Johnson & Johnson infuses newspaper ink with a baby powder fragrance in India

To promote the baby powder in India, Johnson & Johnson taps into the traditional perfume brands’ promo approach of placing scented ads in fashion and lifestyle women’s magazines. The brand has “embedded” the smell of the baby product into a Wednesday edition of a range of daily newspapers, such as The Times of India, The Hindu, and Malayala Manorama to raise awareness of it among parents.

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Photo: Johnson & Johnson’s baby powder ad 

The goal of the campaign by the media agency OMD was to use the olfactory-based experience to evoke sweet memories of being/having a baby. The trademark Johnson & Johnson’s baby baby powder fragrance was incorporated into the newspaper ink, which made the newspaper ad page smell “like a newborn,” without compromising the quality of printing.

The text goes in a verse format, encouraging the reader to “remember the smell of your little one when she was a little one.” The ad features an idyllic picture of an Indian mother holding a newborn on her chest. Along with appearance in major newspapers, the ad launched across eight metros.

“We felt that there was a strong connection between the scent of the Johnson’s baby powder and the millions of sweet gentle memories that parents have with their little one,” commented a spokesperson for OMD. “From this germinated the thought of a ‘scented newspaper’.”

While the J&J newspaper ad could be only smelled and couldn’t be used to evoke any other senses—tactile, for example. Unlike this one-sided project, Fanta’s print ad promoted a new orange soda flavor could be also eaten.