaxing atmosphere, the reception area can be scented with a formula based on constituent ingredients that have demonstrated anti-anxiety effects in clinical studies, he says.

“Then, the spa client could go to more than one area from reception for any number of treatments. While many likely hope to relax, some may prefer to feel more energized or focused.” 

Aeroscena, he explains, creates formulas designed for these specific results using an efficacy-first model. “We first find the oils that have the best supporting scientific evidence for what we hope to achieve and then we take those oils to our master aromatherapist, who finds a combination and ratio of those oils also produces a pleasant scent.” 

He goes on to say, “Many large spas also have gyms, pools, hydrotherapy circuits, luxurious locker rooms, and dedicated rooms reserved for yoga and the like. Whether spas want to uplift, energize, or relax clients, there is an all-natural, truly healthy option available to do just that.” 

How aromatherapy is being used in hospitals and other healthcare settings 

There are many areas of healthcare where aromatherapy is appropriate, says Kohoot, who cites chemotherapy infusion centers, dialysis centers, postoperative recovery rooms, birthing centers, and palliative care, among the examples. 

“It’s also very useful in waiting rooms to decrease patient anxiety prior to treatment or consultation. This is especially true for dental offices, where malodors are common and patient dental anxiety is a real problem for practitioners, who then struggle with patient recall. A more pleasant, relaxing waiting room experience can create a positive feedback cycle that means less dental fear, and more returning patients who get the care they need.”

Developments involving aromatherapy and technologies, like AI and VR

Aeroscena is involved in some aspects of VR and AR, but “not what you’d think,” said Kohoot. They’re working with Johns Hopkins and Drexel University on the issue of nausea in children getting VR rehab. “The feeling of disembodiment that comes with floating in space often is accompanied by nausea and nobody likes cleaning that up.”

And, by now we’ve all read about the idea of enhancing movies and virtual worlds with scent. 

Kohoot said, “Our best guess is that the gaming industry will work to use the smell of tires/gas/oil for racing games or something like that. However scents are so complex, it is hard to have a set of a few chemicals that can be mixed, like a cmyk printer, to make most scents. And, really, that sort of thing is going to be synthetic fragrances, more than aromatherapy.” 

How aromatherapy will be used five or 10 years from now

“Aromatherapy has plenty of potential in terms of new applications and environments, especially when used in concert with technologies like AI and VR,” said Kohoot, “But one of the main changes we expect to see is the acceptance of aromatherapy as a drug, rather than an ‘alternative therapy.’” 

He envisions successful research leading to more interest in standardized solutions for aromatherapy as an over the counter, and even prescription, drug to treat specific medical conditions.

“We also expect to see more research into essential oils as antiviral and antibacterial agents.”

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