Sensory marketing

I have come across a couple of stories this week which might provide a bit of light relief for students deep into their BUSS4 preparation, and might also be worth filing away to be used next year when thinking about novel approaches to marketing. They both have to do with supermarkets needing to find ever-more imaginative ways to promote their goods in a saturated market.

The first comes from the magazine ‘The Week’ on their ‘It must be true - I read it in the tabloids’ page. A local supermarket in the USA has erected the nation’s first scented billboard - it has fans which ‘waft the odour of charcoal, meat and black pepper over the road’ as you drive past. Harald Vogt of the Scent Marketing Institute says that ‘It will definitely catch your attention because you have to breathe’ - you have to agree with the man.

Meanwhile Tesco has launched a singing sandwich. Its a limited edition item for the World Cup - a jalapeno chicken sandwich in a wrapper that sings ole ole ole to you when you open it. Professor Joshua Bamfield from the Centre for Retail Research said he thinks the product will be successful, as people are embracing the World Cup more than ever this year. I would suggest that its success may depend more on other external factors, like how the England team fares in South Africa. Apparently the idea for the recipe is based on the England team’s spicy diet - I will avoid the obvious comments about that after the result against Algeria last night, but simply suggest that as this is a limited edition item, you may need to get down to Tesco before Wednesday if you want to sample it.