Ahh… The scent of alma mater…
The market for college branded products is worth $4.6 billion every year. That’s sales of college-branded T-shirts, baby clothes, bumper stickers and shot glasses.
But none of those products have allowed people to smell like their alma mater.
Enter college-licensed perfumes.
Notre Dame has announced it will be coming out with its scent: ND Gold Eau de Toilette for men. And for women? Lady Irish.
“As people buy their merchandise and their shirts they’re going to buy everything with the brand on it,” says Eric Smallwood, a vice president with sports marketing firm Frontrow Marketing. “You want to live breathe and smell like the brand day in and day out.”
Smallwood says no other group of sports fans is as devoted as fans of college teams.
Notre Dame isn’t alone in taking advantage — schools like Penn State, Auburn and the University of North Carolina also have plans to license aromas.
But what do the scents actually, you know, smell like?
“Geranium, lavender, iced juniper, white pepper,” according to Katie Masik is the CEO of Masik.com, that’s what the perfume of the University of North Carolina smells like. Masik’s company created and sells many of the college scents. “We say ok, where is the school located geographically? Is it in the North, is it in the South? Is it near the beach?”
The college-licensed perfumes sell for about $60 per bottle.
So if your alma mater had its own scent, what would it smell like? We got some great responses on Twitter and Facebook this afternoon:
Tweet yours to @MarketplaceAPM or comment on our Facebook page.
Stories You Might Like
There’s a lot happening in the world. Through it all, Marketplace is here for you.
You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible.
Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.
