New Balance running towards a scented success

In Beijing New Balance started to project a total sensory experience with a retro ’50’s and ’60’s look and feel in its first Experience Store.

Sight is pleased with framed archival photographs, vintage New Balance advertisements and brand paraphernalia dating as far back as 1910. Furthermore a scent was designed to complement the overall design. The scent combines natural woody notes, with a touch of leather to be reminiscent of a shoe store’s scent from the mid-20th century.

Indeed research shows that the sense of smell is the only sense directly connected to the brain’ centre for memory and emotions. More than 80% of customer decisions are influenced by what we smell!

Scientific olfactory studies conducted in the United States found that training shoes which had been lightly scented with a barely-perceptible fragrance sold more pairs and for a higher premium than unscented trainers.