Life’s most beautiful moments should never be forgotten. So Glade set out on a mission to use the power of fragrance to help spark favorite memories for everyone, especially for those who need it most—the millions of families affected by Alzheimer’s disease. We call it The Memories Project.

Never before has a fragrance brand developed a multisensory experience utilizing crafted scents and piloted groundbreaking research to help people suffering from Alzheimer’s reconnect with their most cherished memories.

We used e-commerce in a breakthrough way to give everyone the chance to support the cause by purchasing a favorite shared memory and gift it to their mom for Mother’s Day. By reframing candles as actual memories, we made a personal connection with shoppers, transforming a transactional experience into a highly emotional one. 

To bring The Memories Project to life, Glade took a multifaceted approach throughout the U.S. from April to May, leading up to Mother’s Day 2018. We created a mobile commerce destination where shoppers could engage with our mission. First, people could see firsthand the effect that scent had on the Saldivars, a family living with Alzheimer’s, through an emotional documentary film that we created. Second, they could learn about the groundbreaking research we piloted with the University of Florida’s world-renowned Center of Smell and Taste to drive validity. Finally, we invited everyone to join the mission by giving their mom a favorite memory for Mother’s Day. We curated six scents inspired by popular childhood memories, giving people the chance to personalize their very own scented memory with a photograph and message. As a thank-you for supporting the mission, Glade donated above and beyond all candle proceeds to research.

The emotional campaign gained millions of views across Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. The Glade influencer, Janel Parrish, whose grandfather has Alzheimer’s, reached out to her 5.2 million followers to raise awareness for this disease. We started a social conversation about the power of scent to spark memories, especially for those who need it most—the millions of people living with Alzheimer's. Every penny from the project funded the University of Florida's Center for Smell and Taste research to investigate how scent affects memory retrieval in people with Alzheimer’s disease. The Memories Project by Glade created over 15 million impressions plus hundreds of thousands of likes and shares across platforms to raise awareness of the connection between memory and scent.