Old Spice gave us "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like." But what if you'd rather reek like a dusty old pickup rather than an average guy armed with a brand-name deodorant?
At last month's North American International Auto Show, Ally Auto—the auto financing unit of Ally Bank—picked a fragrant way to make its booth stand out by featuring eight auto-themed colognes ranging from "Muscle Car" to "Family Wagon." The former allegedly combines nitrous oxide, testosterone and burnt rubber, while the latter is said to consist of the essence of baby wipes, crayons and regret.
The press release tells us "the activation was set up much like the perfume counter at a department store," and you'll be absolutely shocked to learn that this stunt was the opening salvo for a new brand campaign created by Ally's agency of record, Grey New York.
Ally understands that car financing doesn't always lend itself to sexy narratives, so it presented the public with what we'll call a "scentsual" distraction. Here's the video portion of the campaign, complete with its own space-age bachelor-pad soundtrack.
The best detail again concerns the contents of each fragrance, with the "Eco-Friendly Hybrid" composed of water, grass, tofu and a tiny portion of its most important ingredient: smug.
Many car owners are indeed particular about their preferences, and Ally's campaign microsite goes beyond the eight fragrances on display at the show by allowing users to create their own custom aromas. We combined the familiar smells of instant coffee, pine wood, city smog and a generous portion of facial hair to get ... a Beige Dynamic Wagon. (Alas, the scents aren't actually being mass produced.)
Ally's auto show booth also included a "digital car design experience" that allowed users to create their own perfect set of wheels with a few swipes on an iPad screen. One might ask what all of this aromatic noise has to do with auto loans, but for now we're too busy enjoying the fantasy of driving our coffee-scented wagon from its dusty midtown parking lot to our country house for a pine-fresh weekend in the woods.
CREDITS
Client: Ally
Title: New Car Smell
Agency: Grey NY
Chief Creative Officer: Andreas Dahlqvist
Executive Creative Director: Steven Krauss
Executive Creative Director: Ari Halper
Group Creative Director: Nick Pringle
Group Creative Director: Steve Wakelam
Group Design Director: Han Lin
Art Director: Jacob Tom
Art Director: Minju Cho
Copywriter: Oliver Mosier
Designer: Ryan Hoelting
Designer: Corey Thomas
Designer: James Ioveno
Senior Project Manager: Clint Walsh
Managing Director: Chris Ross
SVP AD: Brett Mackechnie
VP AD: Lauren Ikin
AE: Jake Russem
AAE: Alex Sohn
CEO Grey Activation: Claudia Strauss
VP AD (Activation): Vanessa Rodriguez
Supervisor (Activation): Della Clark
AE (Activation): Isaac Johnson
AE (Activation): Juliana Braz-Toia
Social Media Strategy Director: Laura Chavoen
Social Media Strategy Associate Director: Scott Barrett
Content Strategist: Mark Jacob
Director of Digital Production: Kristen Finch
Director of Technology: Patrice Diaz-Migoyo
Tech Lead: Moemem Omara
Associate Tech Lead: Russ Weiss
Digital Producer: Valeria Sotomayor
User Experience Designer: Divya Gaitonde
User Experience Designer: Caroline Muelenar
Quality Assurance Analyst: Arthur Marants
Quality Assurance Analyst: Kathryn Merry
Senior IT Support Specialist: Thomas Monica
VP, Manager of Graphic Services: Debbie Joyce
Digital Asset Coordinator: Chris Vitola
Graphic Artist: Lofti Wasef
Proofreader: Henry Brown
Proofreader: Geoff Bridgman
Business Affairs: Jennifer Bilky
Business Affairs: Keith Marman
Partners:
Fabrication: LeapStarr Production
GPJ (Event Manager): Kathryn Carosella
Majestky Apps: Sean O'Shea
