Vol. 84: Billie: Stop and smell the armpits 👃

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Smells have an incredibly powerful influence on human memories and emotions. And that means they’re an incredibly powerful, albeit seldom used tool for marketers. 

But when it is leveraged, it’s often eye-catching. We saw this when Cartier put a perfumed cloud in a glass cube as part of an art exhibit. And when Head & Shoulders had an ad insert in Glamour that smelled like their new shampoo and conditioner scent, Apple Fresh. Recently, Billie dabbled in their own scent-focused, interactive campaign. 

This week, Case Studied explores how Billie earned engagement and media coverage with a scratch-and-sniff OOH.

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The Brief:

Billie launched in 2017 as a digitally native, direct-to-consumer personal care brand focused on women’s shaving and body care products. It’s known for its inclusive, nontraditional approach to body care ads. They often subvert traditional self-care messaging (think: emphasizing female body hair) and use humor to broach conversations about beauty standards. In a statement to DesignRush, co-general manager Catherine Wolpe said the brand has an “unapologetic mission to bend taboos until they break.” 

Billie was acquired by Edgewell Personal Care—aka the makers of Schick Intuition and Skintimate—in 2021 in an all-cash transaction of $310 million. At the time, the brand’s product portfolio included razors, shaving cream, body lotion, and lip balm, among others 

Then in early 2022, Billie expanded to brick-and-mortar retail and in 2024, the brand entered a new category: deodorant. It introduced two lineups, All Day and AHA, all made without aluminum or baking soda. They started with a variety of scents but when it came time to launch a new one, the Coco Villa All Day Deodorant, Billie decided to let the smell speak for itself. 

The Execution:

Billie partnered with Small Girls PR, H&H Graphics, and Pear Media to create an interactive, scratch-and-sniff OOH campaign—something rarely seen (or smelled) in the personal care space.

Before we get into the details, a quick history on scratch-and-sniff: this technology was unintentionally invented in the 1960s when researchers at 3M and NCR Corporation were trying to figure out a way to trap ink on microscopic pockets of paper for use in carbon copies and cash register receipts. 

Over 60 years later, that same technology was used by Billie on giant billboards of armpits (both with hair and without). 

Production started with Billie’s internal team doing a “quick and dirty shoot” of the visuals for the billboards. From there, the team worked with a fragrance house to ensure the scent of the deodorant was right and H&H Graphics helped create the scented stickers themselves. 

Four total billboards were created and placed in high-traffic locations in Manhattan. The copy simply said: “SCRATCH and SNIFF the PITS” and “Meet our best-selling deodorant.” There were product photos and the images of the armpits had instructions on what to do. 

To draw attention to the interactive OOH, Billie partnered with the social media channel What Is New York to share reels of people scratching and sniffing the billboards on Instagram and TikTok. They also sent cards of the billboard images to influencers and members of the press.

The Results:

Billie’s OOH campaign earned coverage from the New York Post, ABC News, and Good Morning America. 

billie

272K followers

View more on Instagram

The Instagram Reels of the billboards garnered 57,000 likes and over 3 million views. On TikTok, it saw over 255,000 views and 1,700 likes. 

Key Takeaways:

1) Stretch what OOH can do.

Many billboards are as static as they were 40 years ago. But Billie took it beyond the visuals and QR codes to make theirs tactile, interactive, and unexpected. This made an otherwise average ad into an experience for passersby. 

If you’re investing in OOH, consider how to add an interactive or experiential layer. Can people touch, hear, or even smell it? Multisensory ads aren’t used very often in OOH so they tend to stand out.  

2) Bridge IRL and URL.

Billie’s billboard stunt was physical, but the content strategy stretched into digital. By documenting the OOH on social and sending materials to influencers and the press, they stretched the reach of the campaign beyond what the in-person experience could offer.  

When you’re executing in-person, be sure you focus on bringing it to life online as well. Consider how you can go beyond recapping and bring digital audiences into the campaign. Your reach and engagement will go farther and your audience won’t feel as much FOMO. 

3) Do less telling and more showing.

The first thing most folks do in the deodorant aisle when they pick up a product is smell it. And with this campaign, Billie gave folks the opportunity to do that smell test outside of the store. 

It’s easy to default to talking about what your brand does and how wonderful it is. But showing and providing experiences for people can be a way to achieve the same goal in a way that resonates more. Explore how you can use less words and more action in your touchpoints. 

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