Lori Vergin’s tale of the telco that used popcorn in their showroom to help drive sales for its video service, reminded me of the old real estate trick of having the aroma of freshly baked cookies at an open house. The cookies are supposed to make prospective buyers feel at home and provide some sort of emotional connection with the house (and open up their checkbooks).

I lived this aroma theory at the MTA show last March in Minneapolis, as my normally insensitive proboscis detected the sweet smell of freshly baked cookies. In this reenactment, you can see how I was pleasantly surprised to find delectable disks of cookie joy on the tradeshow floor. Bauman and Associates, a CPA firm, was the brains behind this clever promotion.

This promotion worked, as seeing Bauman and Associates with their cookie oven at last week’s WSTA, reminded me of our video and how this simple promotion provided a lasting impression.