Wake up and smell the newspaper

Godrej launched the campaign for its aer range of home and car fragrances with a perfumed print ad in the Bombay Times.

What next will they think in print? It seems like marketers are trying hard to go that extra mile when it comes to print ads. One has seen, enjoyed, even smirked sometimes at the Volkswagen innovations that made the morning newspaper more than just a daily dose of current affairs. There were holes punched through it, the newspaper spoke and recently, even shivered.

And then, Bombay Times on Tuesday made for fragrant reading as Godrej launched the campaign for its product aer, a range of home and car fragrances. While the front page in The Times of India led the reader through a slug stating 'Fresh news and fresh aer in Bombay Times today. Check it out', the front page of the supplement carried the ad with the fragrance of the product.

The fragrance effect was created through a fragrance spray technique at the TOI press, while Godrej provided the fragrance mix of the brand essence.

The campaign has been designed by Godrej, along with its creative and media buying partners, Creativeland Asia and Madison, respectively.

Sunil Kataria, executive vice-president, Godrej Consumer Products Limited, says, "aer is our proud independent foray into the air care category. With aer, we have extended the factor of innovation ahead with some out of the box marketing strategies. So if you were one of the many who experienced a whiff of pleasant fragrance in the morning while reading your copy of Bombay Times, then you already got your dose of the freshness that aer has to offer."

"There was an obvious fit to awaken the sense of smell for a fragrance brand like Godrej aer being launched in metros through print. We hope that the brand cut-through is high through this innovation," says Vanita Keswani, chief operating officer, Madison Media Sigma.

Interestingly, this is not the first time a brand has attempted to appeal to the reader's sense of smell. Earlier, in February, Bru Gold made the copy of Sunday Times of India smell of coffee.

Keswani is enthusiastic of all that is being witnessed in the realm of innovative strategies in print.

"With changing times, innovation in print is catching up. We want to cross the boundaries of typical reading mechanism and engage the consumer, whether it is through an audio piece, a fragrant newspaper or any other innovation that can be thought of," she says.

While the campaign has broken on print and the basic digital promotions have begun too, aer will soon take to the television medium and, Kataria promises, there will be experiential marketing on the digital and radio platforms in the days to come.

Focussing on the metros of the country, this particular activity of the brand will be carried out once again in New Delhi next week in the Delhi Times supplement. Gauging the response to the same, the activity may even be extended to other metros.

Godrej has also carried out BTL promotions and activations at various consumer touch points for aer.

"aer is a brand differentiated from competition. It brings a sense of beauty to the segment and is very well designed. The design language is very important. It is a very honest and straightforward brand in terms of personality and at the same time, there is a quirky sense to it. Keeping in line with the same, our future communication on digital and other platforms will be interesting, too," Kataria says.