The Skims logo appears on top of diner pancakes, Rhode Beauty’s lip balm doubles as an ice cream topping, and Seattle's Museum of Pop Culture is using AI to create a signature scent.
Whether brands are aligning their product with comfort food, launching fragrances, or prioritizing scent in their retail spaces, marketers are embracing multisensory experiences as another way to stand out in the digital noise.
Consumers are 100 times more likely to remember what they smell versus what they see, hear, or touch, according to Mood Media, and 72% of consumers think very few brands stand out as different, according to VML’s 2025 Future 100 report.
“The idea of scent branding comes as a response to people wanting to be connected to the world around them more,” said Kaitlyn Barclay, CEO and co-founder of agency Scout Lab. “There’s this counterculture of people wanting to be more in-person, and that begs the question of how brands will evolve their identity.”
Barclay’s agency worked with Osmo, an AI-driven olfactory brand, to create a signature scent for the Museum of Pop Culture, which will launch in June. While tying scent to experiences is already commonplace in industries like hospitality, other categories would benefit from this approach, said Barlcay.
“Museums really focus on the visual perspective to show and represent art, but they haven’t really integrated scent,” said Barclay. “It feels like white space for people to experiment there.”
As more brands are leaning into scent to differentiate, consumers have not slowed down their fragrance spend. Despite rising costs, high-quality perfume is not something consumers are willing to sacrifice.
Brands have taken note of this—-Neiman Marcus just launched a fragrance subscription partnership, Claire’s has leaned into perfume to chase Gen Alpha’s approval, and fragrance is Amazon’s fastest-growing beauty category in the US, EMARKETER forecasts.
73% of global consumers agree that brands should aim to engage all their senses, according to VML’s Future 100 report. 70% of Gen Z believe that the scent they use reflects their identity, and 60% say they are willing to spend a lot of money on it.
As brands roll out digital messaging, they shouldn’t lose sight of the consumer need for connectivity, and the more memorable experiences that can happen offline, said Barclay.
“Savvy brand experts are picking up that brand awareness through in-person cues are more important than ever,” said Barclay, who spoke to the rise of scented Out-Of-Home (OOH) placements. “It’s not enough to just serve them a targeted Meta ad. “Capture them when they’re walking down the street and not expecting it.”
Hailey Bieber’s beauty brand Rhode has placed its viral lip balm atop frozen yogurt, a spicy Margarita, and buttered toast. This is part of a larger trend of brands advertising themselves on or as part of food, hoping that the imagery makes them more memorable to consumers.
“Some people don’t like the concept of having shoes on the plate that you eat from,” said Sachin Jha, founder of Ocean Labs. “When you look too deep into it, you sort of can go ‘yuck.’”
While other generations were more product-driven, Gen Z is primarily “about the vibe”—which is what brands look to perfect with this type of imagery, he said.
Campaigns that tap into multiple senses can be both more engaging and memorable, something that is particularly important for younger generations, said Jha.
“The most unique type of marketing is what you see when you’re appealing to Gen Z,” he said. “Their attention span is so deep into hell and to grab their attention, everybody is just trying to do something new.”
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