“I guarantee you, we’re the best-smelling agency in the country,” says Todd Tilford, chief creative officer of Draftfcb Chicago.
That’s thanks to a supply of Archer Air Superiority in the office. It’s a line of “quality room sprays” created by a trio of Draftfcb employees: John Bleeden, VP/executive producer; VP/creative director Berk Wasserman; and Todd Durston, also a VP/creative director.
Available in three scents, the air fresheners are designed to appeal to men, although ladies might like them, too.
European Sports Car makes a room smell like worn leather with a hint of aftershave, while Distillery offers hints of charred oak and sour mash. Hunting Lodge is reminiscent of hearth stone, gunpowder, and damp timber (sorry, we can’t provide you with scratch-n-sniffs).
The idea for the Archer Air Superiority line came out of a conversation Bleeden, Wasserman, and Durston had about how much cleaning they do at home on the weekends. Bleeden bemoaned the fact that they aren’t any cleaning products or air fresheners aimed at men, and Wasserman and Durston realized their friend had a good point.
“If you walk up and down the air freshener aisle, its all just products that are strictly marketed towards women,” Wasserman says, noting that while the idea for an air freshener aimed at men might seem ridiculous to some people, there was once a time when body wash was only marketed to women. “Now, men use body wash religiously, but 10 years ago we wouldn’t have known what body wash was. That would have seemed like something that was unmanly.”
Out of that thinking came Archer Air Superiority. The guys went from initial concept in fall 2011 to the prototype stage in April 2012, and by the end of August 2012 the product was being sold in high-end men’s clothing and modern furniture stores all around Chicago.
Hmmm, is this the age of MAN SCENT? Or are Adland peeps just not getting enough creative ooomph from their regular 10-6
