Scent expert fails to sniff out contrived branding in Lux campaign

Laurine Sautour is a smell expert, with the ability to identify specific scent notes on any object or person. Whether or not Sautour was inspired by squirrelfolk’s abilities to smell their way to a stash of buried nuts, it's a darn impressive talent.

Sautour’s abilities are tapped in this campaign to promote Lux’s Magical Spell bodywash, which is purported to leave a lingering floral scent on the body for up to 24 hours. For this social experiment of sorts, six women take a shower with six popular brands of body wash, one of them being Lux.

Sautour is tasked to identify which of the six women used the long-lasting body wash—and of course, she manages to do so successfully. “It’s very unusual for a fragrance to last 24 hours on the skin,” she says upon sniffing the wrist of the final participant. “Which bodywash is this?” No prizes for guessing the surprise ending.

Sautour’s curious talent is fascinating to witness, but Ad Nut thinks the style and writing of the film reads as too scripted. Perhaps if they allowed the participants and Santour herself more leeway for genuine reactions, it would have landed more effectively.

If Ad Nut had to compare, it’s not quite as refined or clever as Ikea’s ‘Human Catalogue’ campaign, which also makes use of an expert’s rare talent.

CREDITS

Wunderman Thompson, Singapore
Marco Versolato, Chief Creative Officer, WPP@Unilever
Savio Fonseca, Creative Director
Gayle Lim, Creative Director
Sixin Wu, Junior Art Director
Hinoti Joshi, Business Director, Global Lux
Len de Rosales, Senior Account Director
Geru Gotico, Senior Account Manager
Josslyn Li, Planner
Gerri Hamill, Director of Integrated Content, WPP@Unilever
Hafiza Yussaini, Post Producer
Sharmaine Ng, Production Coordinator
Hayaya Ibrahim, Production Coordinator
Jeremiah Marcelo, Senior Editor (Offline)
Emma Jeman, Junior Editor (Offline)
Luis Calvo, Senior Editor (Online)

Unilever
Severine Vauleon, Global Brand Vice President, Lux
Swarnim Bharadwaj, Global Brand Director, Lux
Megan Zhu, Global Brand Manager, Lux
Lynn Goh, Global Assistant Brand Manager, Lux
Production (Shooting Gallery)
Bertrand Lee, Director
Daniel Wong, Senior Producer
Shelley Yip, Producer

Ad Nut is a surprisingly literate woodland creature that for unknown reasons has an unhealthy obsession with advertising. Ad Nut gathers ads from all over Asia and the world for your viewing pleasure, because Ad Nut loves you. You can also check out Ad Nut's Advertising Hall of Fame, or read about Ad Nut's strange obsession with 'murderous beasts'.