Smell no evil

Agency: JDO Brand Design and Innovation
Creative Director: Andy Briscoe
Designer: Frank James
Designer: Ryan Worcester
Marketing Manager: Carli Pring
Location: United Kingdom
Project Type: Concept
Packaging Contents: Home and personal care fragrance
Packaging Substrate / Materials: Glass bottle, cardboard box

Smell no evil: JDO creates S.O.S home fragrance concept for Halloween
Halloween’s a scream, but nothing is quite as scary as the terrifying stench that emanates from a teenager’s dirty bedroom. That’s why JDO decided to clear the air with its concept for a brand that promises to ‘save our souls & our sense of smell’.

Introducing S.O.S, a quirky home fragrance brand diffusing the problem of smelly teenage bedrooms with its range of potent diffusers and mist sprays. Relevant and irreverent at the same time, S.O.S provides olfactory salvation for parents dying to minimise the putrid pungency of their teenagers’ rooms whilst also appealing to devil-may-care teenagers looking for brands cool enough to be allowed in their rooms.

Packaging for S.O.S puts a cheeky twist on category conventions so we can save our sense of smell without losing our sense of style. The box features fresh, poppy colour and that hand-drawn illustration style you’ve seen a million times in the home fragrance category. Look again, however, and among the blossoms, you’ll find malodorous culprits like leftover pizza, muddy trainers and filthy underpants. The logo features praying hands resonating with parents at their wit’s end, willing to let the room be a mess as long as the foul fumes stop reeking out.

The bottles inside are stylishly sleek with dark glass that feature a bold, colourful imprint of the logo. The praying hands have become raised hands, appealing to the teen that is now celebrating that their room can remain a disaster area as long as they stop the stench with S.O.S. On top of the diffuser is a little monkey figurine, clutching the reeds with his paw over his nose. This décor element infuses the brand with a bit more fun as it conveys its “smell no evil” message.

Like the packaging, communications for S.O.S are bold and modern with a sense of humour that appeals to parents and teenagers alike. Wordplay in taglines like “His/Her attitude might stink but his/her room doesn’t have to,” cleverly speak to parents, while stickers and clothes fresheners bring in a playfulness that teens can buy into.

“Everyone really looks forward to our annual Halloween concept, but we wanted to do something different this year by creating a concept that addresses real needs and true fears,” comments Fiona Florence, Managing Director at JDO. “Because what’s really haunting our homes are not ghosts and goblins, but the dreadful smell of our teenagers’ rooms and the desperate knowledge that it will never end. That’s where S.O.S comes in – functional household products that parents need with a cool lifestyle brand that teenagers love.”

Halloween’s a scream, but nothing is quite as terrifying as the stench that emanates from a teenager’s dirty bedroom. That’s why we decided to clear the air with S.O.S, a quirky brand concept diffusing parents’ real-life nightmares with its home fragrance range.

Relevant and irreverent, S.O.S offers functional household products that parents need, with a cool lifestyle brand that teenagers love. Putting a cheeky twist on category conventions, the design uses style and humour to communicate its promise to ‘save our souls & our sense of smell’.