BrandScent: Crafting an Olfactory Identity and a Lifestyle Venture

Name: BrandScent: Crafting an Olfactory Identity and a Lifestyle Venture (English version)
SKU: W46151

Meena Chavan

Product #:W46151

Supplier:Ivey

Discipline:Entrepreneurship, International Business

Setting:Australia, Australia, 2023

Details:Case (PDF) • 7 pages • 2025-10-22

Subjects:

Branding Internationalization

Geography:

Australia Australia and Oceania

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$10.54

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In October 2023, BrandScent, a start-up based in Melbourne, Australia, was poised at a critical decision point. The company specialized in scent marketing — designing custom fragrances for client brands to enhance customer experience. The venture was founded by two former medical professionals who had pivoted to entrepreneurship out of a passion for fragrance and a desire for a more flexible lifestyle. By creating signature scents for hotels, retailers, and other businesses, BrandScent had successfully built a niche in experiential marketing while maintaining its founders' personal values. Now, new opportunities were on the horizon, including the potential for international expansion. The founders had to decide if it was riskier to expand or to stay small. If they were to expand, they had to choose strategically where and how to do so. These crucial decisions would shape the future of both BrandScent the founders' lifestyle.

Learning Objectives

After working through the case and assignment questions, students will be able to do the following:

Understand the concept of lifestyle entrepreneurship and evaluate the trade-offs between growth ambitions and personal or lifestyle goals in a new venture. Recognize how entrepreneurs may define success in non-financial terms and the implications this has for strategic decisions (such as scaling up or not).
Understand the trade-offs faced by founders when choosing between running a lifestyle business and pursuing international expansion. Analyze how entrepreneurs balance personal and lifestyle goals with strategic growth ambitions in international markets.
Evaluate how engaging multiple senses (especially smell) differentiates brands, drawing on experiential marketing theory.
Assess how small ventures can approach internationalization, including choice of markets, entry modes, and partnerships while managing risks and preserving their values.
Analyze how experiential marketing and sensory branding contribute to brand differentiation and customer experience. The case illustrates theories of experiential marketing, allowing students to see how engaging customers’ senses (especially smell) can create memorable brand impressions and competitive advantage.
Apply strategic analysis tools (such as SWOT) in an entrepreneurial context to assess a venture’s internal capabilities and external environment, and use those insights to inform strategic recommendations.
Evaluate expansion strategies for a small business, including international market entry modes and partnerships. Recommend whether BrandScent should expand, and if so, propose how to do it (which markets to target first and what entry mode to use) while addressing potential risks. Formulate an internationalization strategy that leverages the firm’s strengths and mitigates its limitations.