In a marriage of bold ideas, likeminded principles, and distinguished sophistication, Jo Malone London partners with British actor and producer Tom Hardy for their latest Cypress & Grapevine Cologne Intense campaign. Titled The Exceptional And The Contradictory, the film highlights their shared British roots and serves as a celebration of London’s distinctive, creative, and eccentric soul — simultaneously capturing the fresh and woody aroma of the cologne while showcasing the power that scent can play in storytelling.

“This is a true partnership that celebrates both the roots of Jo Malone London and Tom’s hometown,” Jo Dancey, Senior Vice President and Global General Manager of Jo Malone London shares. “We have come together as creatives to challenge the perception of fragrance advertising, alongside having a real affinity with our shared values of mental health, continuing to spotlight the importance of taking the conversation further.”

Written by the ambassador’s father, Chips Hardy, and directed by Edward Berger, the campaign takes us through London at nightfall in a beautiful, real, and emotional narrative that raises the bar for fragrance advertising.

Watch the campaign…

Read the interview between Jo Malone London and Tom Hardy…

Jo Malone: Congratulations on your role as Jo Malone London ambassador for Cypress & Grapevine Cologne Intense. You don’t typically take on many commercial roles. Tell us why you decided to work with Jo Malone London?
Tom Hardy: I don’t usually get involved in commercials and adverts because I prefer acting and playing different characters. However, Jo Malone London initially reached out about a collaboration due to my affiliation with a charity that I am a trustee of called REORG, which uses Brazilian Jiujitsu and CrossFit to support mental health and physical well-being for veterans, serving military, and first responders. They believed we might share similarities in our approaches to supporting mental health, and that our brands might be of interest to one another. So, we had a conversation and during that time they asked if I would be interested in collaborating on a project, a creative endeavour for Cypress & Grapevine Cologne Intense. I found that really interesting and refreshing because I was approached as an artist and creator, as opposed to a ‘personality.’ This allowed me to engage with my father, Chips Hardy, and the brilliant director Edward Berger to collaborate with Jo Malone London on building an advert around Cypress & Grapevine Cologne Intense.

We collectively share a mutual desire to give back and make a difference where it counts, so partnering with them was a lovely blend of alchemies and shared intentions. It went beyond simply a brand spokesperson, so that was the real draw. There was a real affinity from the start. They were also a wonderful creative collaborator, and it was a real privilege in this endeavour to combine creativity, brand, and philanthropic pursuit to create something really special.

As well as starring in the campaign, you also collaborated with Jo Malone London on the concept and brought your father and director Edward Berger on board. How did you all together go about conceptualising the campaign film?
Jo Malone London has a very familial vibe, so they were very encouraging and allowed me to engage my father in helping create the campaign film, which was brilliant fun for us both. We can’t tell you how valuable it is to enjoy the process of making an advert in the way they were once made. A lot of time and effort went into the filmmaking process and working with the best team. I had long been a fan of Edward Berger’s work, so I called him to see if he would be interested in working on this project with us. He was delighted to come on board, followed by cinematographer James Friend and composer Volker Bertelman, and of course the creative team at Jo Malone London. It was a true creative collaboration in every sense of the word, and was an absolute privilege to do things properly with a talented team of experts.

The campaign idea began when Jo Malone London first introduced us to the concept of London as inspiration, alongside Cypress & Grapevine Cologne Intense. The idea of centring a campaign around London was incredibly appealing. Our collective aim was to align Jo Malone London’s London with our London to show what has made the city special to us. To observe and reflect, with London being the playground to explore.

One of the unique things about London is that it’s an open city. A place where one can be both anonymous and connected at the same time. You can belong in your own way. I believe that something like 300 languages are spoken in London, so there’s a melting pot of individuals who come and live here. Yet, for all the dichotomies, idiosyncrasies and differences that make up London’s big city life, there’s an inherent connection between Londoners that’s both profound and, I think, quite beautiful.

Similarly, the Jo Malone London fragrances are designed to be for everyone. Although it might seem illogical for certain ingredients to blend—like Cypress & Grapevine, which aren’t typical partners—they work. So, we built on this idea of London having this enormous repertoire of people all happy to be London in their own way, which has become almost a love letter to the city.

How is your London reflected in the film?

We had this enormous privilege of being almost let loose on London to try and convey that feeling of freedom and complexity in the city.

This sense of place where everyone, regardless of their differences, contributes to the city’s life. If you walk through a London park or take a night bus, the people you see next to each other typically neither look the same nor are doing the same thing. If you look at London as a matrix, you will always see a mix of unlikely things going on. It is complex, often contradictory, yet connected by intersecting oppositions. It was these juxtapositions and paradoxes that interested us. The idea was to explore those contradictions in the celebratory and connecting manner they deserved.

We eventually arrived at the final idea of ‘the exceptional and contradictory,’ almost a ‘London at Play.’ This notion of people making their way home after a night out while others are just beginning their journeys. Building on surprising connections, differences, and backstories. It carries a celebratory feel to it, while showcasing a vibrant array of people coming out and coming together.

Our hope is for the audience to come away with a liberating feeling, a sense of ‘what it is to be a Londoner.’ A feeling they could associate with the brand.

Why was it decided to set the campaign at night?
It was a collaborative decision creatively for us, serving as a vehicle to showcase this beautiful mix of people crossing paths during a typical London evening, each going their own way yet still very much connected. A side of London people might not always see.

Personally, I experience two distinct London’s. One is the London I enjoy just as much as any tourist might, from the Tower of London to the Natural History Museum, to the old oil lamps and cobbled streets. Then there’s London at night. I feel London becomes most engaging at night. When it’s quiet, you realise just how small the city really is; how close Big Ben is to St Paul’s, to Hammersmith Bridge, to Hampton Court, and extending all the way up to King’s Cross and Euston. I’ve spent many nights driving around London; it is hypnotic with this contained atmosphere that is timeless. It’s a spirit I hope has transferred into our film.

How does scent come into the campaign?
During the concepting stage, we were intrigued by the challenge of visualising a fragrance. It was exciting trying to understand how fragrance flows, how it takes to the air, how it takes to the senses, how it can impact us. How do you make a scent visible on screen? It was all part of the game for us. You almost want to smell the advert. When thinking about this idea of scent, both my father and I landed on this notion of ‘there’s something in the air’. This line was actually the starting point of the creative.

Both the challenge and opportunity lie in the fact that you are dealing with the many intangible elements of fragrance. You need to create an impression of what it does, what it feels like, what it feels like to wear, to smell. What we tried to do was use the real atmosphere of London at night and the experience of that journey in order to experience what the fragrance could give you and the type of fragrance it is. It’s an evocation rather than a depiction.

How did this experience differ from your usual roles?
I grew up around the advertising of the 1970s and 1980s. It was very different to how things are now with social media. each new advert was a major event.

Plus, my father has been creating ad campaigns since the ‘70s, so it’s been an interest of mine for a while. It’s a real challenge to tell a story in 60 seconds. How you can put narratives in, what you can see, how much you can keep in. It was fun intellectually making a movie on a micro level.

Cypress & Grapevine Cologne Intense is the hero scent behind this campaign. What were your first impressions of the scent?
I realise I am the ambassador for Cypress & Grapevine Cologne Intense, but what are the chances of it actually being utterly divine? It’s extremely rare. But it actually is! I’m funny about fragrance, I can’t just buy it off the shelf, I’m not really that way inclined. I think that a good fragrance has to exist without being overbearing and have an assimilation to the human being that is wearing it. To me Cypress & Grapevine Cologne Intense has this wonderful classic, vintage and earthy scent. A lot of people who have smelt it on me have asked what it is. Even my 16-year-old also grabbed my bottle, so even the kids like it!

How important is scent to you? Tell us about some of your scent memories.
I think smell and scent is the precursor to understanding a room or where you are in space and time. I have a palette of memories that are evoked by smells. From the smell of the forearm of my mother and father, a dusty pillow, a dry barn in the sunshine. Smells can be nostalgic, they can influence the atmosphere, they can manipulate, conjure and change the dynamic of an experience very quickly without being seen. So, scent is a very interesting medium, like music, that can change and affect an environment.

We pride ourselves on being a gifting brand. What do you believe makes a good gift?
Gifting should be a pleasure rather than a duty. One should put thought into gifting. It’s all well and good buying something very expensive and making grand gestures but I think gifting is about care and thought. Meaningful gifts in my past are typically something someone has made for me. I often carry around things my little ones have made for me like something beaded or a little picture.

What would make a good Jo Malone London gift?
To me Jo Malone London is the gift of time. It’s smart to present the opportunity to invite someone to relax or rest, or to take a moment for themselves. So, if you can’t necessarily get fragrance right for somebody because that is deeply personal, buy a candle which smells really good and allow somebody to take a bit of time for themselves.

At Jo Malone London our guiding principle is kindness. What does kindness mean to you?
Kindness is a great aspiration for a brand. Kindness is a very hard and big word to try to unpack, but I think it is an essential word to aim for in life, to practically apply in all aspects of our behaviour. Kindness is often seen as a weakness, but it should be reclaimed as a strength, because it is. I think whatever we do we ought to try to do with kindness, but it is not always easy; it takes a certain wisdom, and practising kindness should be ongoing.

Has anything surprised you since becoming an ambassador?
I’ve been impressed with how much Jo Malone London allowed me to play and how much they want to do things properly – something which was important to me.

Also, ever since I’ve been working with Jo Malone London, I’ve realised how many people have asked if I can give them things. It’s used to be about T-shirts and selfies, now it’s about candles and fragrances.

Finally, like us, we know you’re a big fan of dogs. Where did your love of dogs come from?
My grandad, Ray. He had a dog named Louie. When I was little, I always wanted to cuddle up to Louie and he was having none of it because he was my grandad’s dog. I used to look at the way grandad and his dog were – I didn’t have any brothers or sisters – and I wanted someone to hang out with me like that so I would always have a companion. The dog is a very interesting creature. They are all heart and very honest. Pure unconditional love. I wish I could be simple like that.

We take it you would be keen on a dog grooming range then?
I think it’s an absolute essential to have a dog grooming range! I would head up any design opportunity to get involved in that! Kennel spray! That would be great. Sign me up, and my dog Blue. Which is perfect because French Bulldogs snore and fart, so scented things for Blue are ideal.