Nose

Background

Bad news for men #1: with 40% less brain area dedicated to the smell sense than women, the male sense of smell is lacking.

Bad news for men #2: men get used to their own body odour so they're not very good at smelling their own sweat.

Nivea Men, the toiletries and personal care giant, sought a solution to the problem to help men care more about, and be more confident of, their odour issues.

Idea

Nivea's solution to the problem: to add an 'olfaction' sense function to the smartphone that allows it to detect male sweat and give them a three-point grading: ok, time for some deodorising, or an urgent problem.

NOSE combines a hardware sensor technology - hidden in the smartphone cover - with a mobile application. Both are connected via Bluetooth to analyse and communicate the user's 'smell status'.

To get an update, all men have to do is put the smartphone close to their armpit. The sensor captures the smell and via Bluetooth sends it back to the phone. Over time, a learning algorithm benchmarks normal smell levels, and evaluates the additional information accordingly.

Just hold your smartphone close to your armpit for an olfactory update The sensor lives inside a special case (centre) and generates colour-coded smell warnings

Results

No proper results to speak of yet, as the app is still in beta with a hundred or so influencers and the media.

But the concept has generated a ton of media coverage already.

Our Thoughts

Ok, this is not a joke, April Fool or otherwise. Yes, there really is an app for body odour, along with just about everything else. And the much-heralded 'Internet of Things' is veering off in unexpected directions.

So let's get serious for a moment. A lot of marketing creates a problem and then offers a solution.

This is different. Most men know that negative body odour experience – to give it a semi-technical term – can be a real confidence drainer, not to mention a social problem. So here we have an advertiser trying to help them.

It's not difficult to imagine the situations in which men would be grateful for a smell check from the Nivea NOSE: a date, a job interview, an awkward social situation, a hot commute...the list is long.

Yes, there's no doubt that, somewhere along the line, Nivea will capture a load of personalised data it will use in ways even it hasn't figured out yet, and men's usage of deodorant will probably increase by a decent amount, but it's still performing a damned useful service to society.