There are things that you absolutely want to be spared.

Scent marketing is one of them.

This special discipline was previously unknown to Ms. O., and nothing should have changed about it.

But recently there was a letter on her desk – standard envelope, long, white.

The sender was a prefabricated house manufacturer from the Westerwald, with whom she had dealt in the past.

Accordingly, no alarm bell rang, whoosh, the letter was open.

He had it all.

As soon as it was unfolded, the office suddenly smelled of – yes, of what?

"Well, have you found out yet?" asked the letter signed by the management in a cheeky tone and informed about the company's new fragrance strategy.

The has been working with an internationally active fragrance expert for some time and had him create its own corporate fragrance.

The recipient of the letter will receive more information when the company calendar arrives at the beginning of the year.

Breathing was strangely difficult

Birgit Ochs

Responsible editor for "Housing" of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sunday newspaper.

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Ms O. suddenly felt uneasy.

Breathing was strangely difficult, eyes burned.

What was that?

The solution is seldom so obvious: the letter had to go.

She rushed to the toilet.

Put it in the well-closing and odor-shielding waste bin for hygiene items!

Wash your hands quickly.

Relieved, she returned to the desk.

A marketing idea that turned out to be an attack on physical integrity.

My goodness, someone wanted to be creative!

Ms. O. remembered another failed PR attempt.

A few years ago, a package of dried clay had spilled out onto the carpet under her desk chair.

The sender was building a new company headquarters from natural building materials.

That was interesting, but no reason to throw clay at them.

The big chunks were quickly collected, the rest got stuck in the carpet.

Luckily no visitors came that day, but the cleaning man did the next morning.

Oh, if only it were that easy with the scent bomb.

The strange odor hung in the room for hours.

The headache only disappeared when he fled to his desk at home.

Ms. O. never found out which fragrance creation had tormented her.

When the announced calendar arrived, alarm bells rang.

The package ended up in the trash unopened.

Saved!

In the "Nine to five" column, changing authors write about curiosities from the office and university

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