forevermore79
20.08.04, 10:43
Reportaz o najnowszej kampanii- ze zdjec wynika, ze bedzie bardzo efektowna,
w stylu "Moulin Rouge" ( ten sam rezyser).
Z dzisiejszego WWD:
"PARIS — Chanel may already boast it has the world’s best-selling scent, but
the fashion house hopes its most expensive advertising effort ever — a
minifilm starring a couture-clad Nicole Kidman — will make No.5 even more of
a blockbuster.
The two-minute spot, slated to debut in U.S. theaters Oct. 29 and on TV Nov.
11, is certainly a mega production, reuniting Kidman with “Moulin Rouge”
director Baz Luhrmann and a crew of almost 200 for a five-day shoot in Sydney
last December.
“The advertising campaign is key because it renews the image of No.5,” said
Chanel president Françoise Montenay. “It’s more than a perfume, it’s an icon.
That’s why we need iconic women — and Nicole is an icon. We’ve been dreaming
of her for many years.
“For us, she is the most iconic person you could ever find,” continued
Montenay. “She is really an actress. She can convey her emotions in half a
second. With just one move of her face, she can make you feel something.”
According to Montenay, No.5 became the best-selling fragrance worldwide
shortly after the end of the Second World War — and it has topped the charts
in many countries since. But there is room for improvement. It lags at No. 4
in the U.S. and slipped from the top slot in France, edged out by Thierry
Mugler’s Angel.
Asked how long it would take for Chanel to recoup the millions spent on
producing the commercial and buying airtime, Montenay demurred. Instead, she
characterized the Kidman project as an investment made not only in the
interest of boosting sales, but “in terms of keeping the image modern.”
The Kidman spots are also expected to have a ripple effect on other Chanel
products, most of which are on a strong growth track, she added.
Privately held Chanel does not give out financial information, but its beauty
business is estimated to pull in about $2 billion a year.
While declining to provide dollar figures, Montenay disclosed sales
performance by product category for the first half of 2004: Skin care was up
28 percent; makeup, up 10 percent, and fashion and accessories, up 38
percent. Fragrance lagged, with an uptick of only 2 percent.
Market sources estimate No.5 pulls in at least $100 million in sales a year,
and that about $10 million to $12 million a year would be spent on the Kidman
advertising campaign in the U.S. and another $5 million to $8 million
annually to place it in Europe. The Kidman ads will appear in 39 fashion,
beauty and lifestyle magazines in the U.S. in both single-page and spread
configurations, and are slated for cinema advertising in 25 U.S. markets,
including New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago and San Francisco.
Montenay said prestige is a key fact of No.5’s position, something Chanel
fastidiously measures, employing market research firms in 12 countries to do
so every few years. The most recent surveys confirm Chanel’s leading
position.
“What we are very good at is to work with the imagination of women,” Montenay
asserted. “We make them dream.”
In an exclusive interview, Chanel creative director Jacques Helleu said
Luhrmann approached the No.5 commercial just as he would a major motion
picture, even employing the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and his “Romeo and
Juliet” collaborator, composer Craig Armstrong, to concoct a stirring new
version of Debussy’s “Clair de Lune.”
Helleu, who oversaw the five days of shooting, said he was struck by
Luhrmann’s perfectionism — and Kidman’s professionalism in the face of it.
One might think it’s too much to ask an Oscar winner to do 27 takes of a
scene with hardly any dialogue, but Kidman didn’t so much as flinch. “She has
such confidence in him,” Helleu related.
The commercial is designed to reignite consumers’ emotional attachment to
No.5 and express perfume’s sensual essence. Helleu said Kidman’s seductive
powers, as expressed in “Moulin Rouge,” convinced him she was the perfect
person to represent No.5.
The spots, while in the surrealistic tradition of past No.5 campaigns, has a
strong contemporary resonance, with Kidman cast as the most famous woman in
the world, relentlessly stalked by the paparazzi in a mythical metropolis.
Seeking shelter from the flashbulbs in a waiting taxi, she finds it occupied
by a ruggedly handsome young man who is completely unaware of her identity
and fame.
He whisks her to his ramshackle garret in a skyscraper topped by a double-C
logo, where love quickly blossoms and Kidman’s character relishes the freedom
to be herself. Ultimately, after a few days of romantic bliss, she is
discovered in her hideout and coaxed back to her old life and
responsibilities.
But back on the red carpet at a premiere, the star can feel her lover’s eyes
upon her from his rooftop lookout. She looks back toward him, wistful yet
stronger, while he vows to never forget “her kiss, her smile, her perfume.”
Then the camera focuses on the diamond-studded No.5 amulet draped over
Kidman’s back.
“I think it’s very beautiful, and there’s a lot of emotion in it,” Karl
Lagerfeld, who designed Kidman’s costumes, said of the spots. “For me, it’s
like a big Hollywood production, but there’s a real magic touch to it. It was
faultlessly done.”
The campaign also arrives in tandem with a line extension: a rose-hued line
of No.5 bath products dubbed the “Seduction Collection” [see sidebar].
“They are very, very sensual. It’s important for No.5 that we have this
feeling of sensuality, and we want to gain market share in toiletries,”
Montenay noted.
The Kidman spots are slated to run over a three-year period. Although TV and
cinema advertising is the focus, a print campaign featuring stills and
resembling movie posters will break in October magazines.
To be sure, Chanel has a long history of cinematic and fantasy-themed
advertising, counting Ali MacGraw, Candice Bergen, Carole Bouquet and
Catherine Deneuve among its celebrity pitchwomen and filmmakers Luc Besson
and Ridley Scott among those who have immortalized No.5 in commercials.
Recently, Olympic-level synchronized swimmer-turned-actress Estella Warren
appeared in the Chanel No.5 ads.
Helleu said continuous rejuvenation of the brand’s image is the key to its
longevity. And given the relentless pace of fragrance launches — with more
than 400 arriving on the market last year alone — stalwarts like No.5 stand
out, he added.
In the past, Chanel was known for choosing up-and-coming stars to represent
No.5. The first of that strain was Deneuve, the face of No.5 from 1968 to
1976. Helleu first saw a small photograph of her on the cover of Look
magazine tucked under someone’s arm. He was lured by the fact she had been
called “the most beautiful woman in the world.”
The daring Deneuve ads, in which she speaks of her intimate relationship with
the scent (Deneuve says she wears Chanel No.5 behind her knees) met with rave
reviews and is credited with reviving the brand, which had a fusty image in
the Sixties.
An A-list, Oscar-winning actress like Kidman clearly represents a departure
for Chanel. But unprompted, Montenay sought to distance Chanel from a slew of
other beauty firms suddenly employing big celebrities as a ploy to boost
sales. “It’s totally superficial,” she said. “There is no real link between
t