Guerilla Sampling Tactics from Fragrance Brands

Brenna Phelan, manager and fragrance industry analyst with The NPD Group, recently wrote about new promotional and sampling activities and collaborations fragrance brands are taking in the marketplace.

In Rock ‘N’ Roll ‘N’ Perfume," she writes, "My daughter and her friends go to a lot of concerts, at least one a month. She went to a concert this past week, for a music group that I am not at all familiar with, and came home with some interesting free stuff. They handed out fun size Mike and Ike candies as well as samples of a women’s fragrance. I had never heard of such a giveaway at a music concert before. It’s rather ingenious though, as the target audience for the concert and the scent seem fairly in line.

"This kind of sampling tactic could be a great way to reach a targeted consumer group. We know that receiving a sample is an important way to influence consumers who are considering a fragrance purchase (ranking #2 with men and #3 with women). Other important influential factors include comments from friends/family/significant others (ranking #1 with both genders), and if they smelled it on someone else (ranking #3 with men and #2 with women). This concert venue provided a captive audience and a great opportunity for each of these key influencers to come into play, all in the same place, at the same time.

"So, did the sampling tactic really work at this concert, with this fragrance? In my sample size of one, I think it did. My daughter took the perfume sample, tried it herself, liked it, shared it with others, and is considering purchasing it. All in all, that seems like the desired result," Phelan ends.

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