Welch's Debuts Flavored Ads

Call it a "lick-through." Welch's grape juice is going scented advertising one better, with a new flavored magazine ad in the Feb. 18 issue of People magazine.

The Welch's ad covers both sides of a page. There's a picture of a bottle of grape juice on the front and a peelable sticker on the back covering the flavor sample. The Welch's ad comes not long after CBS used a flavor sample--mojitos--to promote its new series "Cane," starring Jimmy Smits as a rum baron.

The Welch's and CBS ads were both produced by First Flavor, which also makes flavor samples for in-store promotions at supermarkets. The flavor samples are zero-calorie, kosher and free of animal products.

According to First Flavor, they are similar to Listerine breath strips, which are composed mostly of pullulan, a natural glucan with no nutritional value that allows manufacturers to trap colors, scents, and flavors in a film matrix.

One obvious concern: what if you're in a waiting room and pick up a magazine that's been pre-licked? To allay this fear, First Flavor says the sticker doesn't reseal once it's been opened, even partway. Readers will know when an ad has been used.

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Given its twist, the ads should prove memorable. A study released last year by GfK Starch found that "spectacular" magazine advertising --including pop-up displays, ads with sound chips and multi-page ads--produced much higher rates of ad recall. Somewhat less spectacular ads also do well, according to Starch, which found that readership of ad copy increased 136% when a scent strip is included.

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