Something Smells…like a Sale

Nostrils are becoming a target for marketers and scent based promotions will likely become a trend in 2007. Some recent marketers to jump on this include Kraft Foods, PepsiCo, and Verizon Wireless. Harold Vogt, from The Scent Marketing Institute, predicts that scent marketing spending will pass $500 million by 2016. Break throughs in technology now allow scents to be released with the rub of a finger, lasting 20 to 30 seconds and can be reactivated for years. Not all marketers have had success with this new trend. Bus shelters in San Francisco were given a chocolate chip aroma for a Got Milk? campaign in December, but the Municipal Transportation Agency ordered the ads to be removed after complaints from advocacy groups were worried that the scent could trigger allergic reactions.