Those Stinking Ads Are Multiplying

In December (2006) I posted about a Got Milk? campaign that gave several San Francisco bus shelters a chocolate chip cookie aroma. But the Municipal Transportation Agency ordered the ads removed after complaints from advocacy groups worried the scent could trigger allergic reactions.

But a good idea can not be stopped by consumer complaints! (grin). Consumers in 2007 will need to sit back, take a deep breath and get ready for an olfactory onslaught: Nostrils are becoming a target for marketers.

Advertising Age has just named scents as an expected top ad trend in 2007.

Boosting the trend is improved technology for more creative, cheaper and longer-lasting fragrance-based ads.

Here are some recent examples as reported by USA Today:

•Kraft Foods (KFT). One million People magazine subscribers last month got a special Kraft-sponsored holiday issue featuring "rub-and-smell" ads for products such as cherry Jell-O and white fudge Chips Ahoy.

•PepsiCo (PEP). Diet Pepsi Jazz promotions have included print ads, coupons and store signs infused with the new soft drink's fruit and French vanilla fragrances.

•Verizon Wireless (VZ). Stores in the Northeast used chocolate "scent strips" to hype LG Electronics' new mobile phone and music player named Chocolate.

Comments

[Eirene]

I am not at all thrilled by the trend of stinking ads.

http://rethinkingthefuture.blogspot.com/2007/02/scent-branding-another-thing-to-make.html

Approximately five years ago, I called the department store Hecht's (now Macy's) to request that they send me sale-flyers and coupons without fragranced ads and fragrance packets. I am hyper-sensitive to most allergens including fragrances/scents. The results vary but include: skin erruptions, respiratory problems, migraines, allergic rhinitis, and nose bleeds.

The customer service rep at Hecht's told me I could chose to receive mailings AS/IS or receive no mailings. Hecht's did not offer an option for no scented mailers and ads. Poor service on their part.

I chose to be removed from the customer mailing list, and I cut up the credit card. I also stopped shopping at Hecht's. I have probably been in the store twice in the last five years. Both times were because of shopping with visiting relatives.

This is a shame for the company. I was an frequent shopper who was easily lured by the private sales and discount coupons. I shopped on average two times per month. But I could no longer stand the suffering caused by the fragranced flyers (I tried airing them out, and baking them in the sun; it didn't work).

P.S. I also park and enter Nordstroms so as to have minimal contact with the perfume/cosmetic area. If I go into a mall or town center, I walk on the opposite side of Yankee Candle stores and Bath and Bodyworks. I am completely nauseated by the smells coming out of those retailers.