This idea is relevant to media because it creates an entirely new medium, never used by any brand prior to this campaign.

Glade’s biggest share of sales comes from Walmart, the biggest retailer in the United States. But the rise in online shopping is working against both brands. In fact, Walmart is in the biggest fight of its 69-year history - against Amazon which is sourcing a lot of their business - and are feverishly re-designing the way they do business.

At the same time, the rise of online shopping puts a fragrance brand like Glade in a tough position, because sampling fragrance is an immersive experience you just can’t get from a digital screen. We knew how to get people to sample our fragrances in brick and mortar stores, but sampling online shoppers was out of our reach.

So, Glade partnered with Walmart and found a way to enable consumers to sample our fragrances when shopping online and to make Walmart delivery more interesting and surprising. A win-win for both brands.

We created an entirely new medium by turning ignored packing material into a new communication platform and sampling device.

Glade transformed those ubiquitous packing pillows, that typically protect online orders, into vessels that smuggle our new fragrance into people’s homes. When people received their online orders, they discovered our branded, fragrance-filled pillows - and, when they popped them to recycle them, they sampled and physically interacted with our new fragrance.

We created a new medium out of air, that informed our customers about our new scent.

Glade needed to reach online shoppers, and intercept them with non-traditional media, in order to entice them to try new fragrances.

So, Glade partnered with Walmart.com and found a way to make it possible for consumers to sample our fragrances when shopping online and to make Walmart delivery a bit more interesting and surprising. 

Glade’s fragrance-filled pillows were used to protect selected deliveries made on Walmart.com. We were able to reach relevant online shoppers, more likely to purchase air care products in a surprising, engaging and friction-free way.

For the first time ever, we turned boring and often ignored packing pillows into a new media platform that informed people about our new fragrance and doubled as a conversion vehicle with and easy scan-to-purchase code.

In the first 4 weeks, we garnered over 11 million impressions. Additionally, during the first week after our launch, Walmart ecommerce channels experienced an 83% lift in sales for Essentials Room Mist Mandarin & Mimosa.

Our initiative not only generated social media buzz, but also captured the attention and business interest of industry professionals and marketing leaders. Major shipping and logistic companies expressed an interest to partner and capitalize on our newly discovered sampling and advertising medium.