Associating pleasant sights, sounds and experiences with products is a tried and true marketing method. A new and highly creative marketing project from Oscar Mayer adds another dimension – smell – to a major bacon-promotion effort.
Oscar Mayer released a new iPhone application called “Wake Up and Smell the Bacon.” Designed to function as an alarm clock, the app is designed work with a smell-distribution system that releases the scent of frying bacon at the time the alarm sounds. Combining sound and smell is expected to deliver an effective and pleasant message recall experience. Waking up to the sound and smell of cooking bacon cooking evokes powerful and positive sensory experiences for many consumers. The company hopes to convert that positive experience into higher sales.
Including scent in a marketing plan isn’t necessarily new. Cosmetic firms and others have distributed sample scents as part of their direct mail campaigns for years. In this instance, Oscar Mayer incorporated electronic technologies with creative messaging, including a contest event, to build visibility for the company, the alarm clock release and for the bacon product line.
Creative Messaging:
How many ways are there to sell bacon? As bacon is a largely known and understood product, coming up with new ways to inspire customers to purchase more requires creative outreach and messaging. The alarm clock idea, accompanied by a promotional video and on-line contest has generated quite a bit of buzz in the creative community. The uniqueness of the campaign is interesting business news, which brings greater visibility to the company.
Creative Campaigning:
To acquire a bacon alarm clock, iPhone owners simply download the app from the Apple store. The smell-distribution unit though, must be acquired through the fictional Oscar Mayer Institute for Advancement of Bacon. A contest that awards the smell distribution units also captures a great deal of consumer information. With a contest, not only does Oscar Mayer generate a great deal of attention, they acquire a large contact list of motivated bacon consumers.
The intent of the entire messaging effort is to jog the consumer’s memory to recall what it was like waking up to the sound and smell of a cooked breakfast – including Oscar Mayer bacon. Using an electronic delivery system for consumer food product marketing that includes the dimension of “smell,” may be among the more interesting marketing schemes attempted lately.
