SINGAPORE – March 14, 2014 – The Singapore 4A’s awarded a Grand Prix for Cause Branding to JWT Singapore and Givaudan for their “Smell a Memory” initiative at the Singapore Creative CSR Awards last night.
“It always feels great to win but to win in this category is somehow especially more meaningful and rewarding. We strongly believe that creativity can do good. We’ve been lucky to have a client that genuinely want to invest in giving back,” Juhi Kalia, JWT Singapore ECD, said in a press release.
As part of the “Smell a Memory” CSR initiative for Givaudan, the fragrance industry leader and partner to prestige, personal & home care brands worldwide, JWT Singapore helped created bespoke ‘Smell a Memory” kits that harness the power of scent to evoke emotional memories among Alzheimer’s and dementia patients.
The kits are personalized and custom-created for individual patients based on each patient’s family history, ethnicity, age and personal stories. Givaudan’s perfumers, in consultation with therapists and rehabilitation experts, tailor-made and bottled unique smells such as “Bedtime Stories”, “Mom’s Cooking”, “Prayer”, “School Days” and more to provoke engagement through experiential smells. The scents used ingredients relevant to Singapore, including herbs and spices from everyday Singaporean dishes, Hainanese coffee, incense used in local temples and other scents that reminded people of school, holidays and work life.JWT and Givaudan first worked with medical experts at two care facilities in Singapore to test the kits. Those trials confirmed that the Smell a Memory kits are an incredibly powerful tool, sparking memories in some patients, and stimulating strong emotions in others. The Smell a Memory kits are now undergoing larger trails at a major hospital.
“I feel overwhelmed. It’s been an outstanding partnership. To give something back to the Singapore community in a small way that hopefully will help people is a fantastic thing to do,” said David Boyd, Global Fragrance Director, Givaudan.
