Nez is hoping occasion-based positioning and variety will help it stand out against legacy brands in the deodorant category.

Nez has an aluminum-free, natural, dermatologist-tested, vegan deodorant formula, and its brand is based on the premise that deodorants needn’t be one size fits all, according to company co-founder Sherry Jhawar.

There are CPGs devoted to particular skin or hair types, Jhawar explains, but historically one deodorant is expected to do everything.

Nez’s products, on the other hand, are meant to be “customized for every moment of your life,” using self-explanatory names like Workout Sesh, Board Meeting and Date Ready.

The brand’s aim, Jhawar notes, is to disrupt the way people think about deodorant, helped by elevated scents that consumers want to put on their body and switch up throughout the day.

“In the same way we reapply our lipstick and sunscreen – we want to destigmatize the act of applying deodorant,” she says, telling strategy that Nez specifically launched with mini sizes to allow consumers to have Nez on the go with them, whenever needed.

And according to Jhawar, it is also a way to “infuse delight into categories that sometimes seem boring or mundane.”

As part of its better-for-you-and-the-planet positioning, the brand is also leaning into sustainability: it is offering $5 off purchases when six empty containers are sent back to the company to ensure proper recycling.

“We send all consumers the shipping labels needed to execute these shipments to make it super simple for them to make this choice,” Jhawar says.

Jhawar, co-founder Allison Statter and Blended Strategy Group worked with Toronto’s Good&Ready to name and develop Nez’s branding, a creative development process three years in the making.

Alan Madill, co-founder of Good&Ready, says his shop has “always been interested in the business side of marketing as much as we are interested in the art of it.”

The company is focused on the U.S. to start to get learnings before scaling the business internationally, and will initially launch DTC-only as it explores broader retail partnerships.