Starting today, pedestrians on the crowded sidewalks adjacent to Bloomingdale's New York flagship store may notice a certain fragrance in the air. It won't be their imagination: to promote Donna Karan's new perfume DKNY Delicious Night, the retailer will be spraying it into the air.
— Scent Noses Its Way Into More Ad Efforts in The Wall Street Journal looks at new trends in perfume advertising, including scent strips in magazines.
Take a whiff. Maybe you’ve noticed — and maybe you haven’t, and this isn’t entirely by accident — that the world has lately become a more fragrant place. Westin hotels waft a blend of green tea, geranium and black cedar into lobbies; Sheraton has jasmine, clove and fig. Jimmy Choo stores smell of cardamom and ivy, while Thomas Pink opts for the tang of fresh linen.
— From Scent and Sensibility, a detailed look at scent marketing in today's New York Times. Did you know that the scent of jasmine increases bowling scores?
Pubs are planning to pump in artificial scents to mask the smell of stale beer, sweat and drains that used to be disguised by cigarettes before the smoking ban.
The aromas of ocean breezes and freshly cut grass are being tested by Mitchells & Butlers (M&B), which manages 2,000 pubs in Britain. The group is even considering a perfume that smells of tobacco smoke.
— Read the rest in Make mine a pint of Chanel, landlord in today's UK Times Online.
Not content with flogging us their albums, their films and even their wardrobe cast-offs, celebrities are tapping into that most personal of attributes – smell – to get their fans to part with even more cash. The launch of a new perfume this week by Kate Moss kick-starts a rash of celebrity scents. Coleen McLoughlin's eponymous perfume goes on sale next week.
— From a rundown on the latest celebrity fragrance releases in The Independent. Thanks to Ruth for the link!
ScentAir has created an “innovative scent-sampling vehicle”, the “VbubbleU”. The VbubbleU was introduced at the GlobalShop Expo in Las Vegas, and will soon begin a tour of regional malls:
That cookie-scented advertising that was installed in several San Francisco bus shelters as part of the "Got Milk?" ad campaign caused a bit of an uproar, and now the scented-strips have been removed. Apparently they were only in place for about 24 hours. Read more at sfgate or newyorktimes.