Brief Explanation

Givaudan is the world’s leading producer of fragrances. They wanted to leverage their expertise to make a meaningful difference to the lives of people in Singapore. Alzheimers caused by dementia affects 35.6 million people. It has an especially big impact in Singapore with its ageing population. Research has shown that our sense of smell has a visceral and evocative connection to memories so we decided to use Givaudan’s skill set to help evoke memories. We got Givaudan’s master perfumers to work together with a team of doctors and caregivers from Changi Hospital’s Community Psycho-geriatric Programme to create bespoke ‘Smell a Memory” kits. The kits are personalized and custom-created for individual patients based on each patient’s family history, ethnicity, age and personal stories. A pilot clinical trial was carried out from October 2013 to March 2014 to observe and establish proof of concept. 70% of patients showed a positive response. Therapists and caregivers found the kits innovative and helpful. The Smell a Memory kits proved to be an incredibly powerful tool, sparking memories and stimulating strong emotions. While regular aromas have been used to uplift moods, this is perhaps the first time complex scents have been created to evoke emotional memories. The kits sparked great interest in the medical community, with five leading hospitals from Singapore and dementia care centres from around the world sending enquiries. 40 million free media impressions were generated and Givaudan got press coverage worth US$300,000. The Institute for the Future in San Francisco showcased the kits at a health conference for pioneering treatments. The Singapore 4A's awarded the Grand Prix for Cause Branding to Givaudan for their "Smell a Memory" initiative at the Singapore Creative CSR Awards last night. A larger study is now planned so Givaudan can begin full production of this new therapy tool worldwide.