Reimagining your product.
Finding your Big idea in market.
Meet MAHŌ.
A luxury Australian lifestyle brand redefining a $869m fragrance market.
CHALLENGE
Melbourne-based MAHŌ Sensory started as an idea without a name at the beginning of 2019.
The concept of incense and room scents are nothing new. The founder, Joshua Tong, however, believed that incense was underrepresented in the booming home fragrance market, behind candles, oil burners and air humidifiers. Like most things, incense has been practiced for centuries as an ancient ceremonial tradition in the east and popularised during the hippy movement in the West.
Joshua’s vision was to reimagine incense and modernise it with a premium aesthetic with a high-end luxury appeal. Done differently, it had the potential to excel and grow dramatically as a segment.
“The moment I lit the incense Joshua was experimenting with, I was hooked. The perfume-like scents were exotic, intense and highly sophisticated. I was completely enamoured by them...”
The brand needed to cut through the hippy connotations currently linked to incense and its “eastern origins”, whilst reframing incense as a must-have, aspirational product. On top of that, it needed gender-neutral appeal and reach a brand new market online.
SOLUTION
To create the brand meant the studio needed to reacquaint themselves with incense and its purpose during the day and the night. Familiarising themselves with the nuances of placement within the room and scent lingering after it burnt out was revealing.
“We realised that incense transports you to a completely different moment in time and place. When lit, the feeling and emotion you have in a room completely changes within seconds. In fact, the lighting and observing the smoke move through the room to the scent finally making its way to the user is serendipitous.”
We considered carefully how to reposition the brand differently, acknowledging the hippy stigma attached to incense sticks and fast-forwarding it to the modern day. Josh was experimenting and combining natural, aromatic resin with refined blends of premium perfumes. His vision of creating a collection of contemporary home fragrances to suit the modern lifestyle and being influenced by Japanese minimalism saw the final product offered in beautiful tactile packaging with soft dream-like hues to convey premium and confidence in the label. Appealing to senses, thus the name MAHŌ Sensory Sticks was born.
BRAND DEVELOPMENT
“My mother would tell me growing up that when we burn incense, our hopes and wishes; usually being health and prosperity, would transcend to the heavens through the soft ripples of smoke, and this is where our wishes are heard. Created in her memory, I wanted to capture the powerful transcendent qualities of scent and smoke which induce calm and relaxation, however deliver a collection of contemporary fragrances which sets us apart from the classic incense. I wanted to create something quite unexpected, taking the status quo and offering incense to a new generation.”
Inspired by the personal memories of travel and places of discovery, four signature fragrances have found their way into its inaugural 2020 capsule collection. Comprising White Musk, Rose Bois, Gypsy Wood and Artisan Leather, the scents will resonate perfectly with lifestyle seekers. Completing the collection are a selection of minimalist décor stands designed to beautifully display Sensory sticks. MAHŌ burners add a sophisticated accent to any space.
PACKAGING + ART DIRECTION
ART DIRECTION
RESULTS
Since its launch, Maho has been featured in notable editorials such as Belle, Good Health, Inside Out and Real Living, prominent exhibits at InStyle Sydney and now can be found in over 200+ premier stockists across Australia and New Zealand including online juggernaut, The Iconic and in Singapore and Dubai and London at the prestigious popup at Whitehouse, Knightsbridge.
Sold in over 200+ stockists, worldwide.
Found in:
Australia, New Zealand, London, Singapore & Dubai.
Featured in:
The Iconic
Belle
Life Instyle, Sydney
Good Health
Real Living
Inside Out
White House, Knightsbridge.
“We are so grateful for the reception we have from not only the Australian retail community but also captured the attention of international buyers. Through world-class design, thoughtful creative thinking and genuine connection to the project, BrandWorks encapsulated the essence of our story, creating A Little Magic along the way.
Elegant, sophisticated and restrained, BrandWorks understood our customer and delivered a truly special Australian brand.”
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AWARDS & DISTINCTIONS
BRANDWORKS STUDIO
BrandWorks are a multi-disciplinary team committed to developing strategic design solutions for FMCGs, Hospitality, Commercial Property, Digital Online brands and Fit-for-Purpose Retail Destinations. We have offices in Melbourne, Newcastle, Jakarta and Changsha, China. What makes us stand out from the crowd is that we’ve been there. From business management to ownership to operation, our experiences with and love for great design guides our process. We believe that our clients’ success supports us and vice versa. So together, we’re building a global business community curated for success with innovative and intelligent design.
Let’s bring the extraordinary to life.