It’s time to revisit some old technology. I am sure everyone remembers reading about the asinine ideas brought around by the first generation of marketing, very gimmicky and very out there. A technology (if you want to call it that) that has been of interest as of late is Smell-O-Vision, the new incarnation of course.

“One of the more curious fad gimmicks of the period was Smell-O-Vision, a process initiated in 1960 by Mike Todd, Jr., son of the famed showman. Mike Todd, Sr. had entertained the world with his massive production of AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS (1956), but sadly, perished in a plane crash in 1958. Todd, Jr. invested his inheritance in the development of Smell-O-Vision, a process in which evocative smells were pumped to the cinema audience through pipes leading to individual seats in the auditorium. Bottles of scent were held on a rotating drum and the process was triggered by a signal on the film itself. Only one film, SCENT OF A MYSTERY, was made in Smell-O-Vision and was far from a milestone in movie history. Mike Todd, Jr. lost his entire investment and left the film business. As an added audience incentive, Eddie Fisher, best friend of Mike Todd, Sr. and, at the time, the husband of Todd’s widow, Elizabeth Taylor, sang the memorable theme song from SCENT OF A MYSTERY. Filmmaker, John Waters, paid homage to Smell-O-Vision with his 1980 film, POLYESTER. Waters created the process of Odorama and, rather than pumping in scents, used individual audience “Scratch and Sniff” cards.”

Ideas like this are often what revolutionize an industry, sadly and ironically this one was not marketed correctly. Which brings us to present day; companies such as Mars, Pepsi and certain dog food manufacturers have been using the newly coined “scent technology” to attract peoples to their supermarket displays. Mars has used the aroma of their M&M’s around the checkout display, Pepsi has inserted cherry vanilla inserts into magazines and dog food manufacturers have put dog food scented stickers in the dog food aisle and out front of pet stores to attract the dogs so their owners would take them in to the store.

“Our olfactory sense is the most primal of all the senses and is extremely powerful, much more invasive than reading or hearing something,” said Jack Sullivan, senior VP and out-of-home media director for Starcom. “Why it’s not used more often is beyond me.” But he did offer some reasons: There’s always the possibility that an olfactory campaign might offend, and “huge concern over people with allergies.”

This has not stopped marketers like Carmine Santandrea, who is the CEO of Multisensory Communications. He is putting special scent delivery systems on the floor displays of the electronics department (specifically televisions) of stores like Kroger and Wal-Mart.

What marketers have learned from the past is that not only do you need to come up with the idea, you need to market a marketing idea (profound, right?). Not only do you need to find a product that will benefit from the technology, things like bread and jam are probably not going to grow much in sales as they have plateaued, you must make sure it is a product where the aroma is pivotal to the positioning of the product itself.

I for one think that this is a very interesting idea to revisit. Marketing has become very sophisticated and mature since its early days and marketers seem ready to take on more intricate and advanced forms of advertising. Perhaps Smell-O-Vision was ahead of its time, perhaps it will never work. One thing is for sure though, some people are enamored with it and want to see it succeed. Imagine when Smell-O-Vision starts getting served through your television or computer. It could really enhance not only your viewing experience but also the overall experience. I for one think I would be more likely to buy something if I could experience it with just more than one sense. For example, imagine watching a political ad, when the candidates opponent is shown they could spray the scent of feces into the room (I know this is an extreme example) and since memory is tied so closely with scent you might not vote for that person on Election Day. I am sure Smell-O-Vision will have many interesting applications. In the mean time you can read more about it Here.

Here is a fun example of how some companies have used “scent technology” to relate smells to memory. Play-Doh.

And finally, this is not related to this article but it was way too cool to pass up. Remember how Tom Cruise was using computers in Minority Report? Check This Out:

It’s that time of year again. The holiday season. Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc… are all coming in the next two months and that means one thing. These two months are when more than half of all yearly retail shopping occurs. More than that, this is the time of year when some extremely hot new gadgets and gizmos are released to the ravenous masses. If you know what is going to be hot, then you can make out like a bandit, so I’m going to give you a few ideas on what is going to be smoking hot and what is not.

Playstation 3 – This month the Playstation 3 launches and it’s going to be big. The Playstation and Playstation 2 each sold over 100 million units and billions of games, so the Playstation 3 is sure to sell a lot. However, due to the Blu-ray drive in the PS3, Sony is having production problems and is only going to have maybe 1 million consoles available in the U.S. this holiday season. Last year with the Xbox 360 launch there were only 1.5 million consoles available and this caused a huge shortage. The Playstation 3 shortage is going to be much worse and so getting a console is going to be nearly impossible. Of course, the upside is that if you can get a PS3 on launch, they will sell on eBay for more than $2,000, so this could turn into a great opportunity to sell or promote the PS3 this year. Verdict – Hot

Nintendo Wii – The Nintendo Wii is the dark horse in the next generation console war. It’s cheaper, less technically capable, and it looks to deliver more fun to the masses. The buzz on the Wii is huge and unlike the PS3, the supply will be excellent. Nintendo is planning on shipping 4 million worldwide, so the United States should get 2+ million of those. At $250 with a game included, this is a no brainer gift for anybody who loves games. The Wii won’t sell for a ton on eBay, but the Wii still boasts a lot of opportunity for the clever marketer. Verdict – Hot

Microsoft Zune – Zune is a potential iPod killer, well maybe, eventually, someday, perhaps, maybe not. The Zune is Microsoft’s first real attempt in taking on the iPod head to head and I think it will do fairly well. The problem with the Zune is that it is going against six generations worth of innovation in the iPod. For a first attempt, the Zune sounds like it is a solid music and video player, but this holiday season is not going to be that big for the Zune. Verdict – Not so Hot

Apple iPod – It’s the old standby and you can’t really go wrong with the iPod. It plays videos, music, and television shows better and easier than any other music device. Now with the new shuffle and nano models, it a sure fire winner. It might not be as big as it was last year, but it’s still going to do well this year. Verdict – Hot

Tickle Me Elmo TMX – Whenever my parents tell me something is hot, then I know it’s got to be something big. In the case of the TMX Elmo, they told me about this before I had heard much about it elsewhere. It’s selling like crazy on eBay and is going to be very big this year. Enough Said. Verdict – Hot

LCD HDTV – This is more of a general product, but it’s going to be hot finally this year. LCD HDTV’s are finally getting cheap enough for people to buy them. 32″ LCD’s will be had for under $500 on black Friday and that will drive a lot of HDTV adoption in the next few months. There are a lot of other angles that can be taken to tap into the HDTV phenemenon such as high-def movies, video games, cables, etc.. Verdict – Hot

HD-DVD and Blu-Ray DVD – This year both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray DVD launched and nobody really cared. While many are touting these as the future, the uptake is extremely slow. While the PS3 is going to have Blu-ray built in, every High-Def disc player is $500 at the cheapest, so this year is not going to be the year for either format. In a few years they might be hott, but this year both formats are cold as ice. Verdict – Ice Cold

So there you go, those are just a few of the really hot or really cold trends for this holiday season. To my fellow online marketers, go forth and market to the masses. If you play your cards right it will be a merry Christmas indeed.

Marcus – aka, Mediadonis / Pepperjam Germany poses with a team of professional German models in promotion of Pepperjam’s placement on the Inc. 500 list of America’s fastest growing companies.

CLICK HERE for larger version of this pic.

Isn’t it great to be one of America’s Fastest Growing Companies?

Roxy, a 1 1/2 yr. old (60 lb.) English Bulldog is the Pepperjam Team Mascot – she is the most socialized bulldog in the world having grown up in the Pepperjam office since she was just a baby (probably about 20 pounds or so / 5-months old). Roxy comes into work with us everyday and the staff absolutely loves to play with here (if you’ve been on a call with us and heard a dog bark in the background…yeah, that was Roxy!)

Here is Roxy’s first YouTube video – We discovered that she has this incredible talent where she “turns into” a seal when we toss her a ball. Thanks to Shoemoney and Dillsmack since when they were in town they helped discover her God given talent!