Next time you're traveling through Istanbul's airport, be sure to stop by the duty-free shop and look for the Scent of Departure. The Scent of Departure is a new perfume designed specifically for duty-free shops to capture the essence of a city's scent.
What sets the Scent of Departure apart from other city-specific perfumes is that each bottle is labeled with the airport's three-letter code. Currently the Scent of Departure is only available to travelers passing through Munich, Vienna, Budapest and Frankfurt, but the Scent of Departure is planning to go global sometime in late 2011. These perfumes seem like a great alternative to the typical airport gift shop fare -- not that I dislike stuffed bears and shot glasses. I'm excited to see what the different scents of the U.S. smell like. Hopefully the San Diego scent isn't a mixture of seawater and tacos.
Why This Trend Is Growing
- Airport-specific Scents
- Creating city-specific scents for airports creates opportunities for unique retail experiences for travelers.
- Travel Retail
- The demand for travel retail products creates opportunities to design unique products and partnerships.
- Brand Localization
- Localizing products for different markets and locations can be a successful branding strategy in retail.
Industries Being Reshaped
- Retail
- Airport-specific scents can be a new product category for retailers, especially those in travel retail.
- Fragrance
- Creating city-specific scents can be a potential disruptive innovation in the fragrance industry.
- Travel and Tourism
- Airports can leverage the unique scents to promote local tourism and increase traveler engagement.
