Wanna bask in the X’mas fragrance? H&M shows how

Christmas has landed in Oxford Circus Tube station, with a lot of olfactory excitement, thanks to H&M, the first fashion brand to deploy scented posters on the Transport for London (TfL) network, in partnership with Zenith, and Exterion Media, UK’s leading transport media owner.

The two-week campaign, showcasing H&M’s Holiday collection and the season’s party pieces, takes millions of customers on an immersive multisensory experience as they travel through the station’s exit corridors to the high street. The activation on the unique creative space called ‘5 Ways’ utilises five corridors displaying festive, social scenes and the familiar scent of Christmas spiced fruit.

Taking the campaign to the high street, H&M’s campaign creative can also be found across London buses. The Out-of-Home (OOH) campaign was planned and booked by Zenith Media and Posterscope.

Lisa Snow, Business Director at Zenith, said speaking about the campaign, “Every year, Christmas is a cluttered space for brands. We know to cut through the noise, brands need to create relevant, memorable and immersive consumer experiences – and the scented ‘5 Ways’ media activation does exactly that.”

Julia Edgington, Head of Creative Solutions at Exterion Media, said “It’s great to see brands like H&M experimenting with our scented posters – in this case to enhance the commute with some festive cheer. Whereas our previous clients have used scent to communicate a specific brand attribute, H&M are cleverly using scent to create an emotional bond with their audience, in this case the familiar scent of being with loved ones at Christmas. The use of scent in advertising has been proven to create a stronger emotional response in audiences, and we’re working hard to continually identify new high-impact opportunities across our estates that utilise the power of multisensory messaging.”

Chris Reader, Head of Commercial Media at Transport for London, said, “It’s fantastic to see a brand like H&M using our advertising estate to bring a bit of unexpected fun with an innovative campaign to customers using Oxford Circus Tube station. Advertising provides vital funds that we invest in modernising the transport network for the benefit of all of our customers.”