How Motion Sickness Captured a K Road in a Bottle
Walking past someone who is wearing the same intoxicatingly beautiful perfume as a former lover. Or the sticky sweetness of your favourite childhood chocolate cake. Or the ripe tang of fruit that has been left in a lunchbox over the weekend. Or the overwhelming disinfectant that was used in the bathroom of your first job.
All of those scents are unique to an individual, and we all have our own interpretation of what they smell like. Memories that are evoked by a particular scent are incredibly special, regardless of whether those memories are good or bad.
Our sense of smell is remarkable in its ability to provide comfort, a sense of safety, and warmth. As well as its ability to warn of danger and impending doom. It is no wonder that people were scared of losing this ability when covid was first roaming.
Creative agency, Motion Sickness partnered with the locals of Karangahape Rd or as it is more commonly known as K Road, and a band of scent smiths or perfume makers to embark on a journey to bottle the magically unique feeling of K Road. A place where people aren’t afraid to be unapologetically themselves. A place of community and friendship. A place that is filled with life.
Freddy Riddiford and Sam Stuchbury of Motion Sickness, scent smith Nathan Taare and resident of K Road, Suresh Rama spoke to LBB’s Casey Martin on the cultural significance of Karangahape Rd on Kiwi’s. With all revenue going to the charity, Lifewise this campaign is dedicated to sustaining the life that called New Zealand home.
LBB> Capturing the scent of the iconic K Road is a tricky challenge. How did you work in tandem with the scent smiths to create a campaign filled with undeniable life?
Freddy and Sam> Any trip down Karangahape Road is a sensory experience, so bottling that experience immediately felt like an exciting idea. Communicating the magnetic energy of the strip was always going to be open to interpretation, so it became a case of finding the balance between both good and bad smells. We chatted with Nathan about this early on, and he was able to strike that balance with mind-boggling precision. The process began with seeking out ingredients and smells from specific businesses, and the wider street. Wet pavement, pre-loved garment musk, and fresh dancefloor perspiration were some of the key scents we sniffed out to become the base notes of ROAD.
We captured this in the campaign by casting the local celebrities behind people's favorite businesses, and treating it like the real deal. Working with two very talented photographers (Hōne Naera-Scott & Kayle Lawson) who boh captured images that could happily live in Vogue.
LBB> What were the main inspirations for this campaign?
Freddy and Sam> The bizarre world of the ‘luxury scent’ was the inspiration for the campaign. We’re all familiar with the vacant stares and existential monologues of perfume ads, and we rewatched Brad Pitt's legendary Chanel No.5 spot many times whilst concepting - thank you Brad. We wanted to channel this high-end feel for Karangahape Road, a place built on community, that doesn’t shy away from its sometimes gritty, no frills reputation.
LBB> What was the reaction and response when approaching local owners to appear in the campaign images?
Freddy and Sam> The business owners of Karangahape have been a big part of each campaign we’ve undertaken. Last time it was parading their worst online reviews across billboards and street posters. This time we told them we wanted to dress them in Calvin Klein, create a luxury perfume, and wander into the land of blue steel. They were up for all of it.
LBB> What were the challenges and the highlights?
Freddy and Sam> It turns out running a small perfume empire from a Cross St loft comes with its own set of challenges. We quickly found out why Chanel, Comme Des Garcon & Givenchy each have an entire division devoted to the creation of such scents. We spent many hours deep in the bowels of the Westmere Butcher, vacuum sealing each of the 150 packages. During this time we developed Cockney accents and the ability to butterfly a leg of lamb in under 90 seconds.
Some of the highlights included local MP Chloe taking ROAD to parliament on launch day, Suresh’s breakout media performance, and working with the talented Nathan Taare to develop this special smell.
LBB> What has been the response so far from the local market?
Freddy and Sam> Overwhelming. ROAD sells out within 10 mins every day. We’ve witnessed people running the length of Karangahape to secure the package, lining up at 6am after a leaked location, and filling the KBA’s DMs with requests daily. It’s been great to see so many people flocking to the street to hunt down ROAD, it is a tourism campaign after all.
LBB> Why was it important to highlight K Road and its locals?
Freddy and Sam> Suresh puts it best: “We ([K RD] represent the heart of New Zealand. If you stop the heart from beating, the whole country will die.” This campaign is another soppy love letter to the iconic businesses, people, and energy of Aotearoa's most infamous and idiosyncratic strip.
The names behind the doors are just as important as the names on the doors. The eclectic group of business owners each add their own flavour to Karangahape, and it felt only right to immortalise them as the faces of ROAD.
LBB> I understand all revenue goes to Lifewise. What has their response been to the campaign?
Freddy and Sam> Lifewise has been blown away by the public's support of the campaign. Spreading awareness of the important work they do has been a great outcome of this wild perfume journey.
LBB> Motion Sickness has started to build a reputation for unconventional campaigns as of late. Why do you think it’s important to take that approach?
Freddy and Sam> Internally we feel like some of the best work in the world doesn't feel like advertising, and doesn’t use marketing as a reference point. ROAD lives in the world of fashion, and that's why it resonated in the way it did.
LBB> What were your first steps in creating the fragrance? Who did you talk to, and what was the inspiration?
Nathan> Once I received the brief I started picking ingredients that I feel represent the ideas and concepts in the perfumes story. I’d then break them down into different combinations, different key accords and see what works together well. Then I spent time 'sketching' different materials into small 10mL formulas to get an idea of overall effect. Once something feels right it is trial formulation time where you just tweak and tweak until things feel right. In terms of inspiration K Road was the main inspiration. It's such an ever changing wild sensory overload full of sounds, colours, textures, shapes, vibes, emotions, people and spaces. There was more than enough inspiration from the street to work with and they are really fun ideas to translate into scent like the literal road itself, various eateries, human bodies, stained leather jackets and pre-loved denim. I talked to many of my friends about their experiences on K Road and also pulled lots of inspiration from my time visiting K Road to perform music over the years at places like Whammy Bar, Wine Cellar and Audio Foundation.
LBB> Was it difficult to narrow the scent down? When did you know it was right?
Nathan> Yes, it was a challenge. The first composition was around 50 different ingredients and I managed to get it down to about 20. I tend to start heavy and strip it right back. I knew it was right when it just smelled right. I think I did around 40 trials. The final one sings clearly. You can smell all of the different notes at different times and things are like a well balanced song. There is no muddiness and you feel that the perfume communicates the story well and hits the brief. That is when you know it is right.
LBB> When approached to be a part of the project, what was your first reaction? Why did you say yes?
Suresh > I thought it was a great idea, helping people in need and celebrating the street so got behind it! Being a model was a new thing for me, but I loved it. I’m happy to do it and be a team player for the street.
LBB> Why is K Road so important to you? What is it about the area that you love and want to be showcased?
Suresh> For a long time K Road has been fertile ground for up and coming fashion, design and art. It's a place where people can find themselves and develop something special without judgement and away from ridicule, we accept everything and everyone and give them room to grow. It’s a special place, there’s nowhere like it and we want to show that to everyone with this campaign.
The street feels closer now, tighter knit. There’s energy in the streets and it feels good amongst all this talk of recession, doom and gloom.
