Pearl Media Brings Scratch ’n’ Sniff Billboards to NYC

Pearl Media (Montclair, NJ) brought a nostalgic novelty back to New York with three scratch ’n’ sniff billboards around the city.

The OOH media company collaborated with Quan Media Group (New York) to advertise Billie deodorant in April, Outdoor Media Group (Jersey City, NJ) for Ulta’s NYX Smushy lip gloss over June and July, and MilkMoney (Los Angeles) for Selena Gomez’s beauty line, Rare Beauty, in August.

It was Billie that first came up with the idea of incorporating scent into the billboard, according to Pearl Media Chief Revenue Officer Anthony Petrillo. Pearl Media provided the client with guidelines for delivering the scented oil to ensure its integrity, then infused the scent into scratch ’n’ sniff stickers that come up in various sizes. The stickers were applied directly on top of the vinyl.

“When it was a thing, the first scratch is the most potent. Over time it wears down,” Petrillo says. “Over the course of five or five days, we were fortunate to have in-house installation teams in NYC who could go out and replenish the stickers and put brand new ones on.” They had to consider the weather in their installation schedule as the rain could wash away a little of the scents.

By using scratch ’n’ sniff stickers rather than the traditional method of delivering scent samples on cards, the brands were not required to hire brand ambassadors and would not produce litter through paper waste.

“It does have an element of nostalgia for people who remember it, and it’s something new for people who’ve never heard of it. That’s kind of cool it has this dual consumer experience,” Petrillo adds.

In addition to the scents, the billboards came with a QR code than unlocked a 25% discount when scanned. While the billboards have come down, Pearl Media is developing one new program for New York Fashion Week and another beauty product campaign for the holiday season.

For more information, visit pearlmedia.com.