The Scent of Theater Ads

By Avishay Artsy on Monday, August 4, 2008.

Here's a new advertising trend that probably won't go over too well with American audiences. Theatergoers in Europe will smell more than stale popcorn at their next trip to the local cineplex - they may smell bread, chocolate, perfume, or any other scent an advertiser wants them to.

A company called Cinescent, based in the German city of Hanover, has designed a machine that pumps out a faint aroma through a theater's air conditioning system to accompany on-screen ads. In an early test, a 60-second spot for Nivea suntan lotion was screened showing people sunbathing at the beach, accompanied by the scent of the suncream. Exit polls showed a more than 500 percent rise in recall for the ad, compared with moviegoers who saw the spot without the scent.

The fragrance technology has debuted at 25 theaters in Germany and the Netherlands, and will be in five British theaters by the fall. There are no plans yet to bring the scented ads to the United States.

(Photo by javaturtle)

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