38,000,000,000 messages are sent in China each day (Source: Media Agency). Messaging with smartphones is the dominant form of communication – so much so that people will talk to each other via WeChat when they’re sitting at the table next each other. While people rely on emojis to convey emotion, we realized smell was a much more potent way to make someone on the receiving end of your message feel good.

This observation inspired ‘Scent By Downy’ – a device that allowed people to send good smells to each to each other via a specially designed messaging app on their smartphone.

We partnered with a Japanese scent technologist to develop a device that could be loaded with cartridges filled with Downy Beads and attached to your smartphone. This device was designed in the shape of Downy’s floral logo. We then created an app that tracked the 100 most texted words – each one when received via the app would trigger a small fan in the device that would release one of the three available scents.

We launched ‘Scent By Downy’ exclusively on TMall through banners and short video as part of a premium priced ‘special pack’ activation.

One device was sold every 1.5 minutes on TMALL until our entire stock of 5000 devices was sold out.

This contributed to a 23% increase in total Downy sales for the duration of the activation.

We were acknowledged for helping people share emotions with each other: ‘Consumers have always imagined sending messages alongside scents to convey deeper emotion. Now they can.’ - TrendHunter

And the international ‘sensory’ community even took notice: ‘Can Downy make more scent devices? We want one…’ – European Sensory Network