This McDonald’s billboard stinks (for all the right reasons)

McDonald's is known for its iconic marketing and the fast food chain's latest campaign is certainly nothing to turn your nose up at. Taking over the Netherlands, McDonald's has recently released a host of oddly minimalist billboards with a delightfully strange twist. Instead of a visual feast for the eyes, these billboards take a more olfactory approach. That's right, they're scented. 

Whether the concept intrigues or slightly disturbs you (for which I'm the latter) it's certainly one of the most unique examples of billboard advertising I've seen in some time. It proves just how iconic McDonald's branding truly is when an iconic campaign can be carried on scent alone. 

Partnering with advertising agency TBWA\NEBOKO, McDonald's released a series of plain billboards in its signature red and yellow colours. Craftily stowed away in the billboards was a selection of McDonald's fries that provided the scent to be pumped out to unsuspecting passersby. 

In a video shared by McDonald's Nederland, people were asked to take a whiff and see if they could identify the smell, which many instantly recognised. As the video says, "People could look away, but they couldn’t smell away" and with each billboard placed within 200 metres of a nearby McDonald's, those captivated by the aroma could instantly satisfy their cravings. 

"Smell has been proven to be more effective at sparking clear and emotional memories than images," says McDonald's Netherlands CMO, Stijn Mentrop-Huliselan, according to PR Newswire. The campaign aims to tap into our sense of nostalgia, cooking up positive associations that simple visuals can't replicate. 

For more McDonald's marketing, check out the ingenious ad that proves the Big Mac's icon status. If you're keeping an eye on the trends, take a look at these examples of billboard advertising getting desperate for a prime example of what not to do.