Well-known deodorant brand Lynx is running a new piece of marketing targeting gamers.
In an experiment titled ‘The Lynx 0.1% Effect’, with the slogan ‘the better you smell, the better you play’, Lynx has enlisted the services of four streamers to take part in a test ‘monitoring game stats and body performance’.
These include UK streamer RossBoomsocks, Mexico’s RobertoCein, Canadian streamer xChocoBars and German influencer LPGjustJohnny, who were all sent a pack by Lynx containing fragrances and gadgets.
“According to a study by Liverpool University, smelling great can increase your skills,” Ross reads from a card from the Lynx gaming pack.
The four streamers each play one match without wearing Lynx deodorant, and one match after spraying themselves with a Lynx fragrance. The results were recorded and shown in this video:
Here are the results after each streamer’s first match without using Lynx:
And here are the results from the match after Lynx was worn:
Lynx says that “the stats didn’t show a major change, however a difference was detected”, before xChocoBars talks about a placebo effect perhaps being evident and the other streamers speak about the importance of confidence while gaming.
What’s weird are the results here. The KDA, CS and gold results are actually, on average, better across the board after wearing the fragrance, though the game time isn’t shown.
Also, IP (influence points) haven’t been around in League of Legends for a while now – they were replaced by blue essence years ago.
“Narratively, IP were a measure of a summoner’s influence in League of Legends, though this feature of lore was phased out of canon,” reads this IP page on a League of Legends Wiki.
The results should of course be taken with a pinch of salt. This is a marketing campaign, and not a proper science experiment, though honestly it would be interesting to see the results comparing hundreds of games, rather than just two.
“Should Lynx be considered a performance enhancing fragrance?” Lynx asks at the end of the video. “Can 0.1 be the difference between making and breaking it?”
We’ll let you decide, readers.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
