Sometimes there’s nothing better than the smell of hollyberry to get you in the Christmas spirit or the warm aroma of pumpkin spice to get your ready for that Thanksgiving feast. Well, the team at White Castle dipped into that insight and has unveiled a new “hamburger and onion” scented candle to promote the fast-food chain.
Scientists have said that the sense of smell may be the most powerful tool in bringing up memories and, for marketers, it can be the sense that leads to greater sales. Companies have been using smell techniques for quite some time. In 2007, Fox used scratch and sniff print ads to advertise the film Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium where readers could scratch a tab and get a whiff of a frosted cake. The California Milk Processor Board even got into the olfactory act by promoting their “Got Milk?” campaign with the smell of chocolate chip cookies at bus shelters in San Francisco. However, that campaign was pulled down due to complaints about possible asthma attacks.
I think what White Castle has done is pretty funny (hence the reason I’m writing about it), but I’m not sure what it will do to increase sales. According to the company, the candle is already sold out, but I would guess that the people who bought the candle are already fans of the chain or are those crazy collectors who set up museum shops in their garages. Perhaps lighting this candle may promp loyal slider fans to purchase more frequently due to the constant smell of meat in their homes. However, I’m not entirely buying it … the campaign nor the candle.
