Chanel No. 5 - Share the Fantasy

Sort of a tribute to Bill Bernbach on his Birth Centennial :)

The German novel 'Das Parfum', its later translation in English titled 'Perfume' and its subsequent adaptation in a movie (Perfume), have all portrayed the enigma of fragrance and how it can impact human emotions immensely. 'Strong' and 'subtle' would be the key words one can aptly associate with perfumes. And thus, it is prudent to stick to the keywords while one is to advertise for a perfume brand. That's what Chanel, the premium fashion house did to bring back the verve in their perfume line post the death of Coco Chanel (French fashion designer, founder of brand Chanel) (1971). 
 
In 1979, at a time when erotic advertising was not really encouraged, DDB (Doyle Dane Bernbach) introduced a sensual TVC for Chanel No. 5 (One of the World's top-selling perfume, introduced on May 5, 1921). The television spot highlighted the tag-line, 'Share the Fantasy'. The idea was conveyed with so much finesse that an unconventionally sensuous spot was also appreciated across the industry and outside.  

The 30 second film highlighted a woman basking by the pool side, soaking the sun and the aroma of the lush blue water in the swimming pool, while the shadow of an air-plane passes over her. A smooth voice over from the background hushes, “ I am made of blue sky and golden light, and I will feel this way forever”. In the next shot appears your effervescent tall, dark & handsome man, diving in the pool from the other side, swimming all the way to make it to the woman's side, only to magically disappear at the instant of appearing out of the pool. That's when you subtly hear John Huston in the background uttering the three magic words, 'Share the Fantasy'. 

As interpreted by many advertising enthusiasts of that time, the TVC leaves it on you to fill in the missing images and lends in a palatable sensuous idea which doesn't even border on being distasteful or lewd, by any means. Precisely, the ad stays conspicuously etched in your head despite having any overtly carnal implications or bold sexual propositions. 

Directed by British film director, Ridley Scott (of 'Alien' & 'Blade Runner' fame), the mesmerizing background score was picked from a Greek composer, Vangelis Papathanassious' album named 'China'. The tag-line was only used in the American version of the ad because the makers felt that Chanel's brand identity was iconic enough in France to carry through the message. Brand mavens described this campaign as a significant step in repositioning the company's long term entity. And what repositioning after all, Chanel No.5 has thus far never lost the status of being the top best-selling perfumes in the world. Looks like the line, 'I'll feel this way forever' did have some fragrant resonance, and how !

- Shephali

The Man in the Hathaway Shirt - by David Ogilvy

A tribute to David Ogilvy from my end, on his 100th Birth Anniversary.

The idea of 'Style' is so dichotomous that it's almost an eternal buzzword. Cutting the faff short, when it comes to men's apparels, style is commensurate to being chic, suave and elegant. Therefore, ten out of ten ads on men's apparels will have charismatic men standing in a 'stylish' pose flaunting their fine clothing. But if that defines the scope of style , how does an apparel marketer break through the clutter? Probably they can learn a lesson or two from the legendary King of Madison Avenue, Mr David Ogivy himself. The man did something phenomenal for a humble shirt manufacturing company, C.F. Hathaway, that brought the sales of Hathaway Shirts from rock bottom to hill-top.

It was early 1951. No next door Tom, Dick or Harry knew about the existence of a shirt brand namely Hathaway Shirts. The destiny of this Waterville, Maine based small company changed overnight when its President Ellerton Jette proposed David Ogilvy to create a marketing campaign for its shirt brand. Right from the beginning, Jette made it evident that the campaign might not involve aplenty dollars but he assured there won't be any intervention on the creative front, which, till date, means a huge thing for any creative agency. That's how Hathaway Shirts' first ever advertising campaign came into picture.

So what was so extraordinary about this print commercial? A handsome Russian aristocrat, Baron George Wrangell, doned the fabric on his stout built body and an effervescently radiant face added brownie points to the charm factor. And a tag-line in bold that read, 'The Man in the Hathaway Shirt'. But that's not what did the magic. The magic was created by a conspicuous black eye patch on the aristocrat's right eye. The eye patch was so catchy it made people think how could he have possibly injured himself to get one. There were tales of people building their own interpretation of the eye patch. And that triggered their imagination, and a curiosity for the brand as well. Soon, the eye patch became a cult and one could see people wearing them during Broadway Plays and TV Shows. There were incidents wherein people would walk-in a store to buy Hathaway Shirts and walk-out with a black patch on their right eye. Achieving iconic status with an eye patch was the catch indeed.

And the numbers never belied the success rate of the campaign. The first ad appeared in The New Yorker for $3, 176. Within a week of the release, Hathaway shirts' entire stock was sold out. The next week, the ad was reprinted in Life, Time and Fortune.

Ogilvy had always believed in acquiring immense knowledge about the craft from reading about the discipline. In one of the books written by another advertiser, Harold Rudolph, Ogilvy learnt about story appeal and how the elements of a photograph enhanced the story appeal. The iconic eye-patch was just a by product of that priceless lesson. Consider this, a black eye patch did away with the rough patch in Hathaway shirts' fate, without leaving any creases, smoothly, and how!

-Shephali