• by Danielle Oster , Yesterday

There are no shortage of options for wrapping paper as people prepare to wrap their gifts this year, but how many of them smell like cola or ginger ale?

In one of the more unusual holiday campaigns, prebiotic soda brand Olipop is launching a promotional giveaway of  “soda-scented” wrapping paper. The wrapping paper is designed to smell like the three flavors in the brand’s holiday variety pack: Vintage Cola, Ginger Ale, and Crisp Apple.

From Dec. 8, through Dec.16, Olipop will give away the wrapping paper to a randomly chosen daily winners within 24 hours. Winners will also receive a holiday variety 12-pack featuring the Vintage Cola, Ginger Ale, and Crisp Apple flavors, with the brand giving away over 1,000 variety packs through the promotion. Olipop is promoting the giveaway via content on its Instagram page. “The brand also partnered with Amazon on a giveaway offering “a free year of Olipop.”

In another fragrance-oriented marketing initiative from a soda brand, PepsiCo’s Mug Root Beer is introducing a limited release of a “Daddy’s Home by Mug Root Beer” cologne.

A supporting campaign in line with Mug’s tongue-in-cheek brand tone positions the product as developed with the brand’s dog mascot, and “chief sniffer,” Dog. A “Mug Root Beer Made A Cologne” campaign video includes the important warning that the fragrance is intended for human use only, and not to be used by dogs.

It appears that, unlike Olipop’s scented wrapping paper, the “Daddy’s Home” cologne was not created to smell exactly like the soda. The brand describes it as “a balanced scent” that “pairs woody cedar and sandalwood with sweet vanilla and caramel” -- fragrances inspired by the root beer’s flavor profile. Mug is making the limited-release available to audiences via its TikTok Shop, with an accompanying TikTok Live from the brand, Dec. 9.