Kraft Vies for Eyes -- and Noses Ad Play in People Magazine
Uses Some Scented Spots To Tickle Readers' Fancy
Will Kraft's latest ads pass the smell test?
In a sign of how marketers are making more use of scent in their advertising, Kraft Foods is sponsoring a special holiday issue of Time Warner's People magazine that comes with an olfactory twist. Five of Kraft's 31 ads in the issue, which should arrive in subscribers' mailboxes today, allow readers to rub a spot to experience the smell of one of the products being advertised.
Kraft is running rub-and-sniff ads for some of its products, including Chips Ahoy and Philadelphia Cream Cheese, in a special edition of People magazine.
A full-page ad for Philadelphia Cream Cheese, for instance, shows a picture of strawberry cheesecake. When rubbed, the picture gives off the aroma of the dessert. Similarly, the scents of cinnamon coffee, cherry Jell-O and white chocolate will all be present in different ads. The smells aren't limited to ads: one of the articles will be accompanied by pictures of food, such as hot chocolate and sugar cookies, that give off a scent if rubbed.
Magazines have long offered ads that tickle consumers' nostrils, most noticeably perfume strips and ads that ask readers to "scratch 'n' sniff." But those ads had a downside: the scent often permeated the magazine, irritating some consumers. Improvements in printing technology have lately made it easier for publishers to add scent to ads -- as well as editorial features -- with less risk of turning off readers.
Marketers see the addition of scent as a way of making their ads stand out from the crowd. Scents can be a powerful advertising tool because they "transport people out of their current state into a more desirable state," says Pam Scholder Ellen, an associate professor of marketing at Georgia State University who has studied advertisers' use of scents. Marketers are also looking at ways to use scents and odors in retail outlets and store aisles, she says.
Kraft believes the more a reader can play with the ad, the better the recall of its message, says Gary Gruneberg, director of media buying for Kraft Foods. The company is "challenging ourselves, our brands, our agencies to come up with creative ways to interact with consumers," he says.
The scented ads are a new element in what is the fourth People holiday issue that Kraft has sponsored in recent years. The issue is full of articles about celebrities' holiday celebrations and holiday recipe suggestions, subject matter that could give the Kraft food-themed ads greater resonance. The issue is being sent to only one million of People's 2.3 million subscribers, readers who fall into Kraft's target audience of women ages 25 to 54 who have children or households with multiple family members.
Kraft's promotion comes as part of a larger ad deal it has with People's parent, Time Inc., says Mr. Gruneberg. Kraft spent about $60.8 million on ads in People in 2005, about 12% of its total magazine ad spending, according to TNS Media Intelligence. Kraft declined to comment on the cost of the promotion but Paul Caine, publisher of Time Inc.'s People Group, says Kraft will have to pay for extra production and printing costs.
The scents are housed in microscopic capsules applied in a varnish in the printing process, Mr. Caine says. Old-style magazine scent ads typically use gelatin capsules that tend to break easily in distribution of the magazines, says Arthur Sherwood, managing partner of Scent id LLC, a Purchase, N.Y., consultant who helped to devise the special pages for People and Kraft. Those breakages produce the overwhelming smell that irritates some consumers. The People ads used capsules made of stronger compounds that last through the journey from printing press to mailbox, he adds.
There's no guarantee a magazine ad with a pleasant bouquet will fare any better than one that just smells like paper and ink. Sometimes, says Ms. Ellen, the marketing professor, scents in ads can clash with real-world odors -- particularly if a magazine is read in the kitchen or elsewhere. Kraft turns up its nose at this notion, saying that consumers control when they sniff the aromatic ad pages.
卡夫杂志广告色香味俱全
卡夫食品(Kraft Foods)在赞助时代华纳旗下(Time Warner)《人物》(People)杂志的假期特刊时增加了对气味的应用。由此可以看出，营销商们已经开始在嗅觉上大作文章。
卡夫食品在本期杂志中共有31个广告，其中五个在读者对它们的某个点进行摩擦之后会散发出广告产品的味道。这期《人物》杂志定于周三送出。
以卡夫Philadelphia奶油奶酪的一则整页广告为例。广告呈现了一个草莓奶酪蛋糕的图片。经摩擦后，照片会散发出这种甜品的香甜味道。此外，肉桂咖啡、樱桃Jell-O以及白巧克力的味道也将在不同的广告中呈现。气味的应用并没有局限于广告中：一篇文章将配有热巧克力及撒了糖屑的曲奇饼干等食物的图片，这些图片经摩擦后也会散发出香甜的味道。
杂志中刊登取悦读者嗅觉的广告、最引人注目的香水试纸以及让读者“刮刮闻闻”的广告由来已久。但是这类广告有一个缺点：这些气味常常会渗入整本杂志，令一些消费者感到恼怒。最近，印刷技术的提升使发行商把气味用到广告以及特写中变得更加容易－－降低了令读者感到不舒服的风险。
市场营销人员把增加气味的做法看作使他们的广告脱颍而出的一种方法。佐治亚州立大学(Georgia State University)的市场营销副教授帕姆?朔尔德?埃伦(Pam Scholder Ellen)曾对市场营销人员在广告使用气味的做法进行了研究。她说，气味是一个强有力的广告工具，因为它能够使人身临其境。市场营销人员还在考虑如何在零售点及商店过道内使用气味。
卡夫食品的媒体购买负责人加里?格鲁内贝格(Gary Gruneberg)说，卡夫相信，读者与广告的互动越多，他们就更容易记起广告所传达的信息。卡夫食品正在“挑战自我、挑战品牌并激发广告代理机构寻找与消费者互动的创新途径。”
这些“有味道”的广告为卡夫近年来赞助的第四期《人物》杂志假期特刊增加了一个新元素。这个特刊的文章全是关于名人的假期生活以及假期食谱的建议，这些内容为以卡夫食品为主题的广告带来更大的共鸣。这期特刊只送给《人物》杂志230万订户中的100万，这些能够得到杂志的订户都是卡夫食品的目标客户：年龄在25-54岁、已有孩子的女性，或者有多名成员的家庭。
格鲁内贝格说，卡夫食品的此次促销活动是公司与《人物》杂志的母公司时代公司(Time Inc.)达成的大型广告交易的一部分。据TNS Media Intelligence的数据，卡夫食品2005年在《人物》杂志上的广告支出约为6,080万美元，约占其全部杂志广告支出的12%。卡夫拒绝就促销活动的成本发表评论。不过，时代公司旗下People Group.的发行人保罗?凯恩(Paul Caine)说，卡夫将承担额外的生产及印刷成本费用。
凯恩说，气味元素被放在一个微型胶囊中，然后在印刷过程中被植入杂志的光面中。Scent id LLC的执行合伙人、咨询师阿瑟?舍伍德(Arthur Sherwood)说，以往带气味的杂志广告通常使用明胶胶囊，这种材料往往容易在杂志分销过程中破裂。破裂后就会产生令消费者感到不舒服、难以抵挡的气味。凯恩帮助《人物》杂志及卡夫设计了这些特殊广告页。他还补充道，《人物》杂志的广告采用了由更坚实的化合物制成的胶囊，它将在从印刷发行至送达订户信箱的整个过程中保持完好。
不过，拥有怡人气味的杂志广告并不能保证比只有纸墨气味的广告取得更好的效果。市场营销副教授埃伦说，有时候，杂志中的味道会与现实世界中的味道有冲突－－尤其是读者在厨房或其他地方阅读的时候更是如此。卡夫食品对这种说法嗤之以鼻，并表示消费者会控制他们什么时候闻这些气味芬芳的广告页。
Brian Steinberg
