Welch’s Lickable Ad

Posted by Alex in Advertising, Food & Drinks on February 17, 2008 at 11:02 pm


Remember the good ol’ scratch and sniff stickers? Well, Welch’s has just taken it a step further with their new ad magazine campaign: the lickable ad.

Welch’s is taking out full-page print ads in People magazine this month that give readers a chance to sample its grape juice by licking the ad. The front of the advertisement shows a huge bottle of the juice, while the back has a strip that peels up and off, with text that reads: "For a TASTY fact, remove & LICK."

Marketers are excited about the prospects for lickable ads, but also have to deal with the "ick" factor. Since magazines are often passed from reader to reader (think doctors’ offices) there is a good chance that saliva could be left on the ad. Readers are supposed to peel off the entire sticker on the Welch’s ad before licking, says First Flavor, the company that developed the technology used in the ad. If someone doesn’t rip off the whole sticker, First Flavor says, the flap can’t reseal, giving people an easy way to know whether the ad has already been licked.

Link - via AdFreak

Update 2/18/08: Jay Minkoff of FirstFlavor, the maker of the “Peel ‘n Taste” product explained:

Our product, which can be attached to a print ad and peeled off, is a sealed tamper evident foil pouch containing a piece of edible film. (Similar to popular breath strips.) One peels opens the pouch and places the piece of edible film on your tongue. The edible film dissolves quickly leaving you with a burst of flavor. No licking involved!



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COMMENT

10 comments to "Welch’s Lickable Ad"

  1. stacyj
    February 17th, 2008 at 11:40 pm

    Hmm … the borderline-germophobe in me finds this concept more than a little disturbing (’ick factor,’ indeed!). The strange thing, though, is that it seems like the “has my magazine already been licked?” problem could have been avoided if, instead of having a peel-off sticker, they just made the flavored section itself peel-off … peel the patch off of the ad, lick and discard, leaving the magazine delightfully slobber free!

  2. VonSkippy
    February 17th, 2008 at 11:45 pm

    What’s next, a ad for laundry detergent that has a swatch of clean cloth in it? See how clean YOUR clothes could be!

    Are people that stupid to fall for this crap?

  3. Meadow
    February 18th, 2008 at 2:06 am

    I just got the People magazine with this ad in it, and I thought it was genius–I don’t know if different areas are getting different versions of the ad, but mine was an encased little flap that you peeled open and inside was a removable, paper-thin, purple strip EXACTLY like the Listerine breath strips. I can say that it didn’t exactly taste like grape juice, but the concept was there and it was really cool. That said, I don’t think there’s anything to worry about an “ick” factor, because once it’s gone, it’s gone. There’s no “residue” leftover for another person to try. One strip, one taste, that’s it.

  4. Lo
    February 18th, 2008 at 2:28 am

    Are we getting closer to the wallpaper in the original Willy Wonka movie becoming a reality?

  5. Jay Minkoff
    February 18th, 2008 at 11:14 am

    As the president of First Flavor http://www.FirstFlavor.com, the company bringing this Peel ‘n Taste product to market, there is a major correction to the WSJ article: This is not about Lickable Ads. Welch’s used the term ‘lick’ in their ad and no one seems to have bothered to read the fine print.

    Our product, which can be attached to a print ad and peeled off, is a sealed tamper evident foil pouch containing a piece of edible film. (Similar to popular breath strips.) One peels opens the pouch and places the piece of edible film on your tongue. The edible film dissolves quickly leaving you with a burst of flavor. No licking involved!

    The point that was really missed was that finally consumers now have a way of trying the taste of a product before they buy it. We call it taking a product for a ‘Taste Drive’!

  6. NiteWhite
    February 18th, 2008 at 12:10 pm

    someone spray some LSD on a few ads and watch Welsh vanish into obscurity. i doubt im not the only catastrophic thinker out there.

  7. VonSkippy
    February 18th, 2008 at 2:15 pm

    “taste drive” - by sampling some edible film that has a near facsimile of the taste of the actually product.

    Yeah, that’s way better (and probably costs the vendor 10x as much) as just giving a %50 off coupon so that they CAN TASTE THE REAL PRODUCT.

    I’m guessing this “idea” is brought to us fine consumers by the same guy who thought “Pop Up” ad’s on the web was a good idea.

  8. CheeseDuck
    February 18th, 2008 at 5:52 pm

    @Lo

    What about TV chocolate?

  9. The Slapster
    February 18th, 2008 at 8:13 pm

    @ VonSkippy: Nobody has to “fall for it” - it’s advertising. Simply getting press is half the idea. You have now contributed to this story gathering interest, and Welch’s thanks you!

  10. Matt
    February 21st, 2008 at 10:27 pm

    Don’t think this will make me want to buy some juice ( although it may make me thirsty).

    Here is a video of some radio hosts trying this our live on the air:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AL4HYkhrXqg


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