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Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly
Strange Smells: The Marketing of Unusual Fragrances
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This week, we take a whiff of some of the strangest fragrances being marketed today. Choosing a perfume or cologne is a form of personal expression. What you smell like says something about…
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Terry O'Reilly
Hi, it's Terry O'Reilly. You may know me as the host of under the Influence, but my passion is the Beatles and I'm hosting a new podcast series called the Beatleology Interviews. I get to talk to people who worked with the Beatles and loved the Beatles and people who write about the Beatles and their stories are surprising and so very interesting. The Beatleology Interviews give it a listen. Today, my dad works in B2B marketing. He came by my school for career day and said he was a big roas man. Then he told everyone how much he loved calculating his return on ad spend. My friends still laugh at me to this day. Not everyone gets B2B, but with LinkedIn you'll be able to reach people who do. Get $100 credit on your next ad campaign. Go to LinkedIn.com results to claim your credit. That's LinkedIn.com results. Terms and conditions apply. LinkedIn the place to be. To be Romance is in the air for Valentine's Day. 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Customers will pay 25amonth as long as they remain active on the Boost Unlimited plan. This is an apostrophe podcast production. We're going to show you our big new Studebaker Mamma mia. That's a spicy meatball. Guadalupe doesn't conquer. Alka sells her will. What a relief. You're under the influence with Terry O'Reilly. When Chuck Jones was growing up, he described himself as not only a wimp, but a wimp. Nerd. Nebbish. He was 6 foot 1 and weighed 132 pounds. He was transparent to girls and said girls would look right through him to admire other boys. When he later became an animator and director at Warner Bros. He realized that when he was developing characters, he was looking into a mirror. Characters were really a reflection of himself, his ambitions, his hopes and his flaws. That's when Chuck Jones created Pepe Le Pew. Pepe Le Pew was an amorous skunk. He was always looking for love and repelling the objects of his desire with his skunk smell. The voice of Pepe was done by the amazing Mel Blanc. He modeled the voice on movie star Charles Boyer, who you can hear in this clip from the 1938 movie Algiers. So you wanted to take another look at this strange, wild animal. Strange, but not so very wild. How do you like my cage? I don't know yet. And here is Pepe Le Pew, but permit me to introduce you myself. I am Pepe Le Pew, your novel for Chuck Jones. Pepe Le Pew wasn't a mirror reflection of him because Pepe was self assured, had a smooth way of talking to the opposite sex and was absolutely convinced of his male desirability. In other words, Pepe Le Pew was everything Chuck Jones wasn't. In 1949, Chuck Jones and writer Mike Maltese produced a seven minute short film titled For Sentimental Reasons. In the film, a black female cat accidentally spills white hair dye on her fur, creating a white stripe down her back. Once Pepulipiu sees her, he is besotted, thinking she's a female skunk, which he calls his la belle femme skunk fatale. Ah, my little darling. It is love at first sight, is it not? No, do not come with me to the casbah. We shall make beautiful music together right here. For the rest of the short, Pepe pursues the feline as she tries to escape not only his romantic clutches, but his awful smell. In one scene, she runs into a room and locks the door. But Pepe figures out a way to get in. I am the locksmith of love. No. Come, darling. We must be grown up about this thing. Do not run away from the law. Looney Tunes producer Eddie Seltzer was Chuck Jones bitterest foe. At the studio, he took one look at Chuck's Pepe Le Pew scoffed and said no one would laugh at a skunk cartoon. Four years later, in 1949, for sentimental reasons won the Academy Award for best Animated short film. It didn't stop Seltzer from zooming up to the stage to accept the Oscar. Chuck Jones would win three Academy Awards in his career. He was also given an Honorary Oscar in 1996 for his work in the animation industry. But it all started with Pepe Le Pew and his smelly charm. The world of marketing has its own smelly charms. Every year, some very strange smells are launched in the fragrance category, like mayonnaise, cologne, bacon perfume and a bottled scent that smells like gasoline. Some are marketed as gimmicks to attract press, some are sold as a means of unique self expression, and some might even repulse Pepe Le Pew. You're under the Influence Last December, I read about a new fragrance that had been launched in time for the Christmas shopping season. Surprisingly, the fragrance came from Miller High Life, the beer. The cologne was called Miller High Life Barfume, the selling feature. Well, it smells just like a dive bar. According to Miller High Life, the perfume mixes all the essential ingredients of a neighborhood dive bar. The blend contains notes of a freshly opened Miller High Life together with tobacco and leather for the comforting musk of worn in bar stools with a top note that smells like a basket of french fries. Miller High Life Dive Barfume was only available last December. You had to be 21 years old to buy it, and a bottle of the stuff sets you back 60 bucks. Mayonnaise is one of the most popular condiments in our fridges. You can use it in dishes like potato salad in a creamy grilled cheese or tuna sandwich, and some people use it as a dipping sauce for french fries. I know what you're thinking. You'd love to smell like mayo. Well, Hellman's Mayonnaise has answered your prayers. It has partnered with Tennessee Titans quarterback Will Leviss to launch Will Leviss no. 8, a fragrance based on the smell of Hellman's Mayonnaise. Hellman's love affair with Will Leviss began the summer before he was drafted into the NFL, when Leviss said he liked to put mayonnaise in his coffee. Will Levis, quarterback at the University of Kentucky, and I have been known to put mayonnaise in my coffee sometimes. When Hellmans heard that, they gave Leviss a lifetime supply of their mayo. Then came the fragrance. The scent combines hints of tart lemon, coffee, musk, vanilla and something the company is calling Mayonnaise Accord. Quarterback Leviss worked with both Hellmans and an unnamed perfumer to develop the exclusive fragrance. A moody, dreamy commercial was released on YouTube. They try to define you, but you are the ingredient to your own success. We see Levis shirt off, six pack, glistening, drinking the mayo right out of the jar. We see him in white pajamas, eating a slice of bread slathered with mayo. We see him lying on the football field dipping his finger into a jar of mayo. Smell like greatness. Will Levis number 8 parfum de mayonnaise Leviss says his pre game ritual consists of many ingredients that contribute to his success, adding he now finally has the last spritz that allows him to take on those game days with confidence. Should be an interesting olfactory moment in the huddle with notes of parfum de Mayonnaise gently wafting in the air. Hot, Hot Pumpkin Spice Makes Its Return the Pumpkin Spice Latte is a coffee drink made with a mix of traditional fall spice flavors including cinnamon, nutmeg and clove. The drink is also made with steamed milk espresso and is topped with whipped cream and a pumpkin pie spice. When Starbucks started selling pumpkin spice lattes in 2003, it had no idea how successful the lattes would be. It became the coffee store's most popular seasonal drink and reportedly generates over $80 million in revenue every year. The demand for pumpkin spice seems to know no limit. There is Pumpkin spice M&MS. Pumpkin Spice Whiskey as well as pumpkin spice lotions, shampoos and candles. And now you can add this to the Pumpkin Spice Scented toilet paper. Apparently the scent is not on the paper itself, but on the cardboard roll made from natural essential oils like clove, ginger and cinnamon, so it's safe on your tushy. Pumpkin Spice Scented Toilet paper comes in 3 ply and has a 4.5 star rating on Amazon. When we come back, how about dabbing on a little dill pickle? Ladies and gentlemen, we are now boarding. Group A, please have your boarding passes ready to scan. If your phone is cracked old or was chewed up by your Chihuahua travel companion, please refrain from holding up the line and instead simply go to Verizon and trade in any phone in any condition from one of their top brands. For the new Samsung Galaxy S25 plus with Galaxy AI on Unlimited ultimate and a watch or Tap also on them. Service plan required for watch or tab. Trade in and additional terms apply. See verizon.com for details. Why wait to see if you'll get something you like this Valentine's Day when you can go to bluenile.com and find something you'll love. Whether you're looking to treat yourself to a little winter sparkle or show a Galentine how much you appreciate them, Blue Nile offers a wide selection of high quality designs, expert guidance and free 30 day returns. For the ultimate peace of mind, you can even design your own jewelry right now. Save up to 50%@bluenile.com that's blue nile.com Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile with a message for everyone paying Big Wireless way too much. Please, for the love of everything good in this world, stop with Mint. You can get premium wireless for just $15 a month. Of course, if you enjoy overpaying. No judgments. But that's weird. Okay, one judgment anyway. Give it a try@mintmobile.com Switch upfront payment of $45 for 3 month plan equivalent to $15 per month required intro rate first 3 months only, then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extra. See full terms@mintmobile.com Ooh, I love that scent of pickle you're sporting. According to reports, there's a pickle frenzy going on, which is news to me. Pickle flavored foods and beverages are all the rage. And if you are a pickle fanatic, you'll be happy to hear there is now a fragrance out there called Dill Pickle. It has notes of cucumber, mustard seed, coriander, salt as well as vinegar, garlic and onion. Those last three ingredients don't sound that alluring to me, but what do I know? This Dill pickle eau de parfum comes in a very attractive bottle. The state of Idaho is known for its potatoes and the Idaho Potato Commission has created a perfume for potato lovers called Frites by Idaho. The fragrance sets out to bottle one of the world's most tempting scents. According to a national survey, 90% of North American adults find the smell of french fries irresistible. So Frites by Idaho smells like french fries. It is made from distilled Idaho potatoes and essential oils and comes in a 1.7 ounce crinkle cut bottle which resembles crinkle fries. A bottle of Frites by Idaho retailed for the same price as a large order of french fries and can only be found on the Idaho Potato Commission website. It's a well known fact that the smell of fresh bread is one of the most inviting, most comforting aromas on earth. That's why some realtors will bake bread in a home before an open house event. Well, now you can wear that alluring scent all day because this new perfume mimics the scent of a bakery. It's called Shushu. It was inspired by Choux a la creme, a delectable French pastry. The generalist fragrance offers top notes of citrus peel and fresh cream, along with vanilla bean and caramel. Complementing a base of sandalwood, cocoa and mocha. Shushu comes in a dainty glass bottle and retails for US$175. That's a lot of bread. Now let's say you are more discerning and the scent of a bakery is too generic for your tastes. Then how about dabbing on a few drops of Crom Couture perfume? It is formulated to be an ode to flaky, delicious croissants. The Crom Couture website says it's guaranteed to end up on your chest, lap and floor. Interesting pitch. Crom Couture features the aroma of croissant accord with notes of wild berry jam, toasted vanilla, blackcurrant sandalwood and tonka bean. The perfume offers a clean, non toxic profile that is vegan friendly, cruelty free with no synthetic dyes or preservatives. It retails for 94 bucks a bottle. A recent survey found that women find smells associated with the home to be the most pleasing, with the scent of lemons coming in first, followed by freshly baked bread, clean sheets and newly cut flowers. Men, on the other hand, opt for smells associated with foods with sizzling bacon taking the top spot by a mile. That could explain a new cologne called Rite no. 100. It was developed by a master perfumer in concert with Rite Food Brands, a meat company based in Texas that was celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2022. Here's a commercial for the scent. Born of fire and smoke comes a fragrance 100 years in the making, crafted with the enticing scents of Applewood, thick cut bacon and a secret ingredient used in fragrances from 1922, the year of our founding, introducing Rite no. 100, the fragrance inspired by bacon. The right way, the company said. To create a fragrance as iconic and alluring as Wright brand bacon. We turned the clocks back to 1922, pulled ingredients popular during that period, including a touch of maple syrup, and crafted a luxurious scent that elegantly combines with notes of bacon. The company was founded in 1922 and bottles of right number 100 sell for $19.22. Last December, President Elect Donald Trump posted a photo on his Truth social media platform. It was a snapshot of Trump talking to First Lady Jill Biden, taken at a ceremony to mark the reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Superimposed over the photo were bottles of his new line of scents. Trump wrote, here are my new Trump perfumes and colognes. He calls the new line Fight, Fight, Fight. In the post, he said they represent winning and suggested they were great Christmas gifts for the whole family. Then there was one more line in bold type below the Jill Biden photo, It said A fragrance your enemies can't resist. The official Trump fragrance website said its women's perfume is a blend of delicate floral notes with a burst of citrus for an elegant finish. But nowhere did it say what the men's cologne smells like. But the website did say this quote for patriots who never backed down like President Trump, this scent is your rallying cry in a bottle for men who fight to win and never surrender. The fragrances sold for $199 per bottle. Even though Jill Biden was an involuntary model in the cologne ad, I suspect she's not going to make a lot of Gucci came out with an unusual scent not long ago. It's marketed under the Coty brand and it's called Where My Heart Beats. Gucci says it's a sustainable luxury perfume because the fragrance is manufactured using alcohol from 100% recycled carbon emissions. A world first, alcohol is a key ingredient in perfumes as it carries scent well and disappears into the skin. Cody signed a partnership with a US Carbon recycling firm, which makes ethanol out of waste carbon emissions from industrial sources such as steel mills. Instead of releasing those emissions into the atmosphere as greenhouse gases, they're now recycled into alcohol via a natural fermentation process. Gucci says this new source of alcohol reduces the beauty industry's environmental impact. The process needs less water and lessens the need for agricultural land as compared to traditional methods of alcohol production like sugar cane farming. The genderless fragrance is said to have top notes of violet leaves, middle notes of peony and white musk at its base. Where My Heart Beats retails for a heart stopping $330 per bot. According to a company called Noteworthy, 80% of consumers say shopping for fragrance is an awful experience, and 83% of women are searching for a simple way to discover a fragrance they love. Enter AI Noteworthy says it is the first company to use AI, data science and proprietary technology to help people discover a fragrance as unique as they are. Here's how it works. Customers take a Fragrance Finder quiz, which includes a few simple questions about the customer's personality, life experience and individual preferences to create their fragrance profile. From that profile, an algorithm uses a vast database built from input from real users to determine a personalized scent recommendation. The algorithm then builds a personalized Discover kit containing four curated fragrance samples. Based on the quiz answers, customers can then sample the fragrances and decide which one they want to purchase. You could say the fragrance has a top note of AI with middle notes of convenience and a base of customization. Certain scents can instantly trigger vivid memories and various emotions when you smell something. To process the smell, your brain uses the same areas that it would use to process emotions and memories. That's why odors are actually better at helping us remember than photos are. Knowing there is a powerful link between scent and feelings, a company called ASMR Fragrances pairs carefully crafted perfumes with ASMR videos so customers can enjoy a complete sensory immersion with scent and sound. You may remember the episode we did a few seasons back on ASMR Marketing. ASMR stands for Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response. It's a tingling sensation some people experience when exposed to certain magnified sounds. The newest addition to this ASMR fragrance lineup is called Chocolate Crush. It's a perfume with a velvety essence with notes of dark chocolate, praline, malted cocoa nuts and roasted vanilla. Here's a few seconds of the ASMR video made especially for that scent with closely mic'd moments of all those ingredients. Each fragrance comes with its own ASMR audio so you can smell good and tingle at the same time. Don't go away. Next up, we talk about a fragrance inspired by beavers. Ladies and gentlemen, we are now boarding Group A, Please have your boarding passes ready to scan. If your phone is cracked, old or was chewed up by your Chihuahua travel companion, please refrain from holding up the line and instead simply go to Verizon and trade in any phone in any condition from one of their tickets. Top brands for the new Samsung Galaxy S25 plus with Galaxy AI on Unlimited ultimate and a watch or tab. Also on now Service plan required for watch or tab. Trade in and additional terms apply. See verizon.com for details. My dad works in B2B marketing. He came by my school for Career Day and said he was a big roas man. Then he told everyone how much he loved calculating his return on ad spend. My friends still laugh at me to this day. Not everyone gets B2B, but with LinkedIn you'll be able to reach people who do get $100 credit on your next ad campaign. Go to LinkedIn.com results to claim your credit. That's LinkedIn.com results. Terms and conditions apply. LinkedIn the place to Be To Be it took a lifetime to find the person you want to marry. Finding the perfect engagement ring is a lot easier. @bluenile.com you can find or design the ring you've always dreamed of with help from Blue Nile's jewelry exper who are on hand 247 to answer questions and the ease and convenience of shopping online. For a limited time, get $50 off your purchase of $500 or more with code listenlunile.com that's $50 off with code listenile.com Zoologist perf an award winning Canada based niche perfume house, it crafts animal themed fragrances. This year it unveiled its latest scent Beaver Maple Edition. According to the company, the scent pays homage to the crafty nature of beavers and themes that accompany the transition from winter to spring. The fragrance opens with the refreshing and aquatic aroma of blue water lily complemented by the bright essence of Necroli, then transitions into a warm maple Accord and cedarwood, sandalwood and patchouli. Here's the interesting part. As a beaver themed fragrance, it incorporates castoreum. Castoreum is a fluid beavers secrete from castor sacs located near their anal glands. But here's the really, really good news. This fragrance only uses synthetic castoreum. The scent of Castoreum is leathery, animal and smoky. If you want to smell virile, leave it to beaver. When it comes to gifts, men are notoriously hard to buy for. But here's an idea. There's a cologne called Dead Dinosaur. The scent is described as an ode to the addictive smell of gasoline, garage hangs and simpler times. The ingredients are pink pepper, ginger, magnolia, flower and gasoline. There's also an air freshener with the same aroma available. Then there's Outlaws Garage Handmade Pumice Soap. While not technically a fragrance, this soap is for men who have to wash oil and grease off their hands at the end of the day. The website says Outlaws Garage Handmade Pumice Soap has the aroma of gasoline, oil and just a touch of exhaust. I kid you not. So after a hard day in the garage, men can wash the oil, grease and gas off their hands, leaving them with the pleasant aroma of oil, grease and gas. Perfumes and colognes are created to trigger different responses. Some aromas are marketed to be invigorating, some stir romantic feelings, and some simple smells are powerful motivators when it comes to spending. Scents like citrus, pine or fresh baked bread influence people to associate positive feelings with their shopping experience. In some cases, scent infused stores saw a revenue uptick of 20%. Sometimes strange scents are created to jump on an opportunity, like the mayonnaise cologne. Hellman's was just riding the mayo wave there. Miller High Life's Dive Bar fragrance was created mostly as a publicity stunt. Other scents play into people's obsessions. Car guys love the smell of grease and gasoline, and pumpkin spice lovers will buy multiple products infused with that scent and never discount the desire for personal expression. We all like to feel special, and sporting a unique scent is one way to convey that just by walking into a room. Dill pickle may not be your jam, but it's somebody's preference, and a whiff of french fries just might be an icebreaker at a party. It's interesting that Teck is making inroads to the ephemeral fragrance industry with AI developed scents and perfumes that are now made from carbon emissions. Scent is powerful, it can make a personal statement, it can persuade us to open our wallets, and a small waft of perfume in an elevator can send us time traveling back into our memories. It all comes down to sentimental reasons when you're under the influence I'm Terry O'Reilly this episode was recorded in the Tear Stream Mobile recording studio and it smells good in there. Producer Debbie O'Reilly Chief Sound Engineer Jeff Devine under the Influence Themed by Casey Pick, Jeremiah Pick and James Aten Gauden. Tunes provided by APM Music. Hey, let's be social. Follow me at Terry oinfluence this podcast is powered by acast. See you next week. Fun Fact this is Darlene from Riverview, New Brunswick. Marilyn Monroe once said that the only thing she wore to bed was five drops of Chanel Number five. Ladies and gentlemen, we are now boarding Group A. Please have your boarding passes ready to scan. If your phone is cracked old or was chewed up by your Chihuahua travel companion, please refrain from holding up the line and instead simply go to Verizon and trade in any phone in any condition from one of their top brands. For the new Samsung Galaxy S25 plus with Galaxy AI on Unlimited ultimate and Watch or Tab. Also on now. Service plan required for Watch or Tab. Trade in and additional terms apply. See verizon.com for details. 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