Scent, warmth of baked potatoes being pumped into UK bus shelters

McCain Foods UK is launching an outdoor ad campaign that will pump the smells of baked potatoes into bus shelters across the UK. Monkey Business pic

LONDON, Feb 8 As Europe continues to hunker down in a frosty cold snap, one food manufacturer is deploying a marketing strategy that aims to turn bus shelters across the UK into steamy kitchens that simulate the smell and warmth of baked potatoes.

Following the lead of Kraft Foods which pumped Chicago bus shelters with the aromas of their Stove Top stuffing, McCain Foods UK will also try to recreate the in-home experience of eating an oven-baked potato, also known as jacket potatoes in the UK.

The outdoor campaign will involve 10 fully-wrapped bus shelters, fitted with 2-feet high fibreglass potatoes, and coupon dispensers.

But, perhaps more enticingly, the outdoor media campaign also allows commuters to heat the bus shelter by pressing a button on the poster which activates a heating element and diffuses the aromas of baking potatoes throughout particularly useful at a time when Europe is in the grip of a deep freeze.

The 1.4 million (RM6.7 million) marketing campaign launches across London, York, Nottingham, Glasgow and Manchester throughout the month of February.

In 2008, advertisers with Kraft's stuffing brand Stove Top launched an "experiential marketing" campaign that heated 10 Chicago bus shelters during the winter in an effort to recreate warm' and fuzzy feelings of eating piping hot stuffing in the Windy City. Select shelters also handed out stuffing samples.

McCain Ready Baked Jackets are sold at Tesco, ASDA, Morrisons and Sainsbury's across the UK. AFP-Relaxnews

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