Bacon Flavored Scope

"Fool me once, shame on me.  Fool me twice ..."

This was exactly my reaction when I started to see the flurry of activity over the past few days around the launch of new Bacon Flavored Scope.  At the very first glance, I thought "hmmmm."  But then when I saw how aggressive the online campaign was becoming, I became suspicious.  Not even realizing that it's almost April Fools' Day.

I sniffed a hoax mostly because I had been "gotten" so bad by Vitamin Water Nap a few years ago ... they got me so bad that I even wrote a blog post about how brilliant the new product innovation was.  A water that helps you fall asleep.

I have to say that this new one from Scope was sheer perfection.  The brand started building momentum well before April 1st, well before the likelihood of being a hoax was on people's minds.

But the notion of a mouthwash having a bacon flavor?  The brand even had that covered with a story about how much people love bacon.  It was a full on social/digital assault.  It really wasn't until April 1 when it became so obvious and the story was "out."

It's awesome to see a brand with a sense of humor ... one appropriate to both the brand equity and to its target audience.  It didn't have to try to hard to be cute and clever; it almost came naturally, which is also pretty incredible for a brand this old.

Well done, just like I like my bacon.  What's your experience?  Jim.

Jim Joseph
- President, Cohn & Wolfe NA
- Author, The Experience Effect series
- Professor, NYU
- Contributor, Entrepreneur