Eau de HE: the Smell of Success

A new range of fundraising fragrances from Notre Dame

The Chronicle of Higher Education has this entertaining piece about the very serious business of making money from smells:

The University of Notre Dame has long been known for its enthusiastic sports fans. Now, the South Bend Tribune reports, all of those rabid supporters will be able to show their commitment in a new way—with perfume and cologne. But don’t worry: They won’t get the chance to smell like Manti Te’o on game day.

The fragrances will be available in his and hers versions, to be called ND Gold Eau de Toilette and Lady Irish Eau de Parfum. Fighting Irish fans will be able to purchase official scents from the university starting this fall.

Notre Dame will be joining several other universities, including the University of North Carolina and Pennsylvania State University, in selling official fragrances. Notre Dame’s scents will be produced by Steiner Collectibles and the Cloudbreak Group, which has some experience in using smells to entice sports fans, having previously produced fragrances for the New York Yankees.

Ideas for a UK equivalent #HEperfume have included:

• Tweed (for older academics)
• Pedagogy
• Corduroy (for academics who don’t have to try too hard)
• Stacks (for that traditional librarian scent) or, better still, Smell of Books
• Selectivity (for that post-REF feeling).

(with thanks to @jpdale  @wynmorgan8 and @AlisonMcnab for those excellent pitches)

So, what would your university’s fragrances be? Will the mission groups pitch in? Will BIS seek to control the market? Does anyone else think that Notre Dame’s nickname is just a bit inappropriate? Who is Manti Te’o?

#HEperfume – for all your academic odours.