Scratch & Sniff: Scented Ads Expand Their Market

Don’t pretend you haven’t done it. We have all, at one point or another, pulled off that scented strip in our favorite magazine to take a little whiff of the latest perfume. Perhaps you have even tried rubbing the paper on your wrist to transfer some of the fragrance. Don’t worry there is nothing to be ashamed of, we have found some of our favorite fragrances that way and if you ask us it was a truly ingenious step in perfume advertising back in the ’80s when scented ads first came onto the market.

This is probably why many advertisers are taking the next step and expanding the scented strip ads for perfumes to scented paper ads for household products, soap products and basically anything else you would buy because it smells nice.

According toGfK MRI Starch Advertising Research, 64 percent of readers actually read (and sniff) the scented paper ads which ask the consumer to “rub” or “scratch and sniff here” to experience the scent of the product, as opposed to just flipping past.

Although these scented paper ads have been around for a few years, it seems as if with these recent figures we can expect more fragrant magazines showing up in our mailboxes in the months to come.

[Forbes]