• by Larissa Faw , March 6, 2014

There are bacon-scented candles, toothpicks, and air fresheners, and now there's a bacon-smelling phone. Kraft's Oscar Mayer's Institute of Advanced Bacon has teamed with full-service agency HelloWorld and digital agency 360i, a unit of Dentsu, to introduce "Wake Up And Smell The Bacon," a bacon-scent cellphone attachment.

"With nearly two million mentions of #bacon on Instagram, it seems people never get tired of bacon," says Tom Bick, Senior Director of Integrated marketing and advertising, Oscar Mayer. "That's why our team decided to develop a device to give folks what they long for most. As the category leader, Oscar Mayer is thrilled to bring the first-ever bacon-scented mobile device to market, giving bacon aficionados a new reason to welcome their morning alarm clocks." 

Through April 4, consumers visit www.wakeupandsmellthebacon.com to enter to win one of 4,700 phones. The iOS device syncs with an iPhone app and users plug the detachable device into the iPhone headphone jack. It will not be sold in stores.

Still, those not selected to receive one of the limited-quantity phones can still receive some features by downloading the iPhone app. The app provides sounds of bacon cooking and witty bacon sayings, but minus the attachable device, users will not be able to enjoy bacon's scent.

This effort is part of a larger digital initiative to raise Oscar Mayer bacon's profile among tech-savvy bacon eaters. Kraft continues to shift marketing dollars from traditional to digital channels.

As such, Oscar Mayer's Institute of Advanced Bacon online hub serves as the centerpiece for all viral memes and initiatives, which have included the “Great American Bacon Barter,” an attempt to replace cash with bacon as the universal currency and “Say It With Bacon,” an eCommerce site to give bacon gifts to dads for Father's Day. 

Although company executives decline to break out ad spend by category, Kraft spent $747 million on advertising in 2013, up from $640 million in 2012 and $535 million in 2011, according to the company's financial filings. Kraft's Refrigerated Meats division, which primarily consists of Oscar Mayer, generated $3.33 billion in net revenues last year, up 1.6% from $3.28 billion in 2012.