The other day on the long trip home from school, my daughters (10, 10 and 12) were comparing notes on writing personal narratives. They had all been assigned one in each of their classes. One of my twins, Clara, wanted to know what would make her paper stand out (this is a constant theme in our house).
I suggested they should include all five senses – descriptions of what they saw, heard, felt, tasted and smelled. Smell is the most nostalgic of the senses, so be sure to include it, I told them.
Again, as is often t
he case in our house, they let me know they already knew this.
And while we all know it too, I still have to remind myself of this basic tenet of writing nearly every time I sit down at the computer. That’s why when an AdAge article popped up on Pillsbury’s latest marketing maneuver, I jumped a little. Brilliant! Pillsbury employed the most nostalgic sense to pump their brand of cinnamon rolls into movie theaters. Literally.
The Pillsbury ad played in 25 theaters before the movie “The Grinch” started along with perfectly timed puffs of cinnamon roll smell. The scent was designed to evoke nostalgia – memories of baking Pillsbury’s refrigerated dough cinnamon rolls with mom – at Christmas time (AdAge.com, 2018).
General Mills-owned Pillsbury is taking the nostalgia-scent link to the pages of Better Homes and Gardens and Parents magazine as well with scratch-and-sniff ads. I can’t imagine that’s as effective as the movie trick, yet the attempt at integrating and extending the campaign is impressive.
In fact, the entire idea can be thought of as an extension of transmedia narrative, which is basically a way to move storytelling through different mediums. This usually means using different vehicles to keep a storyline advancing such as movies, social media, comic books, etc. Until I read the Pillsbury story, I hadn’t thought of extending the narrative beyond using different mediums.
What if we extended it using all kinds of ways to transport consumers? What if we thought of the storytelling process beyond “traditional” digital and print mediums and relied on what my daughters already apparently know and I have to remind myself of every time I write? The five senses? The possibilities are as endless in marketing as they are in writing.
AdAge.com (2018, December 5). Pillsbury pumps cinnamon roll smells into movie theaters. AdAge. Retrieved from https://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/pillsbury-pump-cinnamon-roll-smells-movie-theaters/315892/
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