Why shoppers can't get enough of limited-edition scents and flavors

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1:51Hello and welcome to the Modern Retail Podcast, our show that covers the ways the retail industry is changing and modernizing. I am senior reporter Gabby Barkow, and I'm here this week with my co-host, Melissa Daniels. Hello, Melissa. How are you this week? Hi, Gabby. I'm doing well. Happy springtime. It feels like it's in full bloom everywhere we look. Yes, we're finally at the end of the dark tunnel that was winter. But actually, that is very topical, speaking of springtime, because this week we're going to be talking about LTO or limited time offers and why these limited releases have become such a big part of brands marketing strategy.

2:34And so for a while, these flavors or scents were historically associated with food and beverage. But lately, mostly you and I have noticed that a lot of like different categories have gotten in on these LTOs or, you know, seasonal, whether it's collaborations, all of that. Yeah, one of the things that got me thinking about this this year was seeing the Easter Isles start popping up in big box retailers and pharmacies and grocery. and I noticed that Peeps was doing some really interesting things. Like they've got a Pop-Tart flavor, they've got a Dr. Pepper flavor. And it's like, I mean, Peeps is interesting because it's already a seasonal sort of product.

3:15You only get it around the Easter season. But I was just like, oh yeah, this is happening everywhere where even legacy brands that have a really strong following are finding ways to offer something new and different and drive a little FOMO. Mm-hmm. Yeah, they even have a collection with Bath & Body Works this year. So nothing is off limits for peeps. But that did get us thinking about, you know, newness, right? We hear constantly from brands that customers love new and any sort of sense of urgency where a product might only be on shelf for a few weeks. We see this with everybody from Oreos to now, you know, getting into personal care, brands like Native.

3:58They've done even a Dunkin' collaboration in the last few years. But today, we do have another personal care brand that is joining us who is going to be speaking about this strategy and what really goes into creating a consistent pipeline of LTOs. So today, we have Ryan Megan, the co-founder and chief marketing dude at Dude Wipes. Hello, Ryan, and welcome to the show. Hey, how's it going? Thanks so much for having me. Yeah, thank you so much for joining us. I'm excited to talk because Dude Wipes has really leaned very heavily into limited editions or limited scents or flavors, as you call them, as I understand, in the last few years.

4:43So we'd love to hear your take on why you feel like it's such an important part of the business, starting with, if you can think back, when was the first time you thought about an LTO and thought, oh, this is maybe something our customers would want as a seasonal product? Yeah, you know, as we've grown with our retail journey, we kind of stumbled into our first LTO. And, you know, that was back in, you know, five or six years ago. As a joke, we put on our socials, Dunkin' Spice Dude Wipe, which aka Pumpkin Spice for the fall pumpkin Spice craze. And, you know, we thought it'd be really funny. And the reaction we got surprised the heck out of us is that people were like, wait, is this real?

5:28Are you doing that? Maybe you guys should do that. So the next year, we said, why not? Let's roll it out. And, you know, our strategy, especially with NewSense and, you know, testing innovation is just worst case scenarios, we throw it on Amazon. And, you know, if it doesn't work, there's not a huge investment behind it. So year one with Dunkin' Spice, we threw it on Amazon. It sold out within three or four weeks. And that gave us like the, whoa, we might have something here. So we took that information and started pitching it to retailers. Target immediately got on board and gave us an off-shelf program for the next year.

6:04And that has run in subsequent years to where now Dunkin' Spice is a staple every fall. It's one of our favorite products from our consumers. It's brought new-to-brand folks into the fold and has become a seven-figure line for us that we can count on. That's very cool. For the uninitiated, you know, the phrase Dunkin' Spice, that's real specific. And if I can get through this episode with a straight face every time I mark your products, I'll be impressed with myself. I'm wondering if you can explain to us a little bit about how you come up with these ideas. because I feel like part of a really good LTO is making sure that it still fits with your brand, right?

6:45So, you know, like, how do you know when something's right? And Dude Wipes has this really like, you know, it's butt care, so it's butt humor, and that's acceptable? Like, do you just kind of start there and see what hits? Yeah, exactly. It really comes kind of natural to us as, you know, kind of we're in the business of, you know, we sell wipes, but actually we sell fun as well, even more so. So just making those potty jokes and bathroom humor on a daily basis on social media, putting that into our ads, so on and so forth. Dumkin didn't really take long to come up with the name. It just kind of was rolled off the tongue naturally as, you know, Pumpkin and Dumkin are quite fitting for one another.

7:24And it was an easy one to get into because, as we know, every year that fall craze for Pumpkin Spice is just so well known that, you know, it was easy for the consumer to get it like that. And then it just took off from there. So that was an easy one to come up with. I'm curious if there's any insight into, you know, how you know, like, whether this is going to be trendy enough. I think the Dunkin' Spice example, as you mentioned, is like, yeah, everyone does pumpkin spice. Like, we know to expect it during the fall season. But, you know, are there other LTOs you've done that have been a little more, you know, like off the beaten path or do you kind of stick with seasonal?

8:04Like just sort of wondering where you tap the trends and how you know, okay, let's try this. Yeah, we've stuck with seasonal because I think that, again, gives the customer a clear understanding of what it is and what we're trying to accomplish and is not too far out there for them to comprehend. You know, as you know, you only get, you know, two to five seconds to catch a customer's attention, whether they're scrolling their phone or walking through an aisle. So So that flowed perfectly into coming up with a holiday scent. And that is our Dingle Bells product. And that was another one where it was kind of like, hey, let's test the waters.

8:40Dunkin' went really well. Dingle, we weren't sure if people would think it was too much of a joke or would buy it. But that combined with being the holiday season, which is huge for us, and gifting. We're traditionally one of the number one stocking stuffer products on Amazon and across retail. So Dingle was a natural extension. Smells like pine tree and basically the holidays. And it's been super popular as well. And frankly, this past Q4, Dingle performed so well, it surpassed Dunkin' Spice sales this past year in 2025. So it's going super well. And that has then encouraged us to look into more seasonal flavors, scents, whatever you want to call it, and keep exploring, you know, the LTOs.

9:30Is that like woodsy coming for gourmand as far as flavor and scent profiles is concerned? Exactly. I want to talk a little bit about, you know, planning and just the yearly LTO calendar that you're building up gradually, especially as your footprint expands to, right? You have some really major retailers like Walmart and Target that you have to cater to. And so I'm kind of curious how all of that also informs where you're going to be releasing what SKUs. Yeah, totally. You know, supplies, obviously, and planning is a huge part of that process. And especially, you know, as those SKUs get bigger and bigger every year, especially Duncan and Dingle, you know, it becomes more than a marginal, you know, place in our ordering and capacity and, you know, what we have planned out with our manufacturers.

10:26So every year with our manufacturer, you know, we kind of give them a high bar number of total number of millions of packs that we're going to order. and then our supply team goes in. And based on the commitments from the retail side of things, that's when they carve out X amount for a Dunkin', X amount for Dingle, and the other things we're coming out with. This year for a summer-sanded flavor, we've come out with a Popsicle-flavored wipe and it's called Poopsicle. Of course it is. Yeah. Exactly. So we've come out with the Poopsicle. It's actually on shelves at Walmart right now, but is something we will be promoting more during the summertime.

11:06And it's got the Americana packaging, kind of that red, white, and blue, you know, firecracker sort of artwork to it that we're all, you know, grew up eating those bomb pops and stuff like that. So super excited about that. So that's another one that's going to be added to the fold and on our supply team's plate. And, you know, they do a great job of figuring out, you know, kind of, you know, what the commitment is going to be from the retailer And then since we do have two, three years of data with Duncan and Dingle, they're able to kind of see what, you know, where Poopsicle and all three of them will come into the fold to make sure we have enough inventory on hand.

11:43And the other cool thing is like Target, for example, gives us expectations of what sell-through is. So we kind of come up together with a plan of how many units per store each, you know, are going to order and then kind of what the sell-through expectation is. And then there, you know, we can kind of back into from a supply and ordering standpoint, what we need to be able to fulfill that season. And how about on the like product development side? Like, let's let's stick with Poopsicle. I'm sorry. This is too fun. I love it. I love making everyday things fun. Like that is one of my favorite things in personal care.

12:24Like, let's just have fun with our lives and not take ourselves too seriously. So I'm just having the whole sort of brand ethos here. Just flow with it. Just roll with it. Just poopsicle. I don't know. I'm also like, I have a toddler. So like poop jokes are just part of my day anyway. This is what happens. But, you know, talk to me about how you and your team, you know, with the folks you do R &D with, like figured out what that right scent is. Because I imagine there's kind of like a needle to thread where this has to, you know, smell great that people want to use it on their bodies, but it can't be too overpowering.

12:59Maybe can't be like, you know, I don't know, too sweet. Like, how do you figure out, yes, that's the scent? Yeah. So we have an awesome fragrance house we work with here in Chicago that we've been working with for, you know, over a decade. And when we come up with an idea, you know, if it's Dunkin' or if it's Dingle and then Poopsicle relating to a Popsicle scent, you know, that gives them kind of the floor to work with. And then, you know, doing what they do best, they'll send us five to 10 samples of any particular flavor that we're after. And we really try to match what, you know, kind of that benefit and, you know, selling point that we're talking to customers about to have that match what the scent is, whether it's popsicle or smelling like pumpkin or, you know the holidays so uh i think we've made it easy for ourselves as from out of the gates when we know what the the goal is of you know smelling like popsicle for example everyone kind of has that idea in their mind and you know from you know kind of that nostalgia to of being a little kid and what a popsicle smells like so it's kind of you know it when you smell it like that's it um but they do give us options and then we kind of narrow it down but But I think because we're already narrowing what we're kind of looking for with kind of the theme, I think that makes it easier on them and us to get to that perfect scent profile a lot quicker.

14:26As opposed to if we were just like kind of brainstorming with them on some huge, broad new thing that we had no idea what we were even going to call the product. So it's like we already have the product name and artwork and everything like that almost done or already in mind before we were kind of getting to the, you know, the scent profiles. Yeah. I wanted to ask you a little bit about how kind of working backwards by creating LTOs. How has that informed your category expansion? Because you are known for sort of the flagship wipes, dude wipes, literally. but you have been expanding into adjacent categories more recently.

15:07And I feel like scent, even if they are limited editions, have really been a big part of that, right? Sort of like where you have new to brand customers coming into the brand through the flavors, as you call them. Yeah. So, you know, it has become an attraction and something we use as a marketing tool and create a buzz and talk. And, you know, what we've been doing over the past 15 years as kind of creating this men's wipes category, growing flushable wipes category in general, and just being the funny poop humor guys. This is what everyone has come to expect from us. So the scents and flavors are just kind of pushing the envelope and we use them as, you know, kind of temple moments throughout the year to re-engage, you know, not only our core audience, but even better folks that maybe may not have heard of us or kind of like brushed us off.

16:03this really gets their attention with a dumpkin, dingle, poopsicle. And they really, you know, kind of throw their hands up and like, all right, they got me. I got to try poopsicle or I got to try dingle. Like, this is too funny. This is great. You know, so it's really helped with new to brand customers as well, because we're creating that moment and that emotional engagement or nostalgia that they may feel for that particular season or whatnot that pairs up perfectly with the scent that, you know, and fun name that we've created with that LTO. I always like it when brands have that sort of seasonal item that you can come to know and expect.

16:40I've talked at length on the podcast about how I feel about the seasonal Reese's and that they're like better than the original Reese's Cup, you know, whether it's the heart or the Christmas tree. I look forward to it every year, every holiday, right? The pumpkin one, right? Yep. Has there ever been a situation where you introduced a scent and then made it part of your original lineup and a full year offering? Yeah, best example of that is our Mint Chill product. So that was the first time we ever dabbled outside of our fragrance-free wipe, which is our flagship product and been the linchpin of the brand since day one.

17:19So we came out with Mint Chill probably seven or eight years ago. And that was kind of testing the waters to bring something new out there. You know, buyers were challenging us to, you know, expand outside of fragrance-free and, you know, give customers something new to try. So we did that and we did not know how it would perform. and it has far exceeded our expectations and really opened the door and the floodgates for us to give us the confidence to come out with even more scents and flavors that we have over the past few years. So Minch Hill started modestly, but quickly grew and became a staple, so much so that this year it's going to surpass$100 million within that line itself, which is just incredible.

18:07That's wild. But that was the one that told you, hey, there's a market for the scented wipe to begin with. Yep. Yeah, exactly. And then that was the catalyst kind of for shea butter. We introduced shea butter a couple of years ago and shea butter is now, you know, it's still younger than mint chill, but the way it's trending is it could eventually pass mint chill, you know, in a few years because people are loving that as well. So, and when we do those scents too. We try to, you know, we always stay on brand with, you know, kind of not just calling it mint, you know, it's mint chill, you know, or shea butter, shea butter smooth.

18:45And then, you know, we highlight the butt in butter, of course, on the packaging, we highlight that. So, you know, we add our little, you know, unique fun into it as well. Yes. Speaking of the fun names, you also recently went into, you know, the kids category, with Bubble Bomb. And then you also have a new scent called Menthol, which is your menthol scent. And these, to me, lean more experiential. So I want to hear a little bit about how these came into the fold and where they service different retailers. Yeah, starting with Little Dude Wipes, it's been on our mind for a long time to expand in that category.

19:28And I don't know if we would have just done it outright, but we had some really good conversations going on with Walmart and they approached us and they said, hey, listen, the toddler wipes space is becoming very stale for us and we need a cool, fun brand like you guys to come inject some life into that category. So let's do something here. So that really gave us a nudge to get into the little dude space and the toddler space, which is fantastic for us because we're just starting humans at a much younger age. And then hopefully they're customers for life. And as we would say, they don't have to deal with dry, scratchy toilet paper ever in their lives.

20:07That's the fun there. And to your point about experience, going to the bathroom and learning to potty train is an experience for the kids. And you may know the entire household. It's high drama, Ryan. It's high drama for the parents. For the parents, you know, it is, it takes a village. So, you know, if we can bring our brand in and have some fun and, you know, in our case packs of them, we have a coloring book with our mascot, Deuce. And, you know, Deuce is, you know, telling wetter cleans better and getting that into their brains and minds and having fun with it, you know, is hopefully making that potty training experience better for, you know, families all across the country.

20:50And the brand is only in infancy. It's less than a year old, but it's already the number one wipe in the baby wipe aisle at Walmart. So we're super excited about it. And Bubble Bum, so we have the fragrance-free 99 % water base, and then we have Bubble Bum. And we did that as a fun flavor to throw some pink in there, splashes of pink on the packaging. So that would notify parents and families that this is for little girls and little boys. It's not just dudes. And it's going to be a much better clean that gets across to those kids, you know, from an early age. And then to touch on mental, it is laced with menthol.

21:30I will tell you, it is quite an experience. It's quite a ride. It lasts anywhere from five to seven minutes of a intense sort of, think of like the most intense breath mint you've ever had. And you're experiencing that, you know, kind of with your butt. So, but it's, it's in the best way, in the best way possible. It's always, And whose idea was that? How did that, yeah, how did you come up with this? Well, that was, that was kind of born out of like our medicated wipes, like hemorrhoid wipes. Yeah. And there's like a sensation with that. And those are a little bit more powerful, But we wanted to make something, you know, that was like non-OTC, but, you know, an experience.

22:16And that's kind of where we're leading and leaning into in the future is not only sense, but like an actual, excuse me, experience. So got to try the mental and it's called mental extreme. it's like i think my partner sean said the other day somewhere it's like uh an energy drink meets a butt wipe um type of thing so uh what a white space man that's like yeah it's a wild it's a wild ride go for it everything men care about exactly so that's at walmart right now it's performing very well uh it's actually out of the gates it's performing as our best new uh innovation item of all time in the company.

23:00So we're super excited about it. Melissa, if you want to laugh, go check out the reviews on Amazon. They're quite, quite entertaining. That was my next question, actually, that I wanted to hear from you of like, you know, when you release a new LTO or a new scent that, you know, you're experimenting with and putting something out there, like, are you and your team just like scouring the internet for feedback or like are people sending you feedback? Do you do any like beta test groups or anything? To start a conversation. Yeah. Like how do you sort of gauge response for these things? Yeah, it's a little bit of all the above.

23:38You know, obviously, first and foremost, proof is in sales. So we look at the weekly sales reports from whatever retailer it's at. But also we'll look at the reviews, you know, on Amazon and the dot coms and the likes. We'll look for, you know, inbound emails that we get to, you know, our help desk. Also, social media, you know, social media, we're a brand that people just, for whatever reason, just go tweet about it or talk about it somewhere and Reddit, everywhere. So we kind of scour the internet and just see kind of what's going on, get a temperature for it. And then also, obviously, the sales, you know, it's either working or it's not based on what's going on there.

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25:36We talked a lot about your in-house scent strategy or flavor strategy, But I want to talk about, you know, the sort of collaboration aspect, because that's for a lot of brands, that is a big part of their LTO is sort of collaborating with a different brand and co-branding a product. You haven't dabbled too far into it, but I would love to hear, you know, what are some of your experiences in that space, considering that you are in a kind of a niche category, I guess, compared to maybe like a beauty brand or a food brand? Yeah, well, I can say it's not without a lack of trying on our part. we've reached out to anybody and everybody in the food and beverage.

26:16It's a PSA for brands. Everybody, every brand you can think of top of mind that you would think of for us. We've reached out to and tried to do a collab and talks have gone very far in a lot of situations. And then kind of in the 11th hour, somebody on the C-suite will come in and say, ah, you know, we can't really do that. And we get it. It's because those food and beverage brands don't want to openly admit that their item makes people go to the bathroom. But my take is whoever does it, whenever they do it, the return is going to be tenfold because it's going to show the public they're authentic.

26:55They don't take themselves too seriously. And everybody can take a joke and likes potty humor. So anybody out there seeing this, come home. The water's warm over here. Let's get it done. and the public will appreciate you and customers will love it. We always love it when brands forge connections over the modern retail podcast network. That is heartwarming for us. For sure. And we've done bundles. So people will do bundles. We did a bundle with Goalie over the holidays last year where it was a cool little kit. We called it the gut and butt kit. So we had fun with that. So bundles have been a little bit easier, but people diving into kind of the co-packaging and co-branding.

27:41We haven't gotten that far yet, but we'll get one. Ryan, I'm wondering if there's anything you can share about what's next on the horizon for you. You talked a little bit about, you know, a more experiential kind of thing. But anything else about how you think about LTOs or what might be changing or transforming with this strategy for DudeWipes in the future? Yeah, you know, I can definitely speak on, you know, kind of the groove we've gotten into with the seasonal LTOs, you know, now with Poopsicle coming into the fold. It's kind of an awesome sort of transition mid-year through the end of the year.