McDonald's new marketing: Billboards that smell like its French fries

• Fast food giant McDonald's launched a new marketing campaign this week.
• It produced a series of blank yellow and red billboards in the Netherlands.

Fast food giant McDonald's released a new and quirky marketing campaign this week.

The company has found a novel way to leverage some of its iconic products by making the billboards smell like their fries.

It released a series of blank yellow and red billboards in the Netherlands that don't even carry the McDonald's golden arches logo. But the marketing creatives behind the campaign don't reckon you need to be told what is being advertised; the smell alone will get the message across.

"The prints appear to be empty at first glance, but as passers-by approach within five meters, they are greeted with the distinct aroma of McDonald's French Fries, coming from inside the billboard," the company said in a press release.

The statement says the billboards were "strategically placed" within 650 feet of some of its restaurants.

Stijn Mentrop-Huliselan, CMO of McDonald's Netherlands, added: "We are well known for our distinctive brand assets that are mostly visual. Smell has been proven to be more effective at sparking clear and emotional memories than images. With the inclusion of this next sense in our advertising, we found a new way to remind people of Good Times at McDonald's."

It also comes after news that the company has partnered with Krispy Kreme to offer its products at its stores across the US.

The partnership is set to kick off later this year and will see Krispy Kreme donuts in stores nationwide by 2026.

The company has not specified how many of its stores will be participating, however.

Earlier this month, McDonald's announced that it was taking over ownership of its franchised stores in Israel due to a global sales fall sparked by boycotts over the Israel-Gaza conflict.