Wake up and print the roses

Petrichor is the name for the distinctive smell when summer rain falls on dry earth. There is no name, that I know of, for the equally distinctive aroma from freshly mown grass, nor for the smell when a new book is opened for the first time, a combination of ink, glue and perhaps other solvents and leading to the expression “he’s got his nose in a book”. In each case the evocative smell creates a powerful emotional response that in the age of digital everything where the dominant emotional response is either disappointment or anger, is sought after and valuable.

It has for a long time been a tool that has been available to printers, but requiring specialist applications and education for the end consumer, such as ‘rub this panel and hold your nose close to it and there might be an odour that smells faintly of what it is supposed to smell of’. Now if Heidelberg and partner Celessence are correct not only is the fragrance stronger, longer lasting and accurate, it is far easier to apply. It does not mean that it is cheap however, but application to a patch on a carton, or on a label does not require an overall coating.

At a time when four-colour printing is under price pressure on the one hand and print specifiers are looking for a point of difference to make their products standout, the additional dimension that fragrance delivers can be part of the printer’s tool box. It fits in the same space as foil enhancement, spot and raised varnish effects and reticulated varnishes. This is an additional dimension for print, directed at a sense that digital cannot touch, that does not require investment in additional machinery. It is not something to be applied every day. But for the right project at the right time, a dab of perfume can be extremely seductive.