How Scentbird scented a movie for its latest marketing activation - Glossy

Published 16 hours ago• 3 minute read

Subscription fragrance platform Scentbird is taking an innovative approach to fragrance marketing through its integrations with pop culture and entertainment. For example, most recently —as a launch event for its new fragrance set — it hosted a “scent-a-long” of “I Know What You Did Last Summer” during a pre-release screening of the film on Tuesday. The movie officially comes out on Friday, July 18.

Throughout the film’s screening — held at the Union Square Regal Theater for an audience of editors, brand friendlies and longtime subscribers — scents from the company’s exclusive Scentbird x “I Know What You Did Last Summer” fragrance set were diffused into the atmosphere of the movie theater. The company curated a $35 set featuring fragrances curated to match the mood of the slasher film. It includes Sydney Rock Pool by Arquiste, French Riviera by Mancera, Supersolid by Binaurale, Moss+ Bold by Commodity and L’eau de Parfum by Cirque du Soleil, and is sold on the brand’s e-commerce site. The set is an official collaboration with Sony Pictures’ “I Know What You Did Last Summer.”

“Sony Pictures, like [Scentbird], really believes in this idea of multi-sensory, enhanced entertainment,” said Elena Lécué, Scentbird’s CMO. “The experience of viewing a movie can be enhanced, elevated, taken into the fourth dimension by adding an olfactory layer. This is the first time Sony has been involved in a scented event.

Moments of the movie — which cannot yet be revealed due to the film’s embargo — correspond with the five scents in the customer kit, said Brittney Jackson Moseley, Scentbird’s director of integrated marketing. The film is a remake of the 1997 cult-classic starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe and Freddie Prinze Jr. The 2025 version stars Madelyn Cline and Chase Sui Wonders.

In the past 18 months, Scentbird has increasingly tied its marketing to pop culture moments. It has partnered with Marvel’s “Ironheart” and “Agatha All Along,” Apple TV’s “Palm Royale,” and ABC’s “The Bachelor.” The partnerships have varied in form.

With “The Bachelor,” for example, Scentbird riffed on the franchise’s famed roses, offering curations of rose-based fragrances for both men and women, as well as curations based on first dates, honeymoons and other such romantic moments. “We are finding new and unique ways, through each of our partnerships, to speak to our customer through the language of scent,” said Jackson Moseley.

The partnerships also bring opportunity to some of Scentbird’s smaller, more indie brand partners. Some of these smaller brands may “never think of partnering with Marvel, but with Scentbird, it’s like a triangle where we’re bringing all the parties together,” Lécué said. “A fragrance brand that is distributed on Scentbird, all of a sudden, finds itself in the company of Marvel, Disney, “The Bachelor” and all of these amazing partners.”

“The fragrance industry has always been closely tied to fashion, but we see more potential in connecting fragrance to entertainment and culture,” Lécué said. “It’s more present in our lives now.”

This intersection between fragrance and pop culture, Jackson Moseley said, “really helps our customers dream and smell through the screen.”

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