Our senses are important to how we interact with the world, and smell is a particularly underrated one. When you take a moment to sniff something that reminds you of happy times, it can immediately bring you back there. In much the same way, an unpleasant smell can put you in a bad mood. Moodo, a new customizable scent mixing system designed to make your smart home smell as nice as it looks by giving you control over the kinds of things you smell at home.
Working like a coffee machine, Moodo uses a series of smell capsules so you can easily switch things around. Via your smartphone, you adjust the dials to control the intensity, ensuring the scents match your moods or needs perfectly. Long day at work? Adjust the scent to something soothing and relaxing. You can save custom scents for certain times, too. Yoav Avidor, CEO of Agan Aroma, explained how the product came about.
“I was on vacation with friends. One of them was a co-founder of a successful Israeli internet company that made toolbars for Google. We talked about the possibility of a Nespresso type capsule-based perfume machine, which evolved to a connected device for creating and managing fragrances and ambiances.
“As we brainstormed, we started to imagine device concepts and applications, in a very light and unserious conversation. Then we got swept into it.”
Once home, Avidor started researching the connected home and fragrance market. He soon found that there wasn’t anything quite like what he’d envisioned. He determined that if delivered in a ‘sleek and user friendly fashion’, while allowing for mixing and creation of your own fragrances, something like Moodo could be a huge hit.
Agan Aroma had the advantage of already being deeply rooted in the production of fragrance ingredients. That gave the firm a jump-start on researching what consumers want and their latent needs. The company already knew what scents were calming or romantic, as well as any geographical affinity relating to them.
“The main challenge was to build on our mixing and creation concept and build a system that can enable users to create their own combination and always ‘get it right’,” Avidor says.
First, they conducted several market research projects to identify the most desired attributes consumers looked for in a fragrance. They then worked with a variety of scent bases to determine what worked best.
“We have amassed a significant body of data that is going to come in handy after our launch as we continue to launch more capsules and more scent families. For example, something for Thanksgiving, something for a romantic evening, something to meditate and so forth,” Avidor says.
It was a lengthy process. The team tapped into the Israeli tech ecosystem to work together to create a small and attractive box that could still cram in all the mixing technology required to make Moodo into the successful gadget it is.
But Moodo needed to be more than an attractive gadget. The smells it created needed to be attractive, as well.
“We reached out to a network of leading perfumers, mainly in France… It was interesting to work with perfumers who normally work on eau de toilette blockbusters and redirect their vision to the Moodo techie and mixing concept.”
The teamwork paid off with both industries learning from each other, leading to the finished product of Moodo.
As an established company, Agan Aroma didn’t have to dip into a crowdsourcing platform like some other Indiegogo based technologies. Instead, Indiegogo was chosen as the ideal means in which to benefit from great exposure, as well as access to “vibrant consumer crowds.” It’s a smart move, given Moodo is certainly different from what’s already out there.
One key advantage that Moodo looks set to gain from is its simplicity. Simply inserting mix-packs of scents is very easy, with the smartphone app effectively doing the hard work for you. There’s no mess or need to clean anything up. It just works. You can even set up a fragrance playlist similar to how you would with a music playlist. It’ll also integrate with other IoT devices such as your smart alarm clock or lighting system.
Currently available via Indiegogo, you can make a pledge of $149 for one Moodo and 8 capsules. $179 gets you a Moodo and 16 capsules, with the option for more on a sliding scale. If you’re keen for your home to smell extra pleasant, this could be the perfect solution.
The campaign ends next month.
