MAKING SCENTS
Air Fresheners Help Ease American’s IN-CAR-ceration


HOUSTON, TX, August 4, 2004 - The average person spends more than 32 full days every year locked inside the confines of their car’s interior. And, with 39% of people fearing they may have to spend even more time inside their cars next year, auto manufacturers and those in the auto accessory industry are constantly developing products to help ease our month-long inCARceration. With smell playing such an important role in our sensory perception, it’s no wonder there are more than 46 million vehicles on the road with an air freshener.

What started 50 years ago by simply hanging thick paper that had been doused with cologne inside vehicles, has evolved into a $228 million industry. Today, air fresheners are as high-tech as many electronic devices and come in an endless array of scents, designs, materials, and state-of-the-art delivery systems.

“The innovations that have taken place in our industry are dramatic and dynamic,” said Stuart Walman, Business Development Manager for Auto Expressions™. With more than 20 years in the industry Walman has seen, “A tireless effort to bring new developments—both new aromas and new ways in which those scents can be delivered throughout the vehicle.”

This has brands like Auto Expressions™, from the leading manufacturer of car accessories, enjoying the sweet smell of success. Auto Expressions™ was recently known as MEDO® which stood for Marc, Eric and David Owens – three brothers who capitalized on their business scents to create an odiferous empire. With nose to the grindstone, the three spent nearly thirty years capturing the market on auto air fresheners. Today, Auto Expressions™ represents a full line of more than 400 air freshener items and an intoxicating assortment of more than 40 inspiring scents.

Beginning with just three fruit scents in the early 70’s, Auto Expressions™ now offers scents which range from the traditional vanilla, cherry and strawberry to the more exotic Polynesian Passion, Outdoor Breeze, and Sun-kissed Plumeria.

Just as a symphony is created by a careful combination of individual musical notes, unique aromas are created using a combination of olfactory “notes”. Want to hold onto that New Car scent? It’s simply a specially formulated combination of plastic and leather notes. An Ocean Breeze is nothing more than marine and salt notes with a touch of wood characteristics. Almost an endless variety of scents can be reproduced in an air freshener.

“We continue to create scents that appeal to a wide variety of consumers,” says Walman. “As we advance our technology, we are always looking at ways to incorporate newly developed scents and already existing scents into our product line.”

While a satisfactory olfactory experience is a matter of personal preference, a recent industry report by Mintel revealed some striking demographic and geographic “coincidences”:

     • Overall favorite scent: vanilla
     • Among younger adults: citrus and fruit scents
     • Over 65: floral aromas
     • Least favorite scent among men: powder
     • Southerners’ favorites: magnolia and other floral scents
     • West and North Central U.S. favorites: food scents such as vanilla and cinnamon
     • Less favored by Northeasterners: citrus and fruit scents.

When viewed in its historical context, air fresheners have been a societal barometer showing the “sign of the times” for more than five decades. When Mr. T and the California Raisins® were popular, MEDO® air fresheners licensed those looks and applied then-popular aromas to them. During the 1970’s, many drivers hung peace signs from their rear view mirrors. In the last ten years, other licenses have taken off: Looney Tunes® characters such as Taz and Tweety Bird, and more recently SpongeBob® SquarePants.

“Even the delivery system of how the scent travels through the car has changed,” noted Walman. “Today, they may look more like instruments from the space shuttle in response to consumer’s desire for a greater emphasis on high-tech gadgetry.”

Air fresheners can come in literally any design and consist of two critical elements: the aroma and the material used to deliver the scent, be it plastic, paper, liquid spray, gel or metal. Today, for example, Auto Expressions™ offers “Swirling Scents®,” and “Vent" air fresheners which snap onto the car’s heating/cooling system—the faster the air blows through the vent, the stronger the scent. Ultra Gel™ is a full line of time released solid gel products. There are also pump sprays, under the seat air fresheners, super concentrated liquids, sachets in colorful fabric designs and even the Super Stone® -- a long lasting concentrated air freshener made into a solid ceramic stone. The latest technology is an adjustable vent air freshener, which lets air conditioning blow through a semi-permeable membrane holding liquid fragrance, to freshen a car continually.

Whether you want your car to smell like magnolias, strawberries, a piney forest or a beachfront vacation home…..whether you want that scent-source to lie unseen beneath your seat, or to hang proudly as a plastic dolphin, surfboard, or your favorite television character, the ever changing world of auto air fresheners has become just one more way to customize the confines of a car’s interior.

Auto ExpressionsTM products are produced and marketed by SOPUS Products, a subsidiary of Shell Oil Company. SOPUS Products is a leader in the lubricants industry, which includes fast lubes, automotive/consumer products, transport and industrial offerings to consumer and business customers. SOPUS Products markets Formula Shell“, Pennzoil“ and Quaker State“ motor oils, a portfolio of car care products and Jiffy Lube“ services. Shell Oil Company is an affiliate of the Royal Dutch/Shell Group of Companies (NYSE: RD/SC). For more information, please visit www.shell.com.