[ad_1]
Bath & Body Works is celebrating the holiday with a new campaign that touts its medley of fragrances and a really big candle in New York City.
The campaign introduces a new creative platform, “Come Back to Your Senses,” developed by Adweek’s Multicultural Agency of the Year, The Community, which won the business after a competitive pitch. The campaign invites people to wake up their senses through scent and connect through the power of fragrance, when everything around us might be hectic and chaotic.
Nothing conveys that better than New York City at Christmastime, when shopping is at a frenzied pace. On Nov. 30, Bath & Body Works’ annual Candle Day, the brand dropped its biggest candle yet at Herald Square: Standing 10 feet tall, it’s a recreation of the fan favorite Tis the Season candle, providing a scent interruption to the hustle and bustle of the city.
It’s part of a push to bring the retailer to the next generation of shoppers who may not be as familiar with malls and brick-and-mortar shopping.
“As we look to expand our reach to more customers across every generation, we’re extending the invitation for them to come back to their senses and experience the power of fragrance. This call to action is proving to be both powerful and relevant to so many,” Bath & Body Works chief customer officer Maurice Cooper told Adweek.
Cooper noted that Bath & Body Works is proud of its mall-based heritage, though hundreds of the company’s more than 1,840 stores in the U.S. and Canada are now found off-mall. The brand also built a large direct-to-consumer digital business, and Cooper said its products can be found in close to 40% of U.S. households.
“Our partnership with The Community is so exciting because they are an agency that’s steeped in culture, truly understands our brand and is eager to help us positively disrupt the status quo so that we can recruit millions to this sensory movement,” added Cooper.
Smell these videos
To further bring the campaign to life, the brand and Publicis agency created several spots featuring a surreal environment that invites viewers to imagine themselves in scent-infused experiences that remove them from the day-to-day.
The brand calls scent the most evocative of the senses, and connects most strongly to people’s emotions and memorable moments.
One spot centers on a bathroom adorned with greenery, panning out from a candle being lit to a lush jungle of scented wonder. The voiceover states, “Work emails? What work emails?” as a man takes a big sniff of the scent from the candle and accompanying lotion.
