Febreze: for the curryblind nose

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  • Everyone loves the aromas from the kitchen when a delicious Indian meal is being cooked. And because most desi home chefs practically live in a fug of those spiced aromas, it’s difficult for them to know when aromas turn into odours. Their noses, alas, have gone curryblind. Enter Febreze. Febreze is just the thing for your curryblind nose. It eliminates the odours your nose no longer knows are there. You won’t have to worry about the lingering smells of yesterday’s dhokla. You won’t have to fear the ghost of samosas past. Spritz some Febreze around, take a deep breath, keep calm and curry on.

  • 2016 Marketing Awards: Silver

  • The Challenge: Everyone loves the aromas from the kitchen when a delicious Indian meal is being cooked. But because most South Asian families live in a constant fug of those spiced aromas, it’s difficult for them to know when aromas have overstayed their welcome and have turned into odours. This problem is compounded by the fact that houses in Canada are hermetically sealed and odours do not have a way to escape.

    Target Audience: South Asian consumers who want to enjoy cooking their traditional meals, but have no way to tell when an aroma has become an odour.

    Objectives: Convince South Asian consumers that Febreze will eliminate odours they can’t smell and drive trial.

    Solution: To explain to South Asian consumers why they were unaware of lingering food odours, we coined the term “Curryblindness”. Curryblindness describes the gradual acclimation of the South Asian nose to the smells of Indian food in one's home or on one’s furnishings. The curryblind nose does not notice these smells, though other noses are very sensitive to their presence. We dramatized this by showing how a curryblind nose can only “see” cushions on a couch, whereas an unaffected nose easily sniffs out the lingering smells of yesterday’s samosas. We then presented Febreze as the answer – the eliminator of odours your nose no longer knows are there, the eliminator of the smell of kal ka khana (yesterday’s food).

    Media: Digital banners (IAB standard animated) and print ads in South Asian publications in Canada