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Aroma branding is a novel concept to hit the Gulf thanks to the pioneering efforts of Reza Hygiene, a leading hygiene provider in the healthcare and food industries in the Middle East.
The Saudi-based company has recently opened a branch in Bahrain on Budaiya Highway to meet the growing demands for its sweet-smelling products.
"Aroma branding is all about enhancing a particular product or company with a signature smell that can create a memorable link between it and its customers," says Keith Watson, division manager of Reza Hygiene.
Be it a spa or a car showroom, a hotel or a hospital, consultants at Reza Hygiene's aroma branding division are trained to recommend a particular fragrance for a business after looking at their requirements.
"We can even customise an aroma for a museum having a dinosaur exhibition which could smell of dinosaur dung or have a musty reptile stench or provide an aroma of the heady Oudh for an Arab wedding. The options are endless," Keith adds.
Reza Hygiene has partnered with the international fragrance provider Brandaroma that is in partnership with the global fragrance house Belmay Inc. to provide customised fragrances to its clients.
"Aroma branding has been around for a couple of years and has been a roaring success in Europe and the US. We have done 35 major installations in the last two months in Saudi Arabia and the response in Bahrain has been very positive," says Keith adding that they plan to launch their product in UAE, Qatar and Kuwait in the next couple of months.
Reza Hygiene imports its fragrances from France and the pure, natural essence of oils are mixed in Belmay laboratories to produce a distinctive aroma.
The fragrance dispensing unit is fitted in the air-conditioning system which dispenses the aroma with the flow of air.
The fitting and maintenance of the dispensing units are monitored by the technical team at Reza Hygiene who continuously update their database electronically.
The price of acquiring your own smell depends of the amount of space you want covered in the aroma.
According to Mr Watson the cost of the entire process is minimal but the benefits are manifold.
Apart from a pleasant aroma wafting in the air, smells are also known to relax, uplift moods and calm the senses, which is another aspect of aroma branding when it is employed particularly in high stress environments like hospitals and demanding work places.
It can also neutralise odours in the atmosphere and rid places like bars and clubs of smoke and foul smells.
As aroma branding expands as a new lifestyle and product-enhancing concept more people living in Bahrain will be able to surround themselves with an aroma that appeals to their sensory systems and imagine themselves in a scented garden ... while actually sitting in an office or the middle of a hot dry desert.
