Our nose knows a hell of a lot more than we once thought: Research has proven that the human nose can detect 1 trillion different smells. That’s waaaay more than the half-million tones our ears can hear. And yet our lexicon of language is woefully short on words that describe scent. Thankfully, where words fail, visuals come to the rescue!

Scented-product maker Caldrea’s mantra is “Aromatherapeutic Living” so when Ogilvy asked us to create a video for the brand, we were thrilled: Capturing the complexity, delight and emotions that beautiful aromas bring, was a fantastic challenge that yielded one of our boldest, most visually-arresting commercials yet. 

Focusing on three different Caldrea scents, we first parsed the mix of ingredients that make them so beguiling. Taking a page from perfumers, we thought about top notes and base notes. We borrowed from wine connoisseurs, too:  Just as a sommelier might describe a buttery chardonnay as being “fruit forward, balanced with bright acidity and finished with touches of spice and vanilla,” we thought about the sequence of scent with our visuals. Each aroma begins, progresses and lingers—we wanted to show that progression. And because scent is so evocative, we made sure to use color, shape and motion to visualize how each fragrance made you feel, where it took you, what it made you want to do.