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Schick Uses Scent to Give Men’s Razor a Competitive Edge

IN 2005, Bic introduced what it said was the first disposable women’s razor with a scented handle, and competitors Gillette and Schick followed suit, selling women’s razors with scents like lavender, citrus and tropical. Right under the noses of razor marketers, meanwhile, was half of the population, but the prevailing wisdom was that men would reject scented razors as unmanly.

“The thought had been that men would think it would be girly,” said Suma Nagaraj, the brand manager for Schick Xtreme3, a line of disposable razors with varieties for men and women.

But now Schick is introducing what it says is the first men’s scented razor, the Xtreme3 Refresh, and rolling it out with scratch-and-sniff packaging, an online marketing campaign and a partnership deal with a Nascar driver, Martin Truex Jr.

Men have used scented shaving preparations for centuries and today increasingly use fragrant shower gels and body sprays. The “razor is probably the only thing left in the shower that’s not scented,” said Richard Michaud, senior global programming engineer for Schick.

Schick, an Energizer Holdings brand, asked a fragrance company to develop something that evokes having just showered, and the final result is described by the brand as blending notes of spearmint, citrus and rosemary.

Embedded in the rubber part of the handle, the scent is subtle, and when the consumer research team at Schick initially gave the razors to male testers, only about half even noticed it. Mr. Michaud attributes that to the scent of the razors dissipating because they were enclosed in resealable plastic bags rather than their airtight packaging. Opening a package, he says, releases a distinct burst of scent.

The men who noticed the scent formed a better impression of the razor over all, rating it more highly than the oblivious respondents on nonolfactory performance factors including the closeness and comfort of shaving. Among those who noticed the scent, 70 percent said it was a razor they definitely would choose to buy, compared with 43 percent of those who did not notice.

“Before we launched, we wanted to make sure it resonated with men, and we had some very interesting learnings,” Ms. Nagaraj said, adding that even the impressions from men who did not notice the smell were beyond projections, suggesting that it may have influenced them at a subconscious level.

The way aromas affect consumers, sometimes subconsciously, is the basis for the growing field of scent marketing.

ScentAir, which is based in Charlotte, N.C., specializes in what it calls “commercial scent solutions,” and works with retailers to help make an impression on shoppers. Bloomingdale’s stores throughout the country, for example, delineate departments with scent, infusing the infant department with the aroma of baby powder, the swimsuit department with coconut and the intimate apparel department with lilac.

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Schick is introducing what it calls the first scented razor for men, with scratch-and-sniff packaging  and an online campaign.

At the Hard Rock Hotel at the Universal Orlando Resort, ScentAir, presented with the challenge that an Emack & Bolio’s ice cream shop was often overlooked because it was in a basement, pumped the scent of sugar cookies at the top of a stairway and waffle cones at the bottom, creating what ScentAir’s Web site calls “aroma billboards” to lure hotel guests downstairs.

In 2010, to promote its beef, the Bloom grocery chain erected a billboard in Mooresville, N.C., that featured a fork piercing a steak and emitted a scent — also by ScentAir — with notes of black pepper and charcoal, which was blown by a high-powered fan at ground level.

To promote its new scented razor, Schick will be circulating its new scent through diffusers at “refresh stations” it is setting up at 10 Sprint Cup races this summer. The stations will include a tent area cooled by misters and fans, and will be equipped with a television, sinks where Nascar fans can try the new razors, and a 40-foot RV for respites from roaring engines.

Online ads for the new razor, which will begin to appear on shelves this week, are scheduled to begin appearing June 17 on Web sites including Facebook, MensHealth.com and MadeMan.com.

Schick, which declined to disclose what it is spending on the campaign for Xtreme3 Refresh, spent $94.3 million on advertising in 2010, more than double what it spent in 2009 ($43.3 million) or 2008 ($37.8 million), according to the Kantar Media unit of WPP.

Martin Lindstrom, author of “Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy,” refers to the way companies use aromas strategically in products and retail environments as “sensory branding.”

Mr. Lindstrom, who advises companies internationally on branding issues, including helping car companies develop scents for new models, had not been aware that Schick was introducing a scented razor for men, but said executives at several major shaving companies had asked for his opinion about doing so in the past.

“I’ve said yes, you should, but to do it in a clever way because if you make it smell like a perfume store you’ll scare away most men,” Mr. Lindstrom said.

When used by first-time shavers, for whom shaving can be a rite of passage and linked to teenage romance, the scent could affix itself to fond memories, he said.

“If you now as a kid start using a shaver and it has a certain smell, the smell will be locked in with a positive feeling,” said Mr. Lindstrom, who points out in “Buyology” that for adults, the aromas of products like Play-Doh or Crayola crayons stir powerful memories. “When they grow older, they’ll have a certain feeling they have with that razor that they don’t have with another razor.”

Ms. Nagaraj of Schick said that, for young users, “the scent provides an additional linkage with this razor that strengthens their bond with it.” She added, “Scent is so evocative, and as they grow older we want this scent to be kind of another anchor that’s in their brain for this razor.”

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section B, Page 4 of the New York edition with the headline: Schick Uses Scent To Give Men’s Razor A Competitive Edge. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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