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UNCOMMON SENSE(S)
New marketing initiatives are using aromas and tastes in unexpected ways
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While the scent of Drakkar Noir
won't transport everyone back to awkward tween rites of passage, it's a
universally known fact that our senses have the power to etch a
specific time, place and experience into our brains forever. Therefore,
brands and social initiatives are experimenting with sensory memory,
looking to wield their own indelible stamp on consumers' subconscious.
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Meaty Billboards: For BBQ aficionados, Carolina BBQ means one thing and one thing only: pork. In a state where everyone is big on the pig, could it be that the cows got jealous? Having erected a scent-emitting billboard
alongside a highway, Charlotte, North Carolina grocery store Bloom made
a nose-tingling effort to shift consumer allegiance from the "other
white meat" to a new-to-the-store brand of beef. Featuring a giant
fork-stabbed bite, this River Highway ad
fanned, during the first few weeks of June, charcoal- and black
pepper-scented oil to passing cars. We imagine that, for the Carolina
carnivore, drive-thru willpower never seemed more difficult.
Unsurprisingly, vegetarians were less than pleased, but PETA got a
pretty sweet, or in this case rotten, revenge.
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Toothsome Greeting Cards: In the era of Evites, Facebook events and mass emails, tangible correspondence
can be a novel, and even artful, form of communication. American
Greetings thinks it can also be delicious. The iconic greeting card
company is taking cues from years' past peel n' taste campaigns with its new Tasties
collection. Each card contains a dissolvable flavor strip that
corresponds to the occasion it marks. A birthday card emblazoned with
an image of a cupcake proffers the taste of a vanilla one. Other
reported flavors include "donut" and "margarita," though we've yet to
identify the celebrations those are intended to mark. (Happy Get Fat
Day? Happy Get Wasted Day?) We're not sure we understand the appeal,
particularly when there are fairly simple ways to mail an actual celebratory dessert. But then again, we live in a world where people breathe food instead of eating it.
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Fresh Air Fund Fragrances: Whether it's hot-out-of-the-oven chocolate chip cookies, fresh laundry or roasting coffee, we all gravitate towards scents that elicit a smile and a sigh. MacArthur Genius Grant recipient Majora Carter, founder and executive director of community organization Sustainable South Bronx,
decided to put this concept to work for a good cause. Together with
French perfumers Bruno Jovanovic and Pascal Gaurin, Carter created L'Eau Verte du Bronx du Sud
("Green Water of the South Bronx"), a scent containing essences of
rain, grass and citrus fruit, with which to infuse the common areas
inside an entire low-income apartment complex in the South Bronx.
Carter believes that the Sister Thomas Apartments, located a little too
close for comfort to a sewage treatment plant and a trash transfer
station, will benefit tremendously from a real breath of fresh air.
Living in a neighborhood that seems to be less than a priority for the
Department of Sanitation, we couldn't agree more.
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* References to products and services in trendcentral do not imply our endorsement, but rather are intended to provide objective insights into emerging trends and examples of those trends. trendcentral is published by The Intelligence Group, a trend research and consumer insights company focusing on youth culture. For more information on our services, or to subscribe to our syndicated Cassandra Report studies, please contact Alina Goncalves at 212-277-5299 or via email at agoncalves@intelg.com.
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