Great (and Gross) Promo Ideas Inspired by USPS’ New Scratch-and-Sniff Stamps

Having recently entered the news cycle in earnest due to President Donald Trump’s reported desire to have it double Amazon’s shipping rates, the United States Postal Service (USPS) handled a much lighter and refreshing topic yesterday, announcing that it will unveil its inaugural scratch-and-sniff stamps. Coinciding with the start of summer, their release will feature 10 watercolor illustrations, each bearing “frosty, colorful, icy pops on a stick.”

Depending on where you live, the upcoming season can be a real endurance test, as smoldering temperatures and thunderstorms can make best-laid plans go awry. But the USPS wants to keep everyone from playing the part of a perpetual pessimist when the weather heats up by issuing adhesives that USA Today holds will “evoke the sweet scent of summer.” (That smell isn’t always apparent here in Philadelphia, folks, we can tell you that much, but let’s let positivity have a moment.)

Thanks to artist Margaret Berg, end-users, come June 20, will be able to add a touch of novelty to their mailings, with consumer curiosity over the chosen aroma certain to intensify over the next four weeks. Available for preorder, the forever stamps, no matter what any naysayer might wish to utter about the impending months, figure to make the agency a pretty penny and compel end-users either to keep them as collector’s items or encourage them to go old school and affix them to invitations or, dare we say, letters.

First-ever scratch-and-sniff stamps coming soon to a Post Office™ near you! https://t.co/iioGH4DoyJ #FrozenTreatsStamps pic.twitter.com/jJLHjLz7R5

— U.S. Postal Service (@USPS) May 22, 2018

Since the USPS is set to make an innovative field-specific move through the stamps, we began to wonder which promotional products might benefit from a similar scratch-and-sniff treatment and which should definitely resist the urge to be nosy about our noses’ inner workings.

Just for fun, here are three promo ideas that would be more awesome and three that sound downright terrible in scratch-and-sniff form:

The Good

Calendars: We are big on these reminders at Promo Marketing, as there are so many solid suppliers offering them. Imagine being able to add the upcoming scent to the summer months’ pages or even having a turkey-scented one for November or a poinsettia-infused whiff come December.

Diaper bags: Since what hits our nostrils when tending to diaper changes can be quite offensive, end-users might need a reminder that the foul stench shall soon pass.

Alarm clocks: It can be a real drag to wake at any point in the year, let alone the summer, but one scratch of an alarm clock’s buttons might just convince us to turn off our air conditioners and rejoin civilization.

The Gross

T-shirts: While we acknowledge that design possibilities for T-shirts are endless, we should not look to augment them with a scratch-and-sniff option. Personal space, everyone—respect it.

Headbands: Nothing says “I am going to humiliate you on the court” more pitifully than a scented headband. We believe that success has a sweet smell, but these apparel items shouldn’t.

Floor mats: We ask that anyone who thinks a scented floor mat is a decent idea to step away from a discussion on how to market the scratch-and-sniff phenomenon. Floor mats, while great examples of the power of logos and branding, should not be where industry presences decide to put their best foot forward when considering how to be a standout business partner.