Dive Summary:
- PepsiCo has been looking into packaging options that would allow consumers to smell products without opening them, as explained in a patent filing from March 2012 that was published this year.
- The technology could be used for beverages, concentrates, syrups, shelf-stable and chilled drinks and other products.
- Using tiny gelatine capsules with encapsulated aromas, PepsiCo could provide shoppers with the option to activate smells from oils, fruit essences or other alternatives, enticing them to buy a given beverage.
Dive Insight:
PepsiCo found itself in second place earlier this year in the U.S. juice market, and non-carbonated beverages are becoming more and more crucial to its business. Meanwhile, the company isn't the only one in the world experimenting with smell marketing for its products; Tesco aisles in the U.K. should soon be making baked potato smells available to customers. Do you think we'll see more smell-enabled packaging before the year is out?