The most evocative sense that we have is smell. Remember the smell of your childhood, your mother’s home cooking, perhaps her scent, that has an emotional bind beyond the sense of sight or hearing.

That emotional bond is the captivation of brand, where customer & product/service = brand, the & being the magic. It’s why people love certain brands; there is little logic but an amazing attachment. Andrew has already eluded to this in the blog on Lovemarks the brainchild of Kevin Roberts, Saatchi & Saatchi CEO.

Why when people sell a house do they put vanilla pods on the radiators to give the potential buyers a sense of homeliness or have real coffee percolating at the same time? There was a time when Estate Agents in London had these things in their pockets to encourage sales.

So now I have read recently that the smartest corporates out there are investigating the sense of smell with branding. What does that mean? Well, if you’re passing by a retailer and smell something deeply evocative and cannot help but buy then you know that the ultimate brand sensory technique has got you.

Apparently when men’s clothes have been diffused with smell of rose maroc then the sales have doubled. De Beers, the diamond dealers, selling the hardest mineral in the world have scented their showrooms with the smell of flowers, citrus and green tea.

Sony is developing the idea in not only their retail stores and carrier bags but also to impregnating the hard plastics used in their gadgets with fragrance.

What next? The smell of brand new laptops or leather car seats from a bag of Walkers crisps.

So the new year dawns and Impress kicks off it's third year proper in a blaze of activity, pitch wins (ironically) and a mountain of work to crash through in the coming months. Perhaps it is just my imagination, but the word seems to be spreading organically. The referral network that envelopes the agency is becoming a vibrant, commercially dynamic and positive environment for not just us, but our clients too. Wonderfully, many Impress clients are starting to do business with each other and we seem to be acting as something of a central hub for a group of like-minded and inspirational entrepreneurs. The atmosphere is electric when two or more of them are in the same room.

Similar themes predominate with the web the catalyst for so much agency activity. Despite the cynics, Alan Yentob's BBC Imagine documentary on the Internet captured the spirit of the age and broadcast concepts and (cyber) media trends to the biggest possible UK audience. Like tor loathe it, and most of the geeks scribbling on forum's and blogs seem to loathe it, but the fact is most of the British population is still oblivious to the potential of the web and have virtually no concept of Web 2.0, Blogging, Flickr, My Space, You Tube, let alone You Porn!!!!!

The very fact that Yentob secured a large wedge of Auntie's dosh to make the programme in the first place and get it broadcast at what was effectively a peak viewing slot, highlights the growing power and influence of the net over the common man (or woman - "thanks Reg" - Life of Brian!!!!). Yentob is a pillar of the broadcasting establishment and he is one of that rare breed of TV-types who's opinion actually carry some weight. No coincidence that many Impress clients' are now requesting Blogs to be added to their sites, asking about their web stats and even submitting comments to Forum's. This was not happening even a year ago.

Many of the sites we manage are experiencing a phenomenal increase in traffic levels, enquiries and sales. The fear of cyberspace is dissolving and the dot com pioneers were right all along; it just took the western world a while to catch up with the vision. Bless you Martha Lane-Fox; you can look back at that interview with another BBC heavyweight, Jeremy Paxman, and have the last laugh. Nothing blinder than the man that does not want to see.....

The web is liberating all areas areas of business and the world of the soul trader or SME is catching on fast. Many a corporate is way behind the eight ball and even numerous oh so cool media companies are stripped bare by their lack of Internet understanding. Of the UK's foremost Bloggers' (and yes, it is now a job title) was writing recently about her work with a trendy London PR agency and her comments would have "shamed a politician" (to quote Echo & the Bunnymen).

So, the land of opportunity beckons and 2007 really will be the year when the Internet's potential comes of age. It really has very little to do with the geeks, but more to do with consumer demand, public awareness and a burning desire for the population to "educate, entertain and inform", which just happens to be the phrase by which Lord Reith, the first Director General of the BBC, is most commonly remembered. So you see, the technology may change, but it is human nature that is the heart and soul of any media revolution.

As with TV, the Internet is just about to go colour!