Quick to: advice and product

Scented fitness, a real marketing workout

Just relax from all the hassle at work and do some sport. Fitness is for many people a great release. With scenting fitness you reinforce these positive emotions and work away the negative ones. The connection between smells and emotions is very strong in the brain. This influences whether people find it a positive experience and whether they come back. In this article, we explore why exercising is such a great pleasure, yet people are so hard to motivate. In addition, we will discuss what scenting adds to your gym.

 

Scents in our brains, what’s different?

There are probably not many people who are as aware all day of what they smell as of what they see. Yet smells have an even greater impact on how we feel than what we see and hear. This has to do with how our brains work. Our sense of smell is the first sense that has evolved. Therefore, the part of the brain that processes smells is located deep in the brain. Close to the part that regulates emotions. Smell perception has an enormous influence on how we feel, even in the gym, without us being aware of it. This applies to positive and negative emotions. So, if you want to give people a good experience, scenting your gym is essential. If something does not evoke emotions, we remember it much less. So there is a strong triangular relationship between smells, emotions and memories.

 

Scenting in fitness, what is there to gain?

Scents are strongly linked to emotions and memories. Scenting in fitness is a deliberate way of binding people to your gym and keeping them coming back. Exercise releases various endocannabinoids into the brain. These are substances that make us feel happy and content. However, many people do not feel like exercising beforehand. We’d rather sit on the couch with a bag of chips watching Netflix. This has to do with our evolution. We have evolved to be economical with our energy and not to exercise for pleasure. As hunter-gatherers, we got enough exercise anyway! This is why our bodies encourage us to be lazy when we don’t have to.

 

Do scents help with motivation?

Nowadays people move a lot less. So people have to motivate themselves against their instincts to go to the gym. Many people do this by thinking about how good they feel after exercising. By using scent in your gym, you make this memory much stronger. Memories linked to a specific scent are up to 6,5 times stronger than otherwise! By adding a specific scent people remember the positive feelings of exercising much stronger and people stop less often. Perhaps more importantly, people also come back to your gym. Research has shown many times that branding is a lot more effective when scents are involved. Thanks to scenting, people remember the good feeling of working out much stronger and associate it with your gym. They are more satisfied and come back more often. Scent marketing in fitness works!

 

What does scenting do against bad smells in my gym?

Scent marketing in a gym sounds nice, but sometimes you have other priorities. First of all we have to get rid of bad smells. In gyms, it sometimes smells really bad. Sweat and other body odours are often very present. Nobody likes this. It also creates the illusion of poor hygiene. The way it smells determines for the most part our perception of a space. This has to do with the strong connection between emotion and smell. Even if you keep your fitness centre clean, if it smells bad people will think it is a dirty place. By using scenting in the fitness area you are eliminating bad smells and improving people’s memories.

 

 

Which scents should I have?

There is no one scent that is best in all situations. To create a hygienic environment, fruity, fresh scents are best. So a lime scent in a dressing room is a good choice. In the main auditorium, you would rather have a more activating scent. For example, a study has shown that the smell of peppermint helps with sports. The smell of peppermint does not magically make people stronger, but they do feel that the exercises are easier. They also feel that exercising takes less time and they are less frustrated when something doesn’t work out. By using scent diffusion in your fitness area you determine how it smells per room.

 

How do I use scenting in the gym?

There are many ways to use scenting in your gym. A scented candle or a stick are already methods to make it smell better. However, for a professional environment this is not enough. Then a good scenting machine is needed. These are devices that work with ethereal scent oils. A scenting machine puts these oils into the air in a cold mist. As a result, they spread very evenly across the room. This way you benefit from the scent experience in your fitness facility everywhere. This also prevents you from having to use more oil to reach the other side of the room. This way your oil lasts longer.

All advantages in a row:

• Break down bad smells
• Add a fresh scent, so you come across as more hygienic
• Make people exercise harder
• People find exercising more fun
• Reinforce the brand of your fitness, people come back more often

 

What equipment do I need?

Not every scenting device is suitable for every gym. For the larger spaces within a gym the Scent Experience is the standard for good scenting. It has a range of 100 to 800 square metres. Nor can it be limited to just one scent. With its options for extensive scent planning, you set exactly when, and how strong, you want which scent. To get rid of bad smells in changing rooms or other small spaces, the Superscent is very suitable. This device breaks down odours at a molecular level. This makes it smell fresh and fruity again. Diffusion of odours in fitness has many options!

 

Do you need advice or more information?

Do you have questions about scent marketing? Or are you convinced and would you like some free advice on what scent marketing can do for your shop? Discover the possibilities on our product page or call us on +31 20 646 4028.