My Guilty Pleasure

Reading the rest of this weeks Campaign, I came across another interesting article:

"You really know that Christmas is approaching when every ad break seems to be full of images of windswept models joyously running through sand dunes before launching themselves into a passionate clinch. Yes, it's the return of the perfume ads. Not only are they the same as last year, they're the same as each other- and so hardly liekly to make anyone pick one scent over another. Please if you must blanket-book ad slots for the entire festive season, can we have something that is a bit more engaging next year?"

I think a very good point has been made here. As aspiring ad creatives would it be a good idea to do a fragrance brief, with a different approach to the norm for our portfolio?? I think it would definately be worth considering, and would hopefully stretch our problem solving abilities as I imagine it must be quite hard to try and sell something as intangible as a smell, although I do realise that it is the "lifestyle" of the brand rather than the smell itself which is usually the concept, as a way of tackling this difficulty I guess, though can it be approached in a different way? As an eager, open minded student, I think yes!!!! (maybe naively?!!) bring on the challenge!

And although I agree with the article, that yes fragrance ads can be a bit monotonous, I believe that there must be some justification to the constant use of beautiful models etc, else why would this approach continue to be taken?

I myself am a prime example, along with many other women, who have been affected by such an advert, I am quite ashamed to admit. In this particular ad, a man gets out of bed naked, and only puts on his Lacoste Pour Homme and sits in a chair and waits for his partner to come home. Not much of a concept, I know, but hey, lets face it, sex sells, not always but in this case, to me it certainly did!




Wow! And I have never forgot this ad from the first day I saw it which just shows that not very often, but sometimes there are exceptions to the rule where it seems ok to throw any kind of concept out the window and just get a bloody gorgeous man with a rather nice bottom and have him walk around naked and drink a cup of tea!

Would it make me buy this product? I don't think this man and his lovely bottom would make me run out to the nearest shop and buy it in the hope that my boyfirend when wearing it may magically transform into the very same man, because the thing with fragrance is the ads can draw in as many people as they want, but at the end of the day its the smell that counts, and people will nearly always smell before buying! (I speak as a former fragrance sales gal!)

But would it make me remember Lacoste the brand, and that particular product? and be much more likely to pick it up and have a whiff? Yes it would!

Nikki