Marketing in the News
“Marketing in the News”
McDonald's Scented Billboards
By: Chloe Selmane
In the Netherlands, the McDonalds company tried out this new marketing technique. While you may think this is just a plain billboard, it actually is releasing the scent of McDonald's french fries. I found this new technique to be pretty amazing because smells are the best way to trigger someone's cravings. They placed this billboard close to one of the franchise locations, so that it is convenient enough for customers to satisfy their cravings. You only have to get within 15 feet of this billboard to smell the scent of french fries being diffused from this billboard. Ive noticed that the McDonald's logo is nowhere to be found on this advertisement, but what they did do is paint it the color of their brand, red and yellow. In their video advertisement of this billboard, they stated that, "You know it when you smell it" referring to someone holding a McDonald's togo bag. At the end of the video, they also stated that "this is the first billboard where the smell becomes the art".
The value proposition of McDonald's is that they have convenient, and consistent fast food ready for customers all around the world. While in different places they base their products off of what those specific consumers are going to want, like for example in Hawaii, they incoporate Spam into their menu to adapt to their market. This company has been around since 1940, basically selling the same exact menu for over 60 years. This can be a challenge since they rarely offer new items, and so when it comes to unique marketing campaigns, they really do have to think outside of the box. There are many different competitors who try to introduce new items and advertisements to keep their consumers interested, but with McDonalds, it is pretty easy for them to stay relevant because of their customer lifetime value. By thinking outside of the box when it comes to new campaigns like this billboard, they wont be scared to fail because they are a very strong company. I think if they were to add more of these boards around the world, they can make an even bigger statement. Considering McDonald's is known worldwide, they felt pretty confident to just have the smell of a McDonald's coming from the billboards without adding any words or logos. If I were a brand manager in charge of this campaign, I would also try to add on to the concept of identifying something just by smell. An example of this would be going around to different people on the street and asking them to identify the smell of a McDonald's meal with blindfolds on. If they were to guess where they recognize the smell from, they would win a coupon to get a free meal. The main takeaway I got from this campaign is to stand out and be different. McDonald's took a very classic advertisement technique and made it unique. It is not everyday where you come across an aromatic billboard.
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