Smell is a powerful sense. It can evoke so many emotions and memories, which is why people react to a scent. Yet it is difficult to integrate in packaging; how does one print scents?

Actually, Scentisphere solved the challenge of combining scent and packaging. In 2002, Jim Berard, CEO of Scentisphere, came across a company in Europe that was able to microencapsulate fragrance oils turning the oils into a very fine powder. Berard saw the potential, and quickly got to work.

“Some of their existing customers in Europe had figured out how to mix the fragrance powder into litho overprint varnish, enabling them to print scent as a fifth color,” Berard recalled. “Having extensive experience in fragrance marketing, we saw the potential of this scent varnish technology as a very economical method for consumer-packaged goods and similar type companies to integrate the scent of their products into their print advertisements and packaging.”

The challenge was to integrate the powder into varnish, and Scentisphere quickly came up with the solution.

“It was up to us to figure out the process of mixing the powder into the overprint varnish, so we ended up forming a partnership with Bob Bernstein, who had extensive printing experience,” Berard noted. “Between us, we had to 1) figure out the scent varnish technology, 2) test the technology on press until it became foolproof for any printer to apply, and 3) educate the market (e.g.. CPG brands, agencies, magazine printers and publishers, etc. about this new technology, which we ended up calling Rub’nSmell®.”
Within two years, Scentisphere had a big opportunity with Yankee Candle, and it passed with flying colors. Today, Yankee Candle remains one of Scentisphere’s best customers.

“In 2004, we had our big breakthrough opportunity,” Berard said. “We were able to run a test with Yankee Candle applying Pumpkin Spice fragrance in half of a catalog campaign, while the other half of the catalogs in the campaign were unscented. The results were that the catalogs with the Rub’n Smell varnish generated 11% more sales then the unscented catalogs. Not 11% increase in Pumpkin Spice, but across the entire catalog. What this proved to Yankee Candle, and what has become the reason for our success, is that when consumers became engaged in rubbing and smelling, they became much more receptive to making a purchase.

“We have developed the most extensive range of scented inks and coatings for virtually all types of print technologies,” Berard added. “Our customers include almost every major CPG company, and we are the go-to source for scented inks and coatings of all commercial printers, large and small, litho, flexo, gravure, etc.”

Berard said that the primary method of adding fragrance to inks and coatings is through a process called microencapsulation.

“Essentially it is a process of reducing fragrance oil down to microscopic particle size in water using high speed mixing and other processes,” he noted. “Once the particles are at the correct size, they are coated with a proprietary polymer material, forming hard shells around the oil particles. This water-based slurry is then spray dried leaving a fine powder made of microscopic encapsulated fragrance capsules.

“This powder can then be mixed into a wide range of printable coatings,” Berard added. “The extremely small capsule size, coupled with the strong polymer coating, enable the fragrance particles to withstand the rigors of almost all of the most aggressive printing processes without breaking, such as heatset litho, enclosed doctor blade flexo, gravure, UV, etc.”

Berard noted that once the encapsulation is applied to a printed surface, it remains dormant until it is gently rubbed, at which point the capsules are sheared and the fragrance oil is released.

“We have samples that are many years old (including the original Yankee Candle catalog from 2004) that still smell great,” he said. “In terms of how the Rub’nSmell coatings are applied on press, it is pretty much applied no different than a fifth color. The only major criterion is that it is the last color or coating applied.”


Key Markets

Today, Scentisphere has a very strong presence in the consumer package goods market.

“We are fully integrated in servicing this market at all levels,” said Mark Bernstein, who is Scentisphere’s president and Berard’s business partner. “For example, we are probably the largest producer of Scratch’nSniff® labels that are applied to aircare, homecare and similar type products. We also work with CPGs’ promotional and advertising agencies to help integrate scent into all facets of their advertising and promotions, including e-com shipments, online grocery store pickup, and free-standing inserts.

“A major new focus in the CPG market is the application of scent directly on to packaging. Our range of scent coatings enable printers to simply apply the scent as a fifth color printing – thus avoiding an extra step,” he added. “We also are a major supplier of natural gas scent coatings, enabling utilities to educate their customers to be able to identify the smell of natural gas and propane.”
Bernstein noted that another exciting new growth market is direct mail.

“Major direct mail advertisers are realizing significant increases in response and redemption when scent is added to mailers,” he pointed out. “Interestingly this doesn’t just focus on marketers of scented products but includes marketers of financial products, travel, hotel, retail, auto and spa and fitness.

“In addition to the benefits of increased response, adding scent to a direct mailer can actually reduce the cost of postage 4% if the mailer conforms to the requirements of the USPS Tactile, Sensory, & Interactive Mail Piece Engagement promotion. This more often than not is a greater savings than the cost of adding scent to the mailer."

One opportunity that Bernstein cited is scent marketing, which he defined as the use of a strategically developed fragrance dispersed at customer touchpoints.

“The right fragrance will communicate a clear, likable brand identity,” he noted. “Scent marketing is proven to increase sales and brand loyalty by creating unique customer experiences. To date, scent marketing has primarily been employed through the use of HVAC systems in retailers, hotels, spas, airport lounges, etc.

“However, our printable scent coatings enable branded scents to be integrated into a vast array of additional consumer touch points, such as scented gift cards, hotel keycard holders, business cards, instruction manuals, direct mail, print advertisements and brochures, and so on enabling the branded scent identity to be reinforced at many levels, not just HVAC systems.”

Berard reported that according to a major study within the print industry, “scented inks” was by far the highest value-added enhancement based in a survey of print buyers and brand owners in the USA and Canada.

“Aside from creating a unique point of difference, by adding a well-designed scent to these types of printed products, the perceived value to the consumers tends to increase well beyond the cost of adding the scent itself. A good analogy to this is scented candles, in that an unscented candle has a very low perceived value and is sold at very low prices, while scented candles have a very high perceived value and therefore sell at a much higher price. The same correlation holds true for printed paper products.”

“Because of this, we are seeing very promising growth in adding scent to common paper products such as wrapping and tissue paper, sticky notes, greeting cards, arts and crafts products (e.g.. scented paper, coloring books, etc.), printed toys such as jigsaw puzzles, and so on,” he noted.

Recent Advances in Ink

It’s not surprising that Scentisphere puts a lot of emphasis on innovation. In terms of innovation, Scentisphere has developed many patents and proprietary technologies, and continues to push the limits on developing innovative scent delivery products and printable coatings.

“What differentiates us from our major competitors is that we are not printers,” Berard said. “This enables us to better integrate into our customers’ existing supply chain.

“Therefore, customer and technical service are critical for our business model to work,” he added. “This is because to enable any printer to apply our scented coatings, we need to educate and provide exemplary support to ensure every job goes well. So, on most first run print projects we will have someone from our team on press to help educate and support the print team. And we do this at no cost to the printer or the customer. In addition, our project managers are mostly recruited from the print industry or have print production experience.”

Scentisphere has not rested on its successes, and has been actively launching successful new products, including UV varnishes and coatings.

“There have actually been a number of recent innovations and advances,” Berard said. “A notable advancement is with our UV coatings.

“Historically UV varnishes and coatings were a challenge for a couple of reasons,” he added. “One is that when UV coating crosslinks during the curing process, a vast majority of fragrance encapsulation was essentially trapped within the coating, yielding a weaker scent experience. Another challenge is that UV varnishes and coatings tend to have a chemical off odor, which can compete with and overwhelm the scent experience. But we have recently developed new UV systems for offset and flexo that rival, and in many cases, surpass the results of our non-UV coatings. This innovation has had a huge impact our efforts to scent packaging, especially flexible packaging and shrink sleeves.

“Another innovation is a scent coating we developed that gives off scent for extended periods of time without having to be rubbed or activated,” Berard continued. “This coating, which we call Scent-A-Coat®, is becoming a strong growth product in the direct mail category, where direct mailers when opened release scent automatically.”

Berard sees plenty of opportunities for Scentisphere in the future.

“For all intents and purposes, our products are specialty, value added printable coatings and varnishes,” he noted. “But the unique salient feature of our products is the emotional connection that scent has with consumers. Of all the senses we have, scent is the one that is most connected to emotion. With this understanding, the future outlook is very exciting for our company. There are so many markets and industries that are just starting to employ the emotional power of scent into their branding, promotions and products.

“With as much as 75% of purchasing decisions being made at point-of-sale, it is the mission of every brand manager to do whatever can be done to make their product stand apart and above the competition, said Berard. “With our extensive range of scent coatings, and our ability to integrate into our customers’ existing supply chain, adding scent to a package is easier and more economical than ever. Surveys and in-store research have proven the effectiveness of engaging consumers with the emotional power of scent at point-of-sale using scent.”