It’s the ideal gift for perfume loving foodies — Pizza Hut’s new pizza-scented perfume.

But only a few lucky contest winners will get a chance to spritz themselves with the smell of freshly baked dough.

The idea for the fragrance began as a social media musing this summer, said the company’s marketing director Beverley D’Cruz.

“It started out as a posting on Facebook to some of our fans saying ‘What smell do you think of when you open a Pizza Hut box?’” she explained. “That post became very popular and it got a lot of responses from our fans. So a bunch of us were brainstorming and were like ‘Why not actually give back to our fans and take this post to the next level?’”

The company engaged a perfume maker to come up with a representative scent.

“We smelled a range of four or five, my team and I, and we zoomed into one we liked that smelled closest to what we were hoping for. Some of them smelled like cheese and you know how delicious cheese tastes, but it doesn’t smell as delicious. The smell of freshly baked bread is one we all loved.”

In the meantime, the promotion’s department ran a Facebook contest asking consumers to submit names for the proposed fragrance. Although they haven’t settled on a name, the first 100 respondents have been shipped the limited edition scent.

“All we’re trying to do is have some fun with our consumers,” said D’Cruz. “Pizza is an extremely fun category and we’re trying to be relevant and have a conversation with consumers so that they are engaged.”

The promotion is indicative of how marketers these days utilize social media to consult with customers.

“It’s becoming a two way conversation instead of a one way download,” said D’Cruz. “Previously it was TV (ads) and it was just one way. Now it goes both ways and you’re listening to people and responding.”

The fast food giant is not the first to take its product into the cosmetic realm. In 2008 Burger King introduced a meat-scented men’s body spray called Flame by BK which was available at select New York City stores and on a dedicated Web site, firemeetsdesire.com where its Whopper essence is described as “the scent of seduction, with a hint of flame-broiled meat.”

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