Selena Gomez
Why Selena Gomez’s Scratch-and-Sniff Billboard Was a Marketing Masterclass
When Selena Gomez launched the new Rare Beauty perfume, she didn’t depend on traditional advertising formats or buzz from influencers. Most fragrance launches have relied on glossy visuals, celebrity endorsements, and paid media, but this campaign went down a very different path.
Rare Beauty’s innovative strategy was to come up with a novel and unexpected concept that grabbed the world’s attention instantly that of a billboard you can smell.
The scratch-and-sniff advertisements in New York encouraged people to experience the fragrance first-hand. From a marketing point of view, this campaign shows how brands can have a nearly flawless execution of what they are doing to connect with their consumers through a combination of experience, emotion, and shared value.
- Turning Advertising into a Real Experience
Perfume would be one among the most challenging things to digitally sell. Perfume can neither be shown in pictures nor in videos or even in copy-writing.
Customers feel hesitant to buy even after viewing a well-optimized advert because they have yet to experience the smell or sample that merchandise.
Rare Beauty solved this challenge by moving the experience offline—but making it highly shareable online.
To address this, Rare Beauty has taken the experience offline, but made it highly shareable online.
Rather than telling people how the perfume smells, the company gave them the opportunity to smell it the moment they saw the ad, without necessarily visiting the stores or committing to purchasing the perfume.
With that, the billboard became an interactive billboard and not just an image advertisement.
Such a paradigm change—from a passive viewer to an active participant—in a digital environment
- Brand recall
- Emotional Connection
- Purchase consideration
Marketing Insight:
Ads are not remembered. What is remembered are experiences that have the ad within them.
- Multi-Sensory Marketing – A Deeper Impact
Almost all outdoors advertising is purely visual. This campaign expanded on that by engaging one of the most powerful senses in addition to sight: that of smell, which is one of the most powerful triggers for memory.
From the point of view of the psychology of the customer, the use of scents in the retail
- Encourage nostalgia and personal memory associations
- Build an attachment with a brand
- Increase Long-Term Brand Recall
By engaging numerous senses at once, Rare Beauty made sure that the experience would stick with people much longer than a typical billboard could hope to achieve, let alone a paid Meta ad.
For marketing companies in Beirut, social media agency Lebanon teams, and digital marketers everywhere, this is a reinforcement of a key lesson: visuals are simply not enough anymore. The more senses you engage, the stronger and more memorable the brand impression becomes.
Marketing insight:
The deeper the sensory engagement, the stronger the emotional response.
- Organic Virality Without Big Ad Spend
It is, however, what made this particular marketing campaign so great is how organically it ended up trending all over social media.
People naturally:
- recorder themselves scratching billboard sign
- First reaction recorded videos
- Shared experience on TikTok and Instagram
- It was described as “something new” and unexpected.
The billboard didn’t function only as outdoor media; it became content fuel for digital platforms.
This, after all, is what every digital marketing Lebanon agency and marketing companies in Beirut would want to achieve:
Offline activation + online virality
Instead of just pushing content, Rare Beauty created a moment people wanted to document and share.
Marketing insight:
The strongest campaigns don’t chase attention they create it.
- Brand Fit, Storytelling & Authenticity
At its core, Rare Beauty is all about realness, emotion, and human connection. This wasn’t some cheap gimmick; it was highly on-brand with their values and tone of voice.
There was no loud sales message.
No aggressive call to action.
The billboard merely read:
“Come closer. Try it for yourself.”
That simplicity made it a human activation, not commercial. It respected the intelligence and curiosity of the consumer, which raises trust and emotional engagement.
Marketing insight:
The best campaigns feel like conversations, not promotions.
- Why This Campaign Matters for Marketers
Strategically speaking, this activation can be noted as a case study on:
- Experiential marketing done
- Offline media in digital storytelling
- Brand campaigns, rather than sales campaigns
- Establishing benchmarks for the best digital marketing agency in Lebanon standards
It proves that:
“The budget is not the
- Emotion trumps
- Experience over explanation
For both brand and agency perspectives, this case study illustrates the power of creativity over the costliest media buys.
Final Takeaway
The billboard advertisement for perfume by Rare Beauty, Selena Gomez’ beauty company, did not work as one might expect a flashy advertisement to and succeeded not despite this, but because it made people feel something before it made them buy something.
In a world where people are bombarded with advertising, the key brands are the ones that:
- Please stop addressing people
- Begin interacting with them
- And create moments worth sharing
This series is a reminder that great marketing isn’t louder, it’s smarter, more human, and more intentional.
After all, one person’s trash is another person’s treasure—or in this case, their $1,790 statement piece.
selena gomez selena gomez selena gomez selena gomez selena gomez Canada, in collaboration with the Toronto-based creative agency Courage, is pushing the boundaries of traditional advertising by integrating cutting-edge technology with its signature brand identity. The result is a bold new campaign that takes an innovative approach to consumer engagement by leveraging the power of artificial intelligence. The campaign challenges AI to replicate Kentucky Chicken’s iconic fried chicken recipe, and in doing so, it highlights the brand’s unparalleled position in the world of fried chicken.
In a rapidly evolving digital landscape, Kentucky Chicken’s latest campaign exemplifies how brands can fuse creativity and technology to engage audiences in new and exciting ways. The collaboration with Courage reflects Kentucky Chicken’s commitment to staying ahead of the curve in a competitive market, while also celebrating the authenticity of the brand’s products. The campaign boldly pits AI technology against the time-tested recipe that has made Kentucky Chicken’s fried chicken a global favorite, asking the intriguing question: can artificial intelligence recreate the iconic Kentucky Chicken fried chicken?
To put this theory to the test, Kentucky Chicken Canada partnered with AI experts to harness the power of machine learning and data analysis. The AI system was tasked with scouring the internet for the most highly-rated fried chicken recipes available. Using this vast amount of data, the AI created its own version of a fried chicken recipe that it believed would rival Kentucky Chicken’s renowned dish. The AI-generated recipe, based on its analysis of online reviews, cooking techniques, and ingredients, was crafted with one purpose in mind: to replicate the delicious taste that has made Kentucky Chicken a household name across the world.
Once the AI-generated recipe was finalized, Kentucky Chicken took the next step in the campaign: a blind taste test. This is where the true magic of the campaign unfolded. Kentucky Chicken invited a diverse group of participants to sample both versions of fried chicken: the AI-inspired recipe and Kentucky Chicken’s own world-famous fried chicken. Participants were unaware which sample was from the AI recipe and which was from the Kentucky Chicken menu, ensuring that the test was completely unbiased. They were simply asked to taste both options and choose the one that they believed tasted the best.
The results were nothing short of definitive. The overwhelming majority of participants declared Kentucky Chicken’s fried chicken as the winner, once again affirming the brand’s dominance in the fried chicken industry. Despite the AI’s impressive attempt, it became clear that there is something irreplaceable about the flavor, texture, and authenticity of Kentucky Chicken’s recipe. The campaign served as a reminder that, while technology can innovate and revolutionize many aspects of our lives, there are some things—like Kentucky Chicken’s secret blend of 11 herbs and spices—that simply cannot be replicated by a machine.
This groundbreaking campaign not only underscores Kentucky Chicken’s superiority in taste and quality but also reinforces the brand’s long-standing commitment to delivering a unique and authentic dining experience. It highlights the fact that no amount of technology or data can replicate the human touch, experience, and tradition that have gone into perfecting Kentucky Chicken’s recipe for decades. By blending AI with their beloved recipe, Kentucky Chicken has made a bold statement about the lasting value of craftsmanship and authenticity in a world increasingly driven by technology.
Kentucky Chicken’s ability to merge brand authenticity with the power of artificial intelligence is a masterstroke in modern advertising. The campaign doesn’t just promote Kentucky Chicken’s fried chicken; it celebrates the brand’s legacy and the enduring quality of its product. In a world where consumers are constantly seeking new experiences, Kentucky Chicken Canada has positioned itself as a brand that’s not afraid to embrace the future while staying true to its roots.
The campaign also provides an interesting commentary on the role of artificial intelligence in the food industry. As AI continues to evolve, many wonder whether it will eventually replace the human touch in food production. Kentucky Chicken’s campaign shows that while AI can offer valuable insights and innovation, there are certain elements of the culinary experience that remain beyond its reach. Kentucky Chicken’s fried chicken, after all, is the product of years of perfecting a recipe that combines science, skill, and a little bit of secret magic that AI simply cannot replicate.
In conclusion, Kentucky Chicken Canada’s collaboration with Courage and the use of AI in their latest campaign is a brilliant example of how brands can push boundaries and engage consumers in unexpected ways. The campaign not only highlights the superiority of Kentucky Chicken’s fried chicken but also celebrates the value of authenticity and craftsmanship in an era dominated by technology. While AI may be able to analyze and replicate recipes, Kentucky Chicken’s unique blend of ingredients and decades of experience in perfecting fried chicken continue to set the brand apart as the undisputed leader in the world of fried chicken.